The big Windows 11 22H2 update was released for mass consumption earlier in the week, delivering new Start Menu and Explorer features and various other refinements. However, it wouldn't be Windows without a much-heralded update precipitating annoying issues for a sizable segment of its users. In the friendly fire line this time were Nvidia GeForce graphics card users. The problems, reported via numerous forums and social media platforms, included irritating "stuttering and massive lag while playing games," reports Bleeping Computer.
The source collected a handful of quotes from Reddit users, who vented their anguish on the news and discussion-centric social media site. One user complained about his CPU not being utilized by games after the Windows update. Another moaned about highly unstable framerates when gaming, and another grumbled about games stuttering. Something all these users had in common was powerful modern PC builds with Nvidia GeForce graphics. Another consistent clue to the underlying problem was that many reports cited CPU underutilization in their games. A CPU with as low as 5% utilization amid a gaming session sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Meanwhile, we see an example of a Tom's Hardware forum member having a nightmarish stuttering games experience in the wake of the Windows 11 22H2 update. Thankfully, forum moderator and Windows 11 expert Colif helped out with the issues, describing a workaround so that the OP could go back to silky smooth gaming.
If you aren't keen on workarounds like rolling back updates of large software packages and drivers, you should probably wait for Nvidia (or Microsoft) to address these glaring issues with a patch or hotfix. Nvidia already confirmed that it is aware of the performance and stuttering issues. While it is still at the information-gathering stage, it is good to know that it is getting busy before the weekend.
Of course, our advice to those Nvidia gamers using Windows 11 who haven't applied Microsoft's 22H2 feature update is to hold back for now. Nvidia and/or Microsoft will probably address the CPU utilization sourced stuttering and slowdowns soon.
