Nvidia's GPU drivers have been a mess over the past four months, with a series of new drivers and hotfixes introducing issues for Nvidia GPU owners. The problems started when Nvidia released its drivers for the RTX 50-series cards in January, which brought black screen issues, game crashes, and general stability problems for new and existing graphics cards.

The 576.02 driver release last week, which included numerous bug and crash fixes, seemed like it would finally solve the issues, but it has made things worse for some users. Posters in the Nvidia forums have been reporting issues with GPU monitoring utilities not reporting the correct GPU temperatures since installing 576.02, prompting Nvidia to release a hotfix driver to address this issue.

The latest 576.15 hotfix also includes fixes for lower idle GPU clock speeds for RTX 50-series owners and some fixes for certain games flickering after updating to last week's 576.02 driver. While this latest hotfix driver addresses some important issues, Nvidia forum posters are still reporting lots of game crashes, performance issues, and stuttering when using G-Sync in certain games.

Nvidia is currently tracking at least 15 open issues with its 576.02 driver that will hopefully be addressed with the next official driver release. The company has released four hotfix drivers over the past two months, a surprising amount of hotfixes between the main Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) releases.

It's surprising because, for the most part, Nvidia's GPU drivers have always been stable and better than the AMD and Intel competition at game compatibility, performance, and crash-free gaming. The driver issues come after a turbulent launch of the RTX 50-series cards, which have been difficult to find in stock at retail prices, leaving many PC gamers frustrated.

Some RTX 5090 power cables have been melting, Nvidia had to admit that some of its new GPUs had a "rare" manufacturing issue that meant they were missing render units, and some of Nvidia's marketing claims have been questionable. The RTX 50-series cards have also been plagued by issues, including game crashes, performance issues, and stuttering when using G-Sync in certain games.

The ongoing driver issues have left many Nvidia GPU owners