Skip to main content

Tested: Is Discord really slowing down Nvidia GPUs?

A recent Discord update may have introduced a bug that slows down your Nvidia GPU when you use the popular voice chat app. Not all cards are affected, but it appears that the vast majority of them might be.

We tested it ourselves to verify whether there really is a performance drop. Here’s what we know, and if you are affected, there’s a quick fix that can solve this problem.

RTX 3080 graphics cards among other GPUs.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends.

The report about this peculiar issue first emerged on the Linus Tech Tips forums. An owner of an RTX 3060 Ti graphics card found that the memory clock of their GPU dropped by 200MHz as soon as Discord was launched, and it stayed at the lowered value until the app was closed.

Recommended Videos

Another user then pitched in and posted on the Nvidia subreddit, reporting that same problem, this time on an RTX 3080. It appears that Nvidia’s latest and greatest RTX 40-series cards are unaffected right now.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Both reports are related to RTX 30-series cards, but we tested this ourselves and found that the issue will likely affect a much larger user base than we initially thought. Even older graphics cards suffer from this problem, and as per the Steam Hardware Survey, those GPUs still make up the majority of the market.

I tested this myself on my dated GTX 1060. Starting with HWiNFO, I compared the memory clock with and without Discord running in the background. Although the drop was less significant (100MHz instead of 200MHz), it was still there, and the moment I turned Discord off, the clock bounced back to normal.

I also ran a FurMark benchmark to compare performance with and without Discord. This rig can’t score high even on a good day, but within those measly scores, I could see a drop when I ran the benchmark while Discord was on. Without it, the card averages 71 frames per second (fps) and 4,272 points; with Discord, it maxed out at 69 fps and 4,151 points. It’s interesting to note that in the benchmark, the memory clock did indeed drop by just over 200MHz.

Benchmarks of a GTX 1060 GPU.
Benchmark scores with and without Discord running in the background. Image used with permission by copyright holder

The bug likely stems from the most recent Discord update that enabled AV1 streaming in 4K60 for Discord Nitro users. This seems to be limited to RTX 40-series cards, though, so while it enabled one feature for those high-end GPUs, it also seems to have broken something for other users.

A lot of gamers run Discord in the background, and it’s no secret that many of Nvidia’s best GPUs are found in gaming rigs. For some players, this will almost be constant if they use Discord most of the time.

With that said, 200MHz worth of memory clock speed is really not that much, especially on high-end GPUs. Seeing a drop by 2 fps is pretty much nothing. You don’t have to worry about the performance of your card, at least not unless you want to squeeze every last drop out of it. In games, this won’t have any impact whatsoever.

Nvidia was quick to react to the post on Reddit and came up with a temporary fix. If you want to get ahead and sort this problem before Discord and Nvidia roll out proper updates of their own, make sure to check out the official Nvidia help article here.

Monica J. White
Monica is a computing writer at Digital Trends, focusing on PC hardware. Since joining the team in 2021, Monica has written…
RTX 4080 Super vs. RTX 4070 Ti Super vs. RTX 4070 Super: Nvidia’s new GPUs, compared
Nvidia RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4070 Super over a dark background.

Nvidia's RTX 40-series refresh is officially here, serving up three of the best graphics cards we've seen in a while -- the RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and the RTX 4070 Super. The new GPUs, while still belonging to the RTX 40-series, deliver significant changes in specs, making them an interesting choice for PC enthusiasts.

While all three of these cards are on the upper end of the spec and price spectrum, they're not all the same. How do they stack up against each other? Let's find out with a thorough comparison of Nvidia's RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4070 Ti, and RTX 4070 Super.
Pricing and availability

Read more
At this point, we know just about everything about Nvidia’s new GPUs
Nvidia's RTX 4070 graphics cards over a pink background.

The leaks on Nvidia's new Super GPUs are getting out of hand. The slow drip of information has been steady for many months, leaving very few details on the cards when they actually get announced.

We're talking about the RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4070 Super, which will be the first three models in the lineup. Thanks to various retailers and distributors all around the globe, we already have a substantial amount of information about the upcoming GPUs. The information might not all be perfect, but it paints a pretty clear picture of what these cards will be like.

Read more
Nvidia’s new GPUs could be right around the corner
Nvidia's RTX 4070 graphics cards over a pink background.

Is Nvidia really about to add to its lineup of top GPUs? All signs point to yes, and now, we have an official Nvidia keynote on the horizon that tells us when we might hear more about the rumored RTX 40 Super. Nvidia revealed that it's going to deliver a special address on January 8 as part of CES 2024. Although the company hasn't confirmed what it's planning to cover, the rumor mill has been buzzing with information about three new desktop GPUs. But will they really be worth the upgrade?

Several reputable leakers have weighed in on the matter of the RTX 40-series refresh, and we've been getting updates about the range for a few weeks now. Nvidia doesn't need to specifically state that it'll talk about these graphics cards, as that is going to be the expectation anyway. The three GPUs in question are the RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and the RTX 4070 Super.

Read more