When I hear that thenew Nvidia Appcould reduce performance by up to 15 % , I was shocked . If this is the first you ’re hearing about it , I ’m sure you ’re shocked , too . The news show stems from Sebastian Castellanos , who post on Xabout a big carrying into action drop with the Nvidia App installed in bothBlack Myth : WukongandThe Talos Principle 2.Some newsworthiness wall plug run with the title , including Tom ’s Hardware and Dark Side of Gaming , show original testing that backed up the carrying into action deprivation .

The only problem ? The Nvidia App is n’t to blame .

Still , there have already been plenty ofReddit posts , clenched fist - agitate on social media , and news posts amplifying this storey , so I run ahead and examine out four game to see if the Nvidia App was really causing a functioning loss with some of Nvidia’sbest graphics carte du jour . At first glance , there is a mensurable difference with the app uninstalled , and that difference shows up across games . It just has nothing to do with the Nvidia App being set up . It ’s the Nvidia sheathing .

Before catch to some more self-opinionated bits , let ’s look at the data . Below , you could see the game I quiz . The original testing speculated that Unreal Engine 5 games saw a significant smash in performance , so I testedBlack Myth : Wukong , Stalker 2,andSilent Hill 2.I also included a laissez passer ofIndiana Jones and the Great Circleto see if change was specific to UE5 games , or if it could bear upon titles using other engines , as well .

you could see the results for yourself . There is a clear , measurable increase in performance with the Nvidia App uninstalled . It ’s not going to make a substantial difference in your gameplay experience , but when an supernumerary 5 % to 10 % performance is on the table , it ’s hard to argue with that . All of the insurance coverage of this story I ’ve seen so far ends here . Uninstall the Nvidia App , performance improve , and therefore there must be a trouble with the Nvidia app .

But when you keep the Nvidia App installed and disenable the Nvidia overlayer , something magic materialize . public presentation goes decently back up to where it was with the app uninstalled . WithSilent Hill 2,I actually saw slimly higher performance — though , I ’m willing to immobilize that on variation in testing rather than the app doing some behind - the - scenes wizardry .

If you turn on the Nvidia overlay the first time you deploy the Nvidia App , it detain enable , even if you never deplumate it up . That includes the overlayer ’s game filters and Photo Mode , along with all of the game transcription , arrangement monitoring , and graphics context available in the overlay proper . All you demand to do to disable it is unfastened the Nvidia App , head toSettingsand uncheck the boxful next toNvidia overlay .

When story like this good luck , there ’s a sore panache to verify ( or refute ) claims that are pass around online , and the testing during that dah is generally limited , and sometimes , short - sighted . It seems that ’s what ’s going on here . As you ’ve plausibly heard before , correlation does not equal causing . Performance improves with the Nvidia App uninstalled , but the Nvidia App itself is not stimulate the public presentation loss . The overlayer is , which is n’t surprising at all .

The built - in Xbox Game Bar can cause a performance loss , as can a Discord window or a few tabs in Chrome . That ’s not to mention whatever utilities you might have running in the background on your microcomputer , from Asus Armoury Crate to Corsair iCue to Razer Synapse . The drop in public presentation can diverge reckon on app version , Windows version , driver interpretation , and of course your personal computer hardware itself , but there ’s some general reason that additional apps turn tail on your PC will take some of your system resources . So , why the outcry over the Nvidia App ? It does n’t make sense to me , especially when the app does n’t seem to be stimulate the execution loss in the first piazza .

The advice coming out of this story has been to just uninstall the Nvidia App if you are n’t using the extra lineament uncommitted in it . The passport does n’t descend out of malice , but I think you should leave it establish . Even if you disenable the Nvidia overlay , have the Nvidia App instal will let you knowwhen newfangled driverscome out . And new drivers will better your performance , especially in novel games . That much I can say with certainty .