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NVIDIA tweaks

Driver optimizations, low-level power tweaks, a debloated clean driver install, and G-SYNC done right.

NVIDIA driver optimizations, advanced low-level tweaks and power management, plus a debloated clean driver installer that strips the telemetry and bundled extras.

Test the power-saving tweaks before keeping them. Disabling the GPU's power-saving features doesn't always raise performance. On a system with marginal cooling or existing instability it can make throttling or crashes worse. Apply, benchmark, and roll back any that don't actually help (save a Profile first so you have a known-good state to return to).

Driver and power toggles

  • Clean Driver Install downloads the latest Game Ready or Studio driver from NVIDIA (or imports a specific driver .exe you already have) and installs only the display driver, with no telemetry, NVIDIA App, ShadowPlay or other extras. Optionally keeps HDMI/DisplayPort audio, PhysX, or the NVIDIA App and ShadowPlay. Full walkthrough below.
  • Apply NVPI Settings applies a curated NVIDIA Profile Inspector profile optimized for performance.
    Preview the 28 settings this applies
    • Texture filtering - Quality
    • Texture filtering - Anisotropic filter optimization
    • Texture filtering - Anisotropic sample optimization
    • Texture filtering - Trilinear optimization
    • Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias
    • Texture filtering - Driver Controlled LOD Bias
    • Anisotropic filtering mode
    • Anisotropic filtering setting
    • Antialiasing - Mode
    • Antialiasing - Setting
    • Antialiasing - Gamma correction
    • Antialiasing - Line gamma
    • NVIDIA Predefined FXAA Usage
    • Maximum pre-rendered frames
    • FRL Low Latency
    • Preferred refresh rate
    • Power management mode
    • Threaded optimization
    • Shader disk cache maximum size
    • Pre-Compile Shader Options
    • Memory Allocation Policy
    • CUDA Sysmem Fallback Policy
    • Disable Ansel
    • NVIDIA Predefined Ansel Usage
    • OpenGL GDI compatibility
    • Preferred OpenGL GPU
    • Event Log Severity Threshold
    • Event Log Tmon Severity Threshold
  • Disable NVIDIA Driver Logging Features stops the NVIDIA display driver writing log entries.
  • Disable Write Combining turns off GPU write-combining, which can reduce micro-stutter on some driver versions.
  • Disable Preemptions lets the GPU finish each frame in one uninterrupted pass instead of pausing for background work, giving smoother frame pacing, fewer micro-stutters, and tighter 1% lows.
  • Disable Hidden Power Saving Features turns off GPU power-saving features the driver doesn't expose in its own UI.
  • Set GPU Power State to P0 locks the GPU into P0 (maximum clocks).
  • Disable Clock Gating turns off clock gating across idle NVIDIA engines.
  • Disable Unnecessary NVIDIA Services stops bundled NVIDIA background services that aren't required for gaming.

The three power toggles (Disable Hidden Power Saving Features, Set GPU Power State to P0 and Disable Clock Gating) keep the GPU at higher clocks and power, so it runs hotter and under more load, which can cause instability on some systems. The app asks you to confirm twice before turning one on. Only enable them to test each one by itself, isolated from other tweaks, and turn it back off if you see crashes, stutter or high temperatures.

G-SYNC (variable refresh rate)

A fixed-refresh monitor redraws on its own clock, so any frame that finishes mid-cycle tears, leaving a visible seam across the screen with uneven pacing behind it. G-SYNC ends that by letting the monitor refresh in lockstep with your frame rate, keeping the image whole and smooth anywhere your FPS lands inside its range. The NVPI profile leaves it alone on purpose, so set it up yourself once if you have a G-SYNC or G-SYNC Compatible display:

  1. Enable G-SYNC in the monitor's own on-screen menu first.
  2. In the NVIDIA App, open Graphics → Global Settings, set Monitor Technology to G-SYNC Compatible, then under System → Displays enable it for full-screen and windowed.
  3. Cap your frame rate a few FPS below your refresh rate with Max Frame Rate, using 3 as the usual margin (240 Hz → 237, 165 Hz → 162, 144 Hz → 141). The cap holds you under the ceiling of the G-SYNC range to keep it active.
  4. Turn Vertical Sync on in the App (not in-game) as a backstop for the very top of the range. With the cap in place it never actually engages, so it adds no latency. G-SYNC, V-Sync and a cap together are the tear-free, low-latency combo.
No G-SYNC display? Without VRR you can't truly remove tearing, only make it far less noticeable. Cap your FPS to a whole-number ratio of your refresh rate, meaning an even divisor or multiple, so every frame lands at the same point in the refresh cycle and the tear line sits still instead of crawling. On 240 Hz that's 120, 80, or 60 (or 480 if your PC can push it), and it works both ways, so a 60 Hz panel can cap at 120 or 240. An arbitrary number like 165 on 240 Hz is the worst case, because the seam drifts constantly. Leaving FPS uncapped gives the lowest latency but the most tearing. See it for yourself in the screen tearing simulator.

Reinstall the NVIDIA driver (recommended once)

NVIDIA's full driver package bundles telemetry, the NVIDIA App, ShadowPlay, Ansel and more. The app's Clean Driver Install (top of the NVIDIA tab) downloads the latest Game Ready driver straight from NVIDIA, strips everything except the display driver, and installs it silently, with no third-party tools or manual extracting needed. Use the Game Ready / Studio switch on the card to grab the Studio driver instead if you create more than you game. Run it once for a clean, bloat-free driver, then rerun it whenever a new driver ships.

Before you start:

  • Don't shut down or restart while the install is running.
  • Driver reinstallation reverts every NVIDIA toggle on the GPU tab, so re-apply them after.

Steps:

  1. Open the NVIDIA tab and find Clean Driver Install at the top.
  2. Pick what to keep. Each is its own checkbox:
    • Keep HDMI/DisplayPort audio. Tick it if you get sound through your monitor or TV, untick it if you only use a headset or speakers. Keeping it can make Windows switch its default playback device, so set your headset back as default afterwards if that happens.
    • Keep PhysX. Tick only if you play older PhysX titles (Borderlands 2, Mirror's Edge, the Batman Arkham series).
    • Keep the NVIDIA App. Tick it if you record with ShadowPlay or use the overlay (they come as a pair). It also brings NVIDIA's telemetry back, so leave it unticked for the cleanest driver. You can always install the NVIDIA App later if you change your mind.
    • Not keeping the App? You can still change driver settings via the NVIDIA Control Panel from the Microsoft Store, which is the classic panel without the telemetry.
  3. Click Install clean driver. The app downloads the driver from NVIDIA, debloats it, and runs the install.
  4. When it finishes, re-apply your NVIDIA toggles. Restart if the app says a restart is needed.

Driver misbehaving or switching GPU brands? Wipe every trace first with Display Driver Uninstaller from the Useful Programs tab.