Discord crashes NVIDIA graphics cards after update enables streaming on AV1

Update (02/01/2023) – FM

Discord seems to be showing a new bug that affects the performance of NVIDIA graphics cards, including models from the GeForce RTX 30 and 20 series. According to users, the problem started to occur after the last update released for the messaging and calling application , such that enabled support for live streams with AV1.

forum members Linus Tech Tips report that their video cards are reducing memory clock by up to 200 MHz while using Discord. Affected models include the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and several other models that, interestingly, do not include the RTX 40 family of GPUs that support the streaming codec.

NVIDIA announced on Monday (30) that it is aware of the problems and a definitive fix should be made available in the form of an update soon. For now, users can try using GeForce 3D Profile Manager to change GPU profile parameters while using Discord.

The process described by the manufacturer is simple, but must be done with care, since the tool manages data from the video card’s memory, and corrupted data can cause serious hardware problems. To fix the bug temporarily, you need to:

1. Download and open GeForce 3D Profile Manager
2. Click on “Export SLI Profiles”
3. In the pop-up window, select a folder to save the “NVIDIA Profiles.txt” file
4. Open the “NVIDIA Profiles.txt” file and locate the “Discord” section
5. Add a line and insert the following text: “Setting ID_0x50166c5e = 0x00000000” (without quotes)
6. save the document
7. Return to GeForce 3D Profile Manager and click on “Import SLI Profiles”
8. In the pop-up window, select the updated .txt file and finally click on “Open”

NVIDIA has not yet revealed a date forecast for the definitive Discord fix, but the “workaround” released on its official website can make the video card’s memory clock return to normal.

Original text (01/27/2023)

Discord releases AV1 support for streaming with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 graphics cards

Gerardo Delgado, product manager for content creators at NVIDIA, announced on Wednesday (25) that Discord will feature video streaming with the AV1 codec using the new GeForce RTX 40 graphics cards with “Ada Lovelace” architecture. The update with this novelty will be released over the next few days to all users.

In addition to the blatant leap in performance, the new line of video cards brings important features for video compression and decompression. With the update of the messaging and streaming platform, “Nitro” plan subscribers will be able to make live broadcasts with resolution up to 4K @ 60 FPS and 8 Mbps rate.

Prior to AV1, only OpenH264 video codecs were available on Discord. The application uses hardware acceleration to decompress H.264 streams, and the new solution will be no different as it will extract the maximum potential for streaming on the platform using NVIDIA’s most advanced graphics cards.

Delgado explains that the service uses architecture peer-to-peer (P2P) will therefore check that people watching the stream have AV1 compatible hardware on Discord. If so, the application uses the codec automatically; if not, the stream is switched to H.264 so everyone can see it.

Discord is currently rolling out an update that enables AV1 streaming with GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs!

The upate is rolling out starting this week and will slowly populate to all users. With AV1 you’ll be able to stream up to 4K60 with nitro, at 8 Mbps!

— Gerardo Delgado (@gerdelgado) January 25, 2023

To enable broadcasts with AV1, simply go to “User Settings” in Discord, click on “Voice & Video” and scroll down to the “Advanced” section. If the codec option is already available for your account, you can activate it by clicking on the switch.

So far, there is no information about support for streaming with AV1 using graphics cards from AMD and Intel, which also offer this encoding.