NVIDIA’s newest GeForce driver rollout has turned into a bit of a rollercoaster for RTX 50 “Blackwell” owners. What started as a performance-focused update for Resident Evil Requiem quickly sparked widespread complaints about broken fan behavior, reduced clock speeds, and unexpectedly low frame rates. NVIDIA pulled the problematic driver, issued guidance to roll back, and then followed up with a corrected release. Now, early testing suggests the “fixed” driver may introduce a different change that overclockers and power users will notice: lower operating voltages and tighter voltage behavior on RTX 50 GPUs, particularly the RTX 5090.
The trouble began with GeForce Game Ready Driver 595.59. Although it was meant to deliver an optimized experience and additional fixes, users soon reported major regressions. In some cases, gaming performance dropped dramatically compared to older driver branches, with reports showing huge FPS gaps in the same scenes and settings. The issues were serious enough that NVIDIA removed 595.59 from availability and advised affected users to revert to an earlier, stable option such as driver version 591.86.
Not long after, NVIDIA released a replacement driver: GeForce 595.71 WHQL. This update was positioned as the resolution to the earlier problems, and most users looking strictly at game performance and stability saw a return to expected results, including better behavior in Resident Evil Requiem compared to the pulled release.
However, attention has now shifted to another potential change in 595.71: GPU voltage behavior on RTX 50 series cards. A hardware-focused YouTube channel initially flagged what looked like an artificial cap, noting that an RTX 5090 that previously boosted beyond 3 GHz at over 1.0V in 3D workloads now appeared to sit below 3 GHz while staying under roughly 1.0V—especially when overclocking settings were applied. In other words, the headroom enthusiasts typically rely on seemed reduced.
Additional testing supports that observation. Using an MSI GeForce RTX 5090 SUPRIM X, comparisons were made between the older recommended driver (591.86) and the newer “fixed” driver (595.71) under identical settings. On 591.86, the card sustained roughly 1.020–1.030V in a heavy load test while reaching about 3015–3030 MHz with a manual overclock applied (+200 MHz core, +2000 MHz memory, and the voltage slider at 100%). After switching to 595.71 with the same tuning, observed behavior shifted downward, with the GPU typically operating around 1.005–1.010V and frequently staying under 3 GHz. At times it even touched 1.00V.
What’s especially interesting is how the “stock” behavior compares. With 595.71 at default settings, the RTX 5090 can run around 1.015V under load, but that’s still lower than what the card previously reached on older drivers at stock (around 1.03–1.04V). In practice, the new driver appears to compress the voltage range overall, making manual overclock voltage behavior look more restricted than before.
NVIDIA hasn’t publicly explained why this voltage shift is happening, but there’s an obvious possibility: protection. With modern high-power GPUs, especially those using 16-pin power connectors, any effort to reduce risk—heat at the connector, power spikes, or adverse edge cases—could justify stricter power and voltage handling at the driver level. If that’s the motivation, it may be a trade-off aimed at long-term reliability rather than raw enthusiast headroom.
For most gamers, the bigger question is simple: does it hurt real-world performance? Based on current observations, the game performance issues tied to the earlier driver appear resolved, and in typical gaming scenarios the voltage behavior change may not be noticeable. Where it will be felt most is among overclockers and benchmark chasers, since reduced voltage flexibility can limit peak clocks in sustained workloads and reduce the gains achievable through manual tuning.
If you’re running an RTX 5090 or another RTX 50 series GPU and care about overclocking, it’s worth monitoring your clocks, voltages, and stability after installing 595.71. If you’re primarily focused on playing the latest releases smoothly, this driver should restore the performance levels users expected after the problems caused by 595.59—just with a likely new, quieter constraint happening behind the scenes.
