Summary
- Nvidia’s latest driver (576.02) results in significant 5-10% performance gains in various games across different GPU models.
- Users reported notable increases in 3DMark scores and real-game performance, especially with the 50-series GPUs.
- The driver update not only improves performance but also addresses numerous longstanding bugs, making it a worthwhile upgrade.
After months of battling issues with instability, Nvidia finally addressed dozens of bugs with a new driver release on Wednesday. But it looks like Nvidia did more than squash bugs with the latest driver release. Now that the driver is out in the wild, reports are rolling in about improved performance in games, sometimes as high as 10%.
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Nvidia’s 576.02 driver reportedly comes with big performance gains
Maybe it’s time to re-test some graphics cards
Although driver releases incrementally improve performance, you don’t normally see such a stark jump with a single driver release, especially with drivers as mature as Nvidia’s. Still, there are close to a dozen posts in the Nvidia subreddit of users seeing somewhere between a 5% and 10% performance improvement with Nvidia’s latest 576.02 driver, and it’s a consistent improvement across various Nvidia graphics cards.
The first report came from Tech619, who went from a score of 8832 in 3DMark Steel Nomad before the driver release to a score of 9215 after on an MSI RTX 5080 Vanguard OC. That’s a solid 4% jump, which is nothing to sneeze at considering the thin margins of Nvidia’s more recent GPU releases like the RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 Ti. Another user, CurryGorYT, saw a 7% jump in Steel Nomad using the RTX 5070 Ti. Yet another RTX 5070 Ti user, CellTastic, shared an 8% jump in performance with the latest driver, also in Steel Nomad.
3DMark is a synthetic test, but thankfully, users are reporting performance improvements in real games, too. With the RTX 5070 Ti, user revel09 shared screenshots showing a 7% improvement in Cyberpunk 2077 with the game’s RT Overdrive preset, which turns on path tracing. With the new driver, the card was able to achieve above 80 frames per second (fps) at 1440p with DLSS set to Balanced and no frame generation. That’s an impressive showing for such demanding graphics settings.
The improvements largely focus on the performance of RTX 50-series GPUs, but users are reporting slight jumps on RTX 40-series cards, as well. User AerithGainsborough7 shared several benchmarks with the RTX 4070 Ti Super, showing a 3% jump in Steel Nomad and 4% improvement in both Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong. Tests from other users aren’t as rosy on the performance gains, though several commenters have noted improved 1% low frame rates with Nvidia’s latest driver.
The most important thing is that Nvidia’s latest driver works. The changelog is massive for 576.02, with Nvidia killing dozens of bugs that have been plaguing its GPUs for months. It’s a good idea to upgrade regardless. And, hey, if you get an extra performance boost, that’s not going to hurt anything.
