Nvidia has released a GeForce hotfix driver (version 581.94) for Windows 11 users facing major drops in gaming performance following the October Patch Tuesday update KB5066835. Gamers began to see frame rate losses—sometimes as steep as 50%—while playing certain titles, such as Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.
The problem started once Windows 11 changed how graphics workloads are managed. This affected the Desktop Window Manager and hardware communication. Some also found their keyboards and mice stopped working properly.
For weeks, Microsoft did not respond publicly to users’ complaints. Early feedback from testers of the new driver suggests it can restore frame rates to previous levels. Some even noticed up to 65% frame rate gains after installing the hotfix. The minimum frame rates improved too, with users finding 46% higher 1% lows, PCWorld reports.
You can find the download link for the GeForce hotfix here. Nvidia says users should only install this beta driver if their gaming performance on Windows 11 took a big hit after the October update.
Both AMD and Intel have experienced similar problems with their graphics cards after the same Windows 11 update. As of now, neither company has released a fix, and Microsoft still hasn’t made any statements about correcting the problems associated with KB5066835.