WoW Source

[Forever Beta 1.60.1.70425] Client imposes 60 FPS “thermal” cap at 32°C — NVIDIA API_TRIGGERED status

Posted by Coremacht-3455003 in WoW: Forever Beta Discussion, on the US forum. Read it there.

Coremacht-3455003
#1

Summary

The Forever beta is imposing a 60 FPS cap while its own graphics log reports a GPU temperature of just 32°C.

The log shows the client changing its thermal state from Normal to Serious and immediately imposing the cap. The associated NVIDIA status is:

NV_GPU_PERF_DECREASE_REASON_API_TRIGGERED

This happens despite the foreground FPS limiter and VSync being disabled. The game can initially run around 170 FPS, then become capped at 60 during play. Restarting cleared the cap on one occasion, but it subsequently returned. On the latest launch, the cap was imposed almost immediately.

I am also experiencing occasional brief freezes accompanied by a harsh buzzing sound through my headphones/speakers, including during startup. I do not know whether these freezes and the FPS cap share a cause.

System information

The client correctly selects the RTX 5080 and reports:

Actual behavior

The game can run around 170 FPS before abruptly settling at 60 FPS.

The cap occurs while actively playing with WoW in the foreground.

Restarting can temporarily clear it, but it returns.

The latest launch imposed the cap while the GPU was essentially idle-temperature.

The client explicitly logs that it is imposing the cap, rather than this merely being an observed performance drop.

Relevant graphics log

From the October 15 session, immediately after startup:

An earlier session showed the same sequence during play:

Checks performed

Live in-game CVar output showed:

The foreground limiter was therefore disabled; 120 was its stored limit value.

Other observations:

The client detects the monitor at 180 Hz.

A separate NVIDIA temperature reading shortly before the latest launch was 33°C, consistent with WoW’s subsequent 32°C reading.

NVIDIA diagnostic samples taken after the earlier incident showed no active hardware or software thermal slowdown, with both thermal slowdown counters at 0 microseconds. These were subsequent samples, not simultaneous measurements of the triggering instant.

Expected behavior

The client should maintain uncapped rendering when the relevant FPS limits are disabled, unless a valid protective condition requires otherwise.

If a driver status triggers a protective cap, the log should make the reason clear. In this case, the reported reason is API_TRIGGERED, while the client categorizes the condition as a Serious thermal state, even at 32°C.

Reproduction pattern

I do not have a guaranteed manual trigger, but it has occurred repeatedly:

Launch the Forever beta using DirectX 12.

Enter the game with foreground FPS limiting and VSync disabled.

Play normally.

The game either starts capped or drops from substantially higher FPS to a sustained 60 FPS.

Check Logs\gx.log for the thermal-state transition and explicit cap message above.

Request for investigation

Please investigate how the beta handles NV_GPU_PERF_DECREASE_REASON_API_TRIGGERED, particularly:

Why that status results in a Serious thermal state and a 60 FPS cap.

Whether the cap is correctly removed when the triggering condition clears.

Whether the startup freezes and audio buzzing are related.

The evidence establishes that the client imposes the cap while reporting a low GPU temperature. It does not yet establish whether the underlying problem is NVIDIA’s reported status, the beta’s interpretation of that status, or an interaction between the two.

Rommax-244181 WoW Developer
#16 Blizzard

I see the issue, we’ll get a fix into a beta build soon

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