Nvidia issues hotfix for Windows 11 22H2 stuttering issues
Updating to GeForce Experience 3.26 addresses the problems.
The last week has been a strong one for Nvidia. The announcement of the RTX 40 series generated a lot of buzz, but the company has also been dealing with many complaints from gamers after updating to Windows 11 22H2. Users took to social media to report issues with stuttering and lag. After an investigation, it turns out that the GeForce Experience software was to blame.
According to Bleeping Computer, reports of issues surfaced last week. This thread over at the Windows community forum gives examples of the problems users were having. Reports of large fluctuations in CPU usage resulting in stuttering and lag were numerous. The issues were gone after rolling back to the previous Windows version.
Over at the official GeForce forums, Nvidia staff member Manuel posted the following: "Thank you for your feedback. Windows 11 22H2 added new graphics debugging tools which are inadvertently getting triggered and this is leading to some users to see lower performance in games. We are working on a fix."
That fix is now available. Nvidia posted an article on its support site directing users to either download GeForce Experience 3.26 beta or update from within the GeForce experience app itself, though to do so, you need to go to the app settings and ‘enable experimental features’ which gives permission to install the beta version.
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It’s well worth installing the update if you are experiencing issues, but if you’re not or haven’t yet installed the Windows 22H2 update, you might as well wait until Nvidia rolls out a non-beta version and driver. According to Nvidia, that should be released during the week of September 26. So, any day now.
Nvidia deserves credit for rolling out an update so quickly. The fact that it did indicates that it was a relatively simple fix and one that didn’t require a lot of testing before a public release.
Graphics card drivers are shockingly complex pieces of software. As someone with only the most basic coding knowledge, sometimes I’m amazed that the damn things work at all.
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Chris' gaming experiences go back to the mid-nineties when he conned his parents into buying an 'educational PC' that was conveniently overpowered to play Doom and Tie Fighter. He developed a love of extreme overclocking that destroyed his savings despite the cheaper hardware on offer via his job at a PC store. To afford more LN2 he began moonlighting as a reviewer for VR-Zone before jumping the fence to work for MSI Australia. Since then, he's gone back to journalism, enthusiastically reviewing the latest and greatest components for PC & Tech Authority, PC Powerplay and currently Australian Personal Computer magazine and PC Gamer. Chris still puts far too many hours into Borderlands 3, always striving to become a more efficient killer.