Diablo 4’s performance has been absolutely maddening at times (especially as someone who just got a really good prebuilt). I’ve gotten huge FPS drops that just don’t make sense, and equally puzzling bouts of screen tearing. If you’re here, then you’re probably interested in the latter. The potential fix for this (if you have an Nvidia card) is pretty simple.
You’ve probably already tried turning on VSync within the game itself. And if you’re like me, the screen tearing persisted (for reference I’m using a Sony X800D TV). Instead, open up the Nvidia Control Panel and enable VSync on a system level.
To navigate to this setting open Nvidia Control Panel, and look for Manage 3D Settings under 3D Settings. Once you’ve navigated here you’ll see various settings you can adjust, and a tab for Global and Program settings.
You’ll find the VSync toggle near the end of this list, and you’ll have multiple options to choose from. I went with Fast (reduces latency caused by VSync), but I’ve also tried normal Vsync and it’s worked well as far as eliminating tearing. I also applied Fast VSync globally, although I’m sure adding it exclusively to Diablo 4 would work as well.
But there’s a catch!
Hopefully this tweak fixes things for you, but if it does know that screen tearing can come back if you fiddle with other graphical settings. Diablo 4 seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to performance, and I haven’t experienced this with any other game since getting my new prebuilt.
I’ve noticed that enabling DLSS can do it, but also something as simple as changing the texture settings. Basically, it seems like any tweak can trigger that God awful tearing. If this happens I’ve found that starting a clean slate will once again solve the problem. Reset to default settings, disable VSync in Nvidia Control Panel, and then re-enable VSync in Nvidia Control Panel.
Keep in mind that, at least in my experience, Diablo 4’s performance can deteriorate over time. I’ve noticed this mostly when it comes to really bad FPS drops (which I’ll write a post about soon), but I wouldn’t rule out other hiccups either. This is also independent of any thermal throttling or GPU/CPU utilization.
It’s a shame because Diablo 4 has otherwise been everything I’ve wanted out of a sequel, and it’s even felt way meatier than it has any right to be. I have faith that Blizzard will iron things out, but in the meantime please let me know in the comments whether or not this fix worked for you (or if you’ve found another solution entirely).
Lover of games, tech, nature, and strange electronic music. Shaped by Sega, PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox – platform agnostic ever since. Currently overwhelmed by choice on my Xbox Series X thanks to Game Pass.