Windows 11 Users Complain of Nvidia GeForce Issues After 22H2 Feature Update

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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.

Mark Tyson
Freelance News Writer

Mark Tyson is a Freelance News Writer at Tom's Hardware US. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

  • -Fran-
    This is fake news. Every hardcore fan knows nVidia never has issues. NEVER!

    In all seriousness, I think Win11 is getting very close to WinME levels of issues.

    Regards xD
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    yet another reason not to go to WIN11.
    Reply
  • warezme
    Windows update says my computer is not compatible with Windows 11 and I"m like GOOD!!!
    Reply
  • ThatMouse
    Without reading the issues, I can tell you the first thing to try is uninstall GeForce Experience!

    Edit: looks like I may be correct: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/geforce-gpus-are-slowing-down-after-installing-the-windows-11-2022-update/"The company publicly acknowledged the issue and released a new beta version of the GeForce Experience software package that it says should fix it. This implies that the problem is with Nvidia's add-on software rather than the GeForce drivers themselves; if you installed the drivers without the GeForce Experience software, you may not have noticed the slowdown in the first place. "
    Reply
  • Colif
    -Fran- said:
    In all seriousness, I think Win11 is getting very close to WinME levels of issues.

    Comparing 11 to ME is a bit much, i am not constantly reinstalling 11... unlike ME.
    ThatMouse said:
    Without reading the issues, I can tell you the first thing to try is uninstall GeForce Experience!

    I don't have Geforce Experience and see a little stutter that I didn't have before 22H2. I have an RTX 2070 Super.

    reinstalling drivers using ddu could fix it. I haven't really tried as problem isn't constant or anything. I am willing to wait.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Colif said:
    Comparing 11 to ME is a bit much, i am not constantly reinstalling 11... unlike ME.
    Wasn't there an update that forced people to re-install? And everyone knows that upgrading from Win10 to Win11 causes performance issues. Not sure if that's still the case, but I wouldn't be surprised.

    And I never had to reinstall WinME in the, like, 6 months I put up with it before going WinXP, haha. It was a continuous painful experience, but I persisted through the savagery of the BSODs xD

    Regards.
    Reply
  • Colif
    -Fran- said:
    Wasn't there an update that forced people to re-install? And everyone knows that upgrading from Win10 to Win11 causes performance issues. Not sure if that's still the case, but I wouldn't be surprised.
    NO, no update required a reinstall. Not for me anyway, been on same win 11 install since July last year. There are features of 22H2 you don't get without a reinstall but its not essential to have them. You will just get them on next clean install.

    I don't recall how long I used ME but XP was a relief afterwards.

    Wonder how Insiders missed this. RTM was on one of the rings, no one played any games on an Nvidia card? I find that hard to believe.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Colif said:
    NO, no update required a reinstall. Not for me anyway, been on same win 11 install since July last year. There are features of 22H2 you don't get without a reinstall but its not essential to have them. You will just get them on next clean install.

    I don't recall how long I used ME but XP was a relief afterwards.

    Wonder how Insiders missed this. RTM was on one of the rings, no one played any games on an Nvidia card? I find that hard to believe.
    I was talking about this update: https://www.pcgamer.com/latest-windows-security-update-is-locking-users-out-of-their-pcs/
    And I agree about the Insiders missing it, but I wonder how many of them really test games in full or can actually notice issues with frame-pacing / stutters.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • Colif
    I only have Win 11 Home, no bitlocker, so I didn't have that problem.

    i played games when i was on Insiders but i dropped out of it one day before win 11 release, so I don't know for sure.
    Reply