Powerful as graphics cards like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 are, driver instabilities can bring down even the most powerful GPUs, as a tragic moment from PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen demonstrates all too well. Annoying as it is to lose time to a driver crash, it’s nothing compared to having the chance to win a $1.25 million prize pool slip through your fingers.
Each PC at this Counter-Strike 2 tournament uses an Nvidia RTX 4080, one of the best graphics cards you could hope to equip yourself with for professional play. The rest of the rigs are identical in spec too, but no amount of precautions can prepare any hardware for a software issue.
In the second round of a best of three, Virtus Pro were a few rounds away from qualifying for the playoffs, only for their aspirations to be squashed through no fault of their own. As shown in the above Twitch clip, player Jame experiences a graphics card driver crash that irrecoverably steers the round in G2’s favor, culminating in Virtus Pro losing the match 11-13.
Virtus Pro would then go on to lose the subsequent tie break match as the round was not replayed. In effect, the graphics card driver crash partly cost the team their chance at winning an eventual $1.25 million prize pool.
Following the incident, PGL put out a clarifying statement on X, confirming that “a technical malfunction occurred due to an Nvidia driver crash, resulting in a game crash.” The company says it is continuing to investigate the matter, but the damage is naturally already done for Jame and their Virtus Pro teammates.
PGL conducted a a serious amount of benchmarking and tests before announcing its CS2 optimized specs, now in play at the major, likely making this issue an unfortunate anomaly. It’s possible that the problem can be replicated but it will be likely be difficult.
Speaking after the loss to G2, Jame was understandably crushed and described the crash, somewhat damningly, as “part of the game.” However, to their credit, Jame doesn’t want to dewll and instead is focussing on brighter days, saying, “there is no time to be sad. We have a new tournament soon, and this is a chance to rehabilitate ourselves before the community and show what we are capable of.”
While it’s a shame that this driver crash cost Virtus Pro so much, we don’t think it’s any reason not to pick up the RTX 4080. However, we’d sooner recommend its replacement, as should be made clear by giving our Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 review a read.
For those of you diving back into Counter-Strike, check out our best CS2 settings guide to make sure you’re not a few frames short performing a game-changing clutch.