Nvidia App Causes FPS Drops in Some Games and PCs

Nvidia's New App Causes FPS Drops in Some Games

Nvidia's recently released application is causing frame rate drops in specific games and PC configurations. This article explores this performance issue stemming from Nvidia's latest game optimization software.

Impact on Game Performance

PC Gamer's December 18th testing revealed inconsistent frame rates in some games and PC builds using the Nvidia App. Several users reported stuttering. A temporary solution, suggested by Nvidia staff, involves disabling the "Game Filters and Photo Mode" overlay.

Testing Black Myth: Wukong on a high-end system (Ryzen 7 7800X3D and RTX 4070 Super) showed a slight FPS increase (59 fps to 63 fps at 1080p Very High settings) with the overlay off. However, enabling the overlay and lowering graphics to Medium resulted in a significant 12% frame rate drop. Cyberpunk 2077 testing on a different high-end system (Core Ultra 9 285K and RTX 4080 Super) showed no noticeable difference with the overlay enabled or disabled. This suggests the problem is game and/or system specific.

These findings, corroborated by user reports on Twitter (X), highlight the instability. While disabling the overlay offers a partial solution, many users continue to experience performance issues. Some users suggest reverting to older graphics drivers. Nvidia has yet to release an official fix beyond the overlay workaround.

Nvidia App's Official Launch and Background

Launched in February 2024 as a beta replacement for GeForce Experience, the Nvidia App officially launched in November 2024. This coincided with a graphics driver update in preparation for new game releases. The app offers enhanced features and a new overlay system, eliminating the need for separate account logins.

Despite its improvements, Nvidia needs to address the negative impact on certain games and PC configurations to ensure a smooth user experience.