News We tested the Nvidia App performance problems — games can run up to 15 percent slower with the app

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Mindstab Thrull said:
Just making sure:
Is this Nvidia app vs GFE or Nvidia vs no software at all? If the latter, are you relying on Windows for the drivers?
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It's 566.36 drivers, installed with the Nvidia App (originally) and now tested with a clean install (Display Driver Uninstaller, plus I tested some other GPUs in the interim) and this time I selected to only install the drivers. You get that option with the drivers, just like with GFE where you could opt out of installing it. I never trust Windows Update to provide current drivers for GPUs.
JamesJones44 said:
Out of curiosity is the CPU load different with it installed vs uninstalled?

The rest of the physical numbers (not FPS) seem like they would be within a margin of error.
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Took some reworking of my scripts to easily extract the data, but...

Avg. CPU load:
Without NV App: 28.7%
With NV App: 29.6%

Avg. CPU power:
Without NV App: 57.0W
With NV App: 57.3W

So still a small enough delta that I don't think that's it. Probably just some code where it's causing stalls in the GPU or drivers.
 
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I have an ASUS 4070 Ti, and I recently installed the new app to try. Here's my early experience so far. I have gotten an occasional stutter while playing Battlefield 2042 (only game currently playing). They are brief, and do not happen often. May happen once or twice during a match, and then I'm good. Did not have this issue while using the old GeForce Experience. Also, trying to record game videos is a pain. Most times I cannot get it to record, even with several attempts. I've tried different Key bindings set to record, but the issue is still there. Sometimes it will record, but 99% of the time, it won't. Never had this issue with the old GeForce Experience. Overall, I do feel the game ran smoother using the older GeForce Experience.

I'm on the latest Windows 11 Pro update. And I customize game settings myself. I have not let the app optimize them for me.

The old saying holds true. Newer isn't always better. 🙄
 
Was RTX HDR for games being utilized under the “global” section on the bottom of the game setting page? know that can really cause a performance penalty in some cases.
 
I just tried 566.36 vs 566.14 with Intel MLC because I was curious if it was a latency issue. I had my 13900kf set to stock clocks with e-cores off for better MLC consistency. The idle latency read the same but the loaded latencies went up from 2ns to 5ns getting worse with lower inject delay with the app driver. Using DDU and reinstalling the older driver returned the latencies to their previous lower values.

This isn't as bad as that Asus Armoury Crate was in 2021. I didn't test games with Armoury Crate installed vs not because it was really tough to get rid of unlike this latest Nvidia driver. And I always thought the X3D CPUs were less sensitive to ram latency so maybe my MLC results are just a side effect of some other thing going on with this driver that is hurting some games performance.

Edit: I also did not have the app open when I was running MLC, but it was minimized to the tray as per Windows startup behavior and I didn't open it from the tray prior to running MLC. It should be easy for somebody else to check on their own, just run MLC a few times (to make sure there isn't some background process messing with it) with the new vs some old driver.
 
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ill disable the Nvidia overlay immediately... nvidia started to do trash things lately. i'm experiencing issues with indiana jones latest nvidia drivers also ...
 
After reading this I'm glad I've stayed away from the Nvidia app. I liked some features of the GeForce Experience and used it for a long time but it did give me issues at times. With my newest build I decided to skip the GeForce Experience and the Nvidia app altogether and haven't missed it at all.
 
Certainly! Here’s a professional response addressing the query:



Clarification on Nvidia App Settings During Performance Testing


The article does not specify the exact settings used in the Nvidia App during testing, which is a critical factor when analyzing performance impacts. It is particularly important to confirm whether the Nvidia overlay was enabled, as overlays can introduce additional system load.


If the Nvidia overlay was active alongside other overlays such as Steam, Discord, or third-party software, the combined overhead could have contributed to the reported slowdowns. Multiple active overlays are known to interfere with system resources, affecting frame rates and overall gaming performance.


To provide a more accurate assessment, further testing should include:


  • Explicit details on overlay settings (enabled/disabled).
  • Confirmation of other overlays running concurrently (Steam, Discord, Xbox Game Bar, etc.).
  • Comparative benchmarks with overlays turned off to isolate the impact of the Nvidia App itself.

These details would help clarify whether the reported performance drop stems solely from the Nvidia App or the interaction between multiple overlays.



