Nvidia: October Windows Updates Cause Gaming Performance Issues

Nvidia has confirmed that October security updates for Windows 11 are causing performance degradation in games on systems running Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2. In response, the company has released a beta hotfix driver (GeForce Display Driver version 581.94) to address the issue.

"A performance drop may be observed in some games after installing the October Windows 11 update KB5066835 [5561605]," according to Nvidia's official support documentation.

The hotfix driver is available for download from Nvidia's Customer Care website for both Windows 10 x64 and Windows 11 x64 systems. Nvidia cautions that this is a beta release that has not completed the full quality assurance cycle.

"GeForce Hotfix Drivers provide a way to quickly deliver fixes. These drivers are essentially similar to previous versions but contain a small number of additional targeted fixes," the company explains.

Gaming performance degradation represents just one of several issues triggered by October's Windows updates. Microsoft engineers have already addressed multiple bugs introduced in the same update cycle, including broken localhost functionality, authentication failures with smart cards, and disruptions to the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) on systems using USB mice and keyboards.