Get It Together, NVIDIA | Terrible GPU Driver Stability

NVIDIA has major GPU driver instability problems right now, and that includes the newer RTX 50 series (like the 5090) and the prior RTX 40 and 30 series alike. We read through user reports, then set forth to try and replicate the issues. In our reviews process, these problems didn't pop-up -- which gave us two critical hints: First, newer drivers may be (and were) worse than launch day drivers; second, some specific user configurations and NVIDIA game graphics settings were the problems. We found issues with setups using DLSS4, frame generation, GSync, and even just the monitor ports in a multi-monitor setup. We also pinpointed the newer driver versions as being key to these failures.

If you're having issues with games crashing on NVIDIA graphics cards, flickering, artifacting, black screens, and random shut downs and crashes to desktop, then those would match our findings here. The fixes are mostly workarounds right now.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - NVIDIA Has Become AMD
03:12 - The Problems and Testing
07:29 - FAIL: DLSS, FrameGen, GSync, Monitor Ports
14:37 - Other Issues
19:38 - Recap of Workarounds
21:02 - The Best Way to Clean GPU Drivers
23:17 - Conclusion

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Steve Burke: Host, Test Lead, Writing
Vitalii Makhnovets: Video Editing
Tannen Williams: Testing, Research, Writing

[CARTUNE.]

My driver just crashed as I was watching this. As soon as I get home, I'll file a complaint with Uber and then power on my PC to see how bad these actually are.

[sorantorann]

How many more balls are there left for Nvidia to drop? Fire hazard? Check. Misleading marketing? Check. Hardware issues? Check. Software issues? Check. No stock? Check. False pricing? Check. Is it gonna explode next?

[DustinHarms]

Mentioned this in the news video, but Path of Exile 2's developers (Grinding Gear Games) have reported sinking literal months of their engine dev team into trying to fix a particular nVIDIA crash....and their only solution has been to literally cache everything from the game when the driver crashes, pause the game, and then re-load from the cache when the driver recovers, to minimally interrupt gameplay. It's actually wild that it seems the folks holding the bag for these drivers are game developers, not just nVIDIA.

[XJRftw]

I have a 4090 and feel like a second class customer when it's literally THE MOST EXPENSIVE card of the last generation.

Crashes, artifacts, all the stuff that could make you paranoid of your GPU dying... is actually just driver issues. Ugh.

[louiesatterwhite]

I'm willing to bet Nvidia has started handing off driver coding to their AI

[daemonspudguy]

Nvidia's drivers on Linux just didn't work throughout most of March and the ones from February required me to go through an absurd song and dance of unplugging my monitor from the DisplayPort, plugging into HDMI, waiting until my desktop showed up, unplugging HDMI, and plugging DisplayPort back in. Now, you might be asking why I had to do that. Well, that's because if I didn't, the system would just hang.

[blueRock-rx]

What owning 90% of the GPU market does.

- Driver issues.
- Missing rops.
- out of stock.
- Carefully on purpose inflated prices.
- 10%-15% performance gain outside the 90 series.
- Burning cables.

Not only do they own 90% of the GPU market now, but also 90% of the problems it can get.

[thingsiplay]

"How the turns have tabled."

I see, a man of culture.

[nightbirdds]

I'm a Doom II modder, using GZDoom. I've noticed since January that our mod's performance has been getting worse and worse over time, and we've been trying to figure out why. GZDoom crashing to desktop, catastrophic stuttering, lag, and all kinds of stuff, even artifacts playing video in Kodi.

After hearing about this, we tried rolling back to 566.36. The performance recovered, completely. Now, GZDoom doesn't have any sort of frame generation. Plus, we only have one monitor each. So, even a Doom source port is effected here.

I should also mention this is on two different systems. Rtx 3060 Ti on one, and RTX 2070 Super on the other.

[hawksonfire]

Every update: “Stability improvements”
My GPU: “Best I can do is a black screen.”

[asmodeusml]

Imagine having a GPU market where you choose a card not depending on what's best in terms of price and/or performance, but depending on which manufacturer fucks up the least and wants to rip you off slightly less.

[JLi_Photos]

Thanks to the Gamer Nexus team for shedding light on the issue that has been plaguing us gamers everywhere. We appreciate you guys!

[barreling]

Nvidia users went from making fun of amd drivers to now seeing the consequences themselves

[lunetailedfox]

The unpaid intern at AMD writing their GPU drivers is ecstatic right now.

Edit: can't believe I have to clarify this but yes, it is a joke, so stop getting your panties in a bunch in the replies. I've used several RDNA2 and 3 cards and had no issues.

[neurokremmilan]

This is why I appreciate GN. They dont just benchamark GPUs and CPUs, they try to address problems that common folk have. Not many people have the possibility to obtain newest GPUs like myself and rely on older RTX 3xxx or 2xxx graphic cards, so the good drives play a big role. Thanks GN.

[TPCV]

As someone who "works in the industry....blahblah who cares", the steps laid out for proper uninstall were just so so SO good. You guys/gals (all of you!) are the best and steps laid out like that are really helpful to so many!

[Hullbreachdetected]

This is what happens when a multi trillion company stops giving shit about gaming sector. They are getting 90% revenue from professional/commercial sector, so they thought axing their gaming GPU driver development team is justified. We are experiencing the consequences.

[Madu-ps]

Imagine building a new system and going through this hell thinking you've done something wrong only to find out Nvidia is not giving a shit anymore...

[siberx]

For any old gamers out there, there's something very nostalgic about Alt+Tab causing problems. It was an _extremely_ common trigger for crashes and issues with fullscreen games for many, many years, and this has only mostly been better-behaved recently because of changes to the compositor stack-up with modern Windows versions combined with a prevalence of borderless fullscreen (vs exclusive fullscreen) modes.

[Krisdayana-vcm]

From mocking AMD drivers, Nvidia users are now experiencing the repercussions firsthand.