Let me know if you'd like to refine this further or include any additional details!
 
thestryker said:
Tim from HUB tested this and it's the Game Filters and Photo Mode part of the overlay settings causing the issue. Most comedic part is that apparently this setting on GeForce Experience does not cause any performance problems. That would indicate to me this is just a buggy release of the nvidia app.

View: https://youtu.be/aBW_3tArLOY?si=RfThIpxU3efm_yap
Click to expand...
Yeah, Nvidia found the workaround and publicly posted it last night. Lots of people "taking credit" for finding the problem, but AFAIK they're all getting the same information from Nvidia. I assume there will be a fix in the next driver release. I don't think it warrants a Hotfix, but we shall see.
 
heize said:
From what I've seen browsing the net so far, all tests have been done on Windows 11 from the looks of it. I'm too lazy to uninstall NVApp on my Windows 10 to test it myself, but disabling overlay and whatever does not have any effect on my framerates whatsoever. This could be something exclusive to Windows 11.
Neither GFE nor NVApp should have any performance impact when you're not actually using any of it's features (filters, video recording, rtx hdr).
This is just a bad clickbaity article - we tested performance problems! (but we actually didn't fully test anything). Not testing Win 10 when half of PC gamers are still using this OS? Like come on.
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I tested it on Win 11 and couldn't get my performance to change unless I turned on video recording. I only tested it in one kind of benchmark, though.
 
FYI, I've retested the RTX 4060 using Nvidia's workaround of disabling the Game Filters and Photo Mode option. The charts are updated. I also retested the RTX 4060 in Stalker 2 at 1440p ultra with the Nvidia App running at the default settings, as that result was higher initially. It ran okay for a bit and then chokes after maybe a minute (or less, sometimes).

GFE had the same options, and having the toggle for Game Filters and Photo Mode enabled (but without using any filters) did not impact performance. So, this is indeed a 'bug' that should be easily fixable.
 
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JarredWaltonGPU said:
Yeah, Nvidia found the workaround and publicly posted it last night. Lots of people "taking credit" for finding the problem, but AFAIK they're all getting the same information from Nvidia. I assume there will be a fix in the next driver release. I don't think it warrants a Hotfix, but we shall see.
Click to expand...
I mostly wonder if it was introduced recently or if it had somehow gone under the radar. I never install anything aside from the base driver, but this doesn't instill me with confidence since the long term plan seems to be replacing the control panel with the app.
 
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thestryker said:
I mostly wonder if it was introduced recently or if it had somehow gone under the radar. I never install anything aside from the base driver, but this doesn't instill me with confidence since the long term plan seems to be replacing the control panel with the app.
Click to expand...
I do wonder how long the Nvidia Control Panel will stick around alongside the Nvidia App. Hopefully indefinitely! 😀
 
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For supposed technical readers, none even thought to disable the overlay? I did that at initial install because I don't use Nvidia capture or overlay crap and I never saw any of this. As the update shows it's not even the whole overlay, but a couple features in the overlay. SMH and shame on Toms for such a poor job testing, you should have check if overlay was on or off when testing.
 
JarredWaltonGPU said:
It's 566.36 drivers, installed with the Nvidia App (originally) and now tested with a clean install (Display Driver Uninstaller, plus I tested some other GPUs in the interim) and this time I selected to only install the drivers. You get that option with the drivers, just like with GFE where you could opt out of installing it. I never trust Windows Update to provide current drivers for GPUs.

Took some reworking of my scripts to easily extract the data, but...

Avg. CPU load:
Without NV App: 28.7%
With NV App: 29.6%

Avg. CPU power:
Without NV App: 57.0W
With NV App: 57.3W

So still a small enough delta that I don't think that's it. Probably just some code where it's causing stalls in the GPU or drivers.
Click to expand...
Can you run it again with NvApp and overlay off?
 
tjvaldez01 said:
Can you run it again with NvApp and overlay off?
Click to expand...
Why don't you go read the whole article again, and keep your shaming to yourself, thanks.

It's the default installation option, it's what most people will use, and it includes the Nvidia App. It's why so many people got caught off-guard, because having the overlay enabled with GFE didn't hurt performance in the past. The article text explains everything that was tested and shows the performance, and I have no intention to go back and retest additional options when we already have the official answer.
 
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So basically if you turn off the filters, you lose rtx hdr. There is no point to the nv app other than being able to use hdr imo. I uninstalled it until they can fix it.
 
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