Windows 11 22H2, which is the first major feature update to the operating system, has unfortunately introduced some problems for gamers, especially those with Nvidia graphics cards.
As we explained in the previous report, some people with Nvidia GPUs found their games weren’t running as smoothly, and there’s nothing worse than applying an update to see the magic frames per second (fps) drop, resulting in unstable gameplay.
We heard that both Microsoft and Nvidia are investigating the cause of these issues and Team Green has offered a solution.
Neowin (opens in a new tab) brought our attention to Nvidia which found the reason which was the new graphics debugging tools in the major Windows 11 update that were mistakenly started which slowed everything down.
And the cure provided by Nvidia is to install a new beta version of GeForce Experience, specifically version 3.26 as described here (opens in a new tab). Follow Nvidia’s instructions, but the easiest way to summarize is to open GeForce Experience, go to Settings, then select “Enable Experimental Features” (in other words, beta features).
Next, close the application – wait 30 seconds, apparently – and then restart GeForce Experience, after which it will update. You should then be ready and the frame rate gremlins will be removed (hopefully).
Analysis: You don’t want this beta? Fortunately, we will be releasing the driver soon
Of course, not everyone wants to install beta software, because it can be problematic by its very nature – the provided functions are still in the testing phase. This means that the fix may not work for some, and there’s also a chance that another new problem might appear somewhere. This wouldn’t be the first time the beta patch gave with one hand and took away with the other.
There’s also the fact that some gamers don’t have any GeForce Experience truck at all, preferring to avoid it and just use the Nvidia graphics driver itself. In any case, if you don’t feel like installing what’s available right now, the good news is that at some point this week there will be a new GeForce Game Ready driver – and you’ll be able to fix it. With any luck, it will be in a few days.
Note that some have raised the possibility that GeForce Experience software was at least partially responsible for the stuttering and frame rate drops here, but those who don’t have this installed also encountered fps issues after upgrading to Windows 11 22H2, so this one principle this theory.
Lastly, GeForce Experience v3.26 introduces 8K 60fps HDR recording for ShadowPlay, Nvidia’s screen recording tool – although that applies to the next-gen Lovelace GPUs that are just around the corner.