When it comes to gaming performance, Nvidia's latest 'Nvidia App' has been making waves. Installed by default with the driver package, this application has been found to reduce performance by up to 15% in certain games. Last month, when Nvidia rolled out its 566.14 drivers, it officially placed GeForce Experience (GFE) on legacy status. The first time you load GFE with these drivers, it prompts you to update to the new Nvidia App. You can decline, but there will be no further updates for GFE. With the 566.36 drivers, Nvidia completely removed GFE and left only the Nvidia App. Or, you can choose to run without its extra features and install the drivers only. It seems that for now, skipping the Nvidia App might be the better option, as there are reports across the web confirming that it hurts gaming performance, dropping framerates by up to 15% in some cases. Uncover the Hidden Impact of Nvidia's New App on Gaming
Impact on Different Games
There were some interesting anomalies during our tests. For instance, at 1440p ultra, Stalker 2 ran faster with the App. But it was clear that in either case, it was running out of VRAM, making the numbers inconsistent. Probably, our initial testing just happened to be a 'lucky' run. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 also showed slightly better results at 1440p ultra when using the App. However, it was within the margin of error, and neither result was particularly promising with framerates less than 30 fps.In most other cases, not having the Nvidia App installed (or at least not running; we didn't check that scenario) led to improved performance. We expected 1080p medium to show the largest difference as it's more CPU-limited, but the performance hit seemed mostly independent of the settings and resolutions we tested. Some games had a smaller performance hit, while others had a larger one. Of course, we're only talking about one set of hardware tested for now, but it's clear that there is a significant reduction in performance.Some people have suggested that Unreal Engine 5 games are the most affected. According to our numbers, Assassin's Creed Mirage was the biggest loser, with a 9% drop at 1080p medium, 12% at 1080p ultra, and 6% at 1440p ultra. Stalker 2 also lost around 6% (excluding the 1440p ultra result). Black Myth: Wukong only dropped by about 2-6 percent. Baldur's Gate 3, a DirectX 11 game, saw a 3-4 percent hit, and Flight Simulator 2024 lost 6% at 1080p as well.It's likely that the performance loss will vary with different CPUs and GPUs. Without further testing, we can't determine exactly how much. At least one user reported a 15% performance loss in Black Myth: Wukong when testing an RTX 4080 Super paired with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, suggesting that higher-performance GPUs might be even more impacted.We've reached out to Nvidia for comment, and we expect there will be some intense behind-the-scenes work to identify the root cause and hopefully fix the issue. In the meantime, if you don't need the extra features the App offers and prefer higher gaming performance, we recommend doing a clean driver install and skipping the Nvidia App for now. After spending a significant part of the past year in beta status, we can't help but question why Nvidia didn't leave it there to be refined for a few more months.
