Nvidia’s new app may be slowing down your PC games

The recent replacement of Nvidia’s GeForce Experience with the new Nvidia App has led to unexpected performance issues affecting gaming frame rates, even when the app’s new features aren’t actively being used.

Key performance impact: Testing reveals that the new Nvidia App’s background processes are causing significant frame rate reductions across multiple high-end games.

• Frame rate testing shows drops of 3-6% across various games and settings when running the Nvidia App
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage experienced the most severe impact with a 12% frame rate reduction at 1080p Ultra settings
• Other affected games include Baldur’s Gate 3, Black Myth: Wukong, Flight Simulator 2024, and Stalker 2

Technical root cause: The performance issues stem from the app’s new AI-powered Game Filters feature, which impacts performance even when not actively being used.

• The filters are designed to provide “dynamic vibrance” for better distinguishing game elements
• Virtual HDR color support is included for games lacking native HDR capabilities
• The mere presence of these optional filters enabled in the app affects performance during gameplay

Available solutions: Users can take specific steps to address the performance impact while Nvidia works on a fix.

• Complete disabling of Game Filters through the app settings resolves the performance issues
• Users can navigate to “Nvidia App Settings > Features > Overlay > Game Filters and Photo Mode” to disable the feature
• Alternative option includes manually installing GPU drivers directly from Nvidia’s website

Company response: Nvidia has acknowledged the issue and is working to address user concerns.

• The company has confirmed awareness of the performance problems related to Game Filters
• An active investigation is underway to resolve the unexpected performance impact
• No specific timeline has been provided for when a fix will be available

Performance context: The real-world impact of this issue is putting the new app’s efficiency into question.

• The performance hit is equivalent to downgrading from an RTX 4070 Ti Super to an older RTX 4070 Ti or 4070 Super
• This impact is particularly notable given that the app is primarily meant to run passively in the background
• While the app did remove the previous login requirement, the performance trade-off may outweigh this benefit for many users

Looking ahead: The unexpected performance impact of what should be a background utility raises questions about the integration of AI features in gaming software, suggesting that developers may need to more carefully balance advanced features with system resource management.