NVIDIA recently released the GeForce Game Ready driver 595.59 to improve performance in Resident Evil: Requiem, but, according to a machine translation, this update has caused problems with RTX 3000-series and newer cards. Users report that the driver only detects one fan on their GPUs.
Some people suspected that third-party apps like MSI AfterBurner were causing the issue; however, another user experienced the same problem even without AfterBurner installed.
NVIDIA appears to have removed the driver update, as it is no longer on their website (a driver is the software that allows the operating system to communicate with your graphics card). If you have already installed the latest driver and are experiencing problems, you should roll back to the previous version. To do this in the NVIDIA app, click the three dots in the Drivers tab.
If you do not have NVIDIA’s software open, Windows Device Manager, expand Display Adapters, and double-click your GPU in the Properties window. Go to the Drivers tab and select Roll Back Driver. If that option is unavailable, NVIDIA recommends uninstalling the GPU driver and reinstalling the latest available version to solve the issue, since the problematic driver has been removed.
The new NVIDIA 595.71 driver has brought new problems not present in last week’s troubled 595.59 release, which NVIDIA pulled a few days ago. As a result, several users and at least one YouTuber have found that the 595.71 driver limits GPU overclocking on many RTX 40 and 50 series cards. The most affected models lose about 200 MHz of overclocking headroom compared to earlier drivers.
The issue seems to be artificial voltage limits added to the in driver 595.71, either by mistake or on purpose. YouTuber bang4buckpcgamer showed that his Asus TUF Gaming RTX 5090 lost 65 mV of voltage headroom, keeping the card below 1 W. This change reduced his overclocking headroom by about 171 MHz, dropping from 3165 MHz to just under 3000 MHz. This only happens when the offset is about 150 MHz. With a 150 MHz offset or less, the GPU does not restrict voltage and can reach up to 1.060 V. Similar issues have also been shared on the NVIDIA forums. One user with an RTX 5080 reported that their GPU used to hit 3,100-3,200 MHz with previous drivers and can now only reach 2,395 MHz with 595.71.80 owner published their own 3DMark scores with the previous 591.86 driver compared to 591.71 with a hefty 450 MHz GPU overclock. They found the new driver was running the GPU 300 lower and pulling 43 fewer watts than from 403W to 360W.
However, not all RTX 50 series GPUs appear to be affected. Curiously, three commentators on bang4buckpcgamer’s aforementioned YouTube video with a Gigabyte Aorus Master RTX 5090 graphics card report having no restrictions whatsoever. Another RTX 5090 owner with a PNY EPYC OC variant reported no issues achieving a max overclock of 3157 MHz with the latest driver. Two RTX 5070 owners, one with an Asus variant and the AMD MSI Gaming Trio OC, also reported no issues.
This variability suggests that some owners may simply be lucky with their hardware, so their cards’ voltage and frequency scaling are not affected by this bug. Still, the new issue has led to many angry comments from gamers, with some blaming AI code for causing problems with Nvidia’s drivers. NVIDIA has officially not recognized the issue yet, but the artificial voltage limits do appear to be a bug rather than an official change. The NVIDIA patch notes don’t mention any new voltage limits, and certain GeForce RTX GPU models apparently aren’t subject to any limitations when running 595.71. We’ll have to see whether the company issues another corrective release or a fixed driver in the near future, along with any further explanation of the issue.
