NVIDIA’s recent GPU drivers are creating significant headaches for GeForce RTX 40 series users, and even those with older models are feeling the effects, yet NVIDIA hasn’t stepped up to address these concerns.
Growing Concerns About Driver 572.XX and Its Impact on RTX 40 Systems
Ever since the introduction of the RTX 50 series earlier this year, NVIDIA seems to have sidelined the RTX 40 series when it comes to resolving bugs. It’s not unusual for a company to prioritize its latest products, and though the RTX 50 series has its own set of issues like blue screens of death, the RTX 40 series performed relatively well with earlier drivers—until the RTX 50-compatible updates came along, spurring complex problems for the RTX 40 cards.
A Reddit user by the name of u/Scotty1992 has shared his personal journey with the new 572.XX driver. His story is just one among many, with users reporting an array of problems such as hard system crashes, black screens, and display glitches, which were scarcely encountered before the release of the 572.XX driver.
Interestingly, numerous users have found respite with the older 566.XX drivers, which were available prior to the January 30th rollout of the 572.16 driver for the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. The release of the RTX 50 series brought along new features like DLSS 4, Multi-Frame Generation, and DLSS Override. While these innovations don’t guarantee the aforementioned problems, there’s a confluence of factors at play that need thorough examination.
One gamer shared that Cyberpunk 2077 consistently crashed on his RTX 4080 until he reverted to a pre-572.XX driver version. Similarly, another individual with an RTX 4090 experienced recurring black screens, system freezes, and unresponsive monitors. Fortunately, switching back to the 566.XX drivers resolved these issues.
It appears NVIDIA is overlooking the flood of bug fix requests pouring in from users since late January. Their focus has remained primarily on the RTX 50 series BSOD issues, which took weeks to address. As a result, many RTX 40 users have had no choice but to revert to older drivers. However, this solution is bittersweet, as it means sacrificing the benefits of newer drivers, including the Enhanced DLSS 4, improved Ray Reconstruction, and access to an expanded list of DLSS-supported games.
