NVIDIA’s latest update for their GPU drivers has been stirring up some serious trouble for both their GeForce RTX 40 series and even older models, yet the company has remained silent on the issue.
As reports start to surface, it’s becoming clear that the GPU Driver 572.XX has been wreaking havoc on systems based on the RTX 40 series. Since NVIDIA launched the RTX 50 series back in January, it seems like the RTX 40 series has been left trailing when it comes to addressing bugs. Understandably, companies tend to pivot towards their latest products—though the RTX 50 series had its share of hiccups like the infamous BSODs. Up until the new drivers compatible with RTX 50 rolled out, the RTX 40 series was relatively stable. It wasn’t long before these newer drivers began introducing a host of complex issues into the mix.
An insightful post by Reddit user u/Soctty1992 details his frustrating experience with the driver 572.XX, backed by numerous similar user stories sharing a slew of issues like hard crashes and black screens—problems that were notably rare before 572.XX was introduced.
Interestingly, several users found relief by reverting to the 566.XX drivers, which predated the January 30th release of the 572.16 driver crafted for the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. The RTX 50 series debuted with exciting new features such as DLSS 4, Multi-Frame Generation, and DLSS Override. It’s worth mentioning that activating these features doesn’t consistently lead to the problems mentioned, but it appears that a combination of factors contributes to the complications that need thorough investigation.
For example, one user reported that his RTX 4080 would crash every time he started Cyberpunk 2077, an issue resolved only by rolling back to older drivers. Another individual using an RTX 4090 mentioned experiencing a range of issues from black screens to a complete inability to power on monitors. Like many others, reverting to the 566.XX drivers provided the solution.
NVIDIA has seemingly turned a blind eye to these bug reports flooding in since late January, primarily focusing their efforts on resolving BSODs for the RTX 50 series after several weeks of user complaints. Owners of the RTX 40 series have found themselves reverting to older drivers, missing out on the enhancements provided by the latest updates such as the Transformer Model DLSS 4, improved Ray Reconstruction, and a growing lineup of DLSS-supported games.