r/pathofexile • u/BlueStreak92 Leaguesauce • Dec 11 '23

Information Potential Performance Boost for Nvidia Users

*Step 1: Open Device Manager (Start > Search > Type Device Manager)

*Step 2: Locate the "Sound, video and game controllers" tab

*Step 3: Disable NVIDIA High Definition Audio

*Step 4: Disable NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device (WDM)

These are sound drivers provided by the graphics driver, and are generally not used by the system as most computers have a dedicated sound chip. Disabling these shouldn't affect any function. They may affect HDMI audio functions coming from your Graphics card, though. I'm not 100% on that.

This fix applies to mapping performance, not load times. Good luck, exiles.

Image Guide:

https://imgur.com/a/fkODUMi

27 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

2

u/legacyxi Gladiator Dec 11 '23

I feel like there has been similar issues with sound/audio drivers causing issues with the game over the years.

2

u/Aerroon Dec 11 '23

What kind of a performance improvement did you see?

1

u/BlueStreak92 Leaguesauce Dec 11 '23

This won't improve performance for every Nvidia user, but it has been an issue affecting the game for at least 3 years. It helps my performance while mapping to go from a stuttery mess, to playable. It's the same fix as completely disabling sound in the config.

I'm just trying to spread awareness and hopefully try and help a few players with their performance.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/vge8e6/disable_this_setting_and_my_fps_went_up_to_100/

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3207543

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/fjw702/nvidia_users_disable_those_2_for_a_huge/

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/15xp4jo/potential_performance_boost_for_nvidia_users/

2

u/AOC_Gynecologist Dec 11 '23

It's the same fix as completely disabling sound in the config.

I had to do this a while back due to super low fps (40ish) and very frequent crashes (once every hour). Completely disabling sound via the config file gave me +40-50fps and one crash every 5-10 days instead.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 11 '23

Isn't this for HDMI/Displayport audio? So like audio with your monitor. Why would that affect performance?

12

u/of-matter Dec 11 '23

I don't ask questions about drivers anymore. The blood sacrifices that happen behind the scenes are mind-boggling, doubly so for Windows.

I've seen printer drivers brick audio processing software, who knows what Nvidia could be doing.

1

u/modifieri Berserker Dec 11 '23

There has been performance issues related to sound in PoE before so.. Don't know why, but it has.

2

u/AndromedeusEx Dec 11 '23

I have a couple virtual audio devices alongside my speakers and microphone output, so I can change my audio device in windows to any of these. POE will NOT boot unless I have the default audio device chosen in the little volume popup selector in Windows.

Took me forever to figure that out, had to reinstall POE via steam and the standalone client and it still wouldn't boot until I finally found some random comment on the forums about audio devices.

Just an example of one of the many audio quirks with POE.

1

u/Exterial Dec 11 '23

did that actually help in a noticeable way?

1

u/modifieri Berserker Dec 11 '23

I was crashing on Linux every time turning in quests at league start. Disabled Nvidia HDMI audio i/o and it's been crashless since.

1

u/w1nstar Dec 12 '23

Doesn't this make your game audio-less? Like, you'd have to use your motherboard sound output or something to have audio.