Nvidia releases a GPU hotfix to address screen flickering and Fortnite stuttering

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This out-of-band driver update fixes over half a dozen problems.

GeForce RTX 3060
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia has released a GPU hotfix driver that you won't see in GeForce Experience, but is of interest to anyone affected by the handful of issues it addresses, such as intermittent stuttering in Fortnite and random screen flickering.

The hotfix driver (version 461.81) is based on the 461.72 'Game Ready' driver that came out last week, which itself was a launch driver for the newly minted GeForce RTX 3060. It is an optional release, meaning you have to hunt it down and manually apply it. Or you can sit back and wait—all seven fixes will be included in the next regular driver update, whenever that materializes.

If you play Fortnite, you may not want to wait. The hotfix contains shader cache optimizations to address random stuttering in the game on "some PC configurations." Likewise, it fixes a screen flickering issue specific to the GeForce GTX 1660 Super, also on certain unspecified configs.

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  • [Vulkan] Red Dead Redemption 2 may display pixelated black dots.
  • Enabling Nvidia Surround with 4K HDMI 2.1 TVs may fail.
  • [Rocket League] Matches may take longer to load.
  • [Detroit: Become Human] Game may crash when launched with Image Sharpening enabled.

So to sum it up, the optional hotfix addresses various stuttering issues, a screen flickering bug, game crashes, long load times, and other issues in specific situations and on certain configurations. As such, this is one of the more robust hotfixes Nvidia has released.

If you are affected by any of the issues and don't want to wait for the next regular driver update, you can grab the 461.81 hotfix from Nvidia's website.

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Paul Lilly
Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).