When I heard that the brand new Nvidia App might cut back efficiency by as much as 15%, I used to be shocked. If that is the primary you’re listening to about it, I’m certain you’re shocked, too. The information stems from Sebastian Castellanos, who posted on X a couple of massive efficiency drop with the Nvidia App put in in each Black Myth: Wukong and The Talos Principle 2. Some information shops ran with the declare, together with Tom’s Hardware and Dark Side of Gaming, exhibiting unique testing that backed up the efficiency loss.
The solely drawback? The Nvidia App isn’t responsible.
Still, there have already been loads of Reddit posts, fist-shaking on social media, and information posts amplifying this story, so I went forward and examined out 4 video games to see if the Nvidia App was actually inflicting a efficiency loss with a few of Nvidia’s finest graphics playing cards. At first look, there’s a measurable distinction with the app uninstalled, and that distinction exhibits up throughout video games. It simply has nothing to do with the Nvidia App being put in. It’s the Nvidia overlay.
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Before attending to some extra opinionated bits, let’s take a look at the info. Below, you possibly can see the video games I examined. The unique testing speculated that Unreal Engine 5 video games noticed a major hit in efficiency, so I examined Black Myth: Wukong, Stalker 2, and Silent Hill 2. I additionally included a go of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to see if change was particular to UE5 video games, or if it might impression titles utilizing different engines, as properly.
You can see the outcomes for your self. There is a transparent, measurable improve in efficiency with the Nvidia App uninstalled. It’s not going to make a major distinction in your gameplay expertise, however when an additional 5% to 10% efficiency is on the desk, it’s laborious to argue with that. All of the protection of this story I’ve seen up to now ends right here. Uninstall the Nvidia App, efficiency improves, and subsequently there should be an issue with the Nvidia app.
But once you hold the Nvidia App put in and disable the Nvidia overlay, one thing magical occurs. Performance goes proper again as much as the place it was with the app uninstalled. With Silent Hill 2, I truly noticed barely larger efficiency — although, I’m keen to pin that on variation in testing moderately than the app doing a little behind-the-scenes wizardry.
If you allow the Nvidia overlay the primary time you put in the Nvidia App, it stays enabled, even in the event you by no means pull it up. That consists of the overlay’s sport filters and Photo Mode, together with the entire sport recording, system monitoring, and graphics settings out there within the overlay correct. All it is advisable to do to disable it’s open the Nvidia App, head to Settings and uncheck the field subsequent to Nvidia overlay.
When tales like this break, there’s a mad sprint to confirm (or refute) claims which can be circulating on-line, and the testing throughout that sprint is mostly restricted, and generally, short-sighted. It appears that’s what’s happening right here. As you’ve in all probability heard earlier than, correlation doesn’t equal causation. Performance improves with the Nvidia App uninstalled, however the Nvidia App itself shouldn’t be inflicting the efficiency loss. The overlay is, which isn’t stunning in any respect.
The built-in Xbox Game Bar may cause a efficiency loss, as can a Discord window or a number of tabs in Chrome. That’s to not point out no matter utilities you may need operating within the background in your PC, from Asus Armoury Crate to Corsair iCue to Razer Synapse. The drop in efficiency can differ relying on app model, Windows model, driver model, and naturally your PC {hardware} itself, however there’s some normal understanding that extra apps operating in your PC will take a few of your system assets. So, why the outcry over the Nvidia App? It doesn’t make sense to me, particularly when the app doesn’t appear to be inflicting the efficiency loss within the first place.
The recommendation popping out of this story has been to only uninstall the Nvidia App in the event you aren’t utilizing the extra options out there in it. The advice doesn’t come out of malice, however I believe it is best to go away it put in. Even in the event you disable the Nvidia overlay, having the Nvidia App put in will let you understand when new drivers come out. And new drivers will enhance your efficiency, significantly in new video games. That a lot I can say with certainty.
