Running Discord Lowers NVIDIA GPU Memory Clocks by 200 MHz, Company Posts Workaround

The Windows app of Discord, the popular social-networking software, apparently trims the graphics card memory clock of NVIDIA GPUs by an innocuous 200 MHz, or so observe gamers. NVIDIA GeForce GPUs dynamically adjust memory clock speeds in response to load, as part of their power-management. Ideally, with gaming workloads, the GPU is supposed to hit its maximum rated memory frequency, but some keen-eyed gamers with monitoring tools noticed that with the Discord app running in the background, the memory clock tops out at T-minus 200 MHz (i.e. if it was supposed to be 7000 MHz, it tops out at 6800 MHz). Even under the infernal stress of Furmark, something that’s designed to push memory clocks to the maximum rated speeds until the graphics card runs into thermal limits; the memory clock is seen falling 200 MHz short.

NVIDIA took note of this issue, and assured that a fix is on the way in a future GeForce driver update. In the meantime, it posted a DIY workaround to the problem that involves downloading the GeForce 3D Profile Manager utility, making the utility “export SLI profiles” (applicable even to single-GPU machines), editing the exported SLI profiles file as a plaintext document, and importing the profile back. This basically alters the way the driver behaves with the Discord app running. The NVIDIA 3D Profile Manager utility can be downloaded from here, and step-by-step instructions on using it to fix this issue, here.