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Nvidia Hotfix Driver Restores Windows 11 Game Performance After October Update

Independent tests show the hotfix restores frame rates lost after October's KB5066835 update.

Overview

  • Digital Foundry found Assassin's Creed Shadows suffering roughly 33% to 50% lower frame rates after KB5066835 on a Ryzen 9800X3D and RTX 5090 test system.
  • Nvidia released GeForce Hotfix driver 581.94 to address the regression, with the company stating the fixes will roll into the next official driver.
  • User benchmarks report large gains after installing the hotfix, including cases near 50% or more and notably higher 1% lows that reduce stutter.
  • Nvidia describes the hotfix as a targeted beta based on its latest Game Ready release, and performance improvements vary by game and hardware.
  • Microsoft has not issued its own fix, the exact cause remains under investigation with DWM/MPO changes suspected, and the impact on AMD and Intel GPUs is still unclear.