Few issues compare to the frustration that micro stuttering causes, spoiling an otherwise largely smooth gaming experience. While it is difficult to identify the root causes of micro stutters, Nvidia believes it’s resolved at least one with its graphics cards, and how now made a fix available to download.
Regardless of whether you have the best graphics card that Nvidia, or any other manufacturer, has to offer right now, every GPU has the potential to be affected by micro-stuttering. This can be due to problems with the system elsewhere, be it from the CPU, RAM, or even a rogue software incompatibility brought on by an update.
Thankfully, whether you’re already at your wits end with micro-stuttering or want to take preventative measures, the new GeForce Hotfix Driver Version 551.46 should help keep at least some form of the problem at bay.
Here are the GeForce Hotfix Driver Version 551.46 release notes:
- Some users may experience intermittent micro-stuttering in games when vertical sync is enabled [4445940]
- Potential stutter may be observed when scrolling in web browsers on certain system configurations [4362307]
- [Red Dead Redemption 2][Vulkan] Stutter observed on some Advanced Optimus notebooks [4425987]
- [Immortals of Aveum] Addresses stability issues over extended gameplay [4415277]
As laid out by Nvidia, this hotfix aims to resolve micro-stuttering in games with VSync enabled, in addition to stuttering while browsing the Web. The update also contains game-specific fixes for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Immortals of Aveum, but the former only affects those with gaming laptops.
Do note, though, that this driver is based on Game Ready Driver 551.23 (the latest at the time of writing) if you’re holding from updating for whatever reason.
While updating to the latest driver is generally a good idea to improve stability and performance, it can also come with new features, with RTX Video HDR being the most recent. More pertinent to gamers, though, is how the aforementioned tech has now been co-opted into an Nvidia RTX Game HDR mod, which can give new life to more SDR games than Windows AutoHDR.
If you’re running an older graphics card, and this fix doesn’t resolve your problem, it may be time for an upgrade. Check out our RTX 4070 Super review, to learn more about what we consider to be the top GPU available. If you’ve never installed a graphics card before, check out our guide on how to build a gaming PC to prime yourself before it arrives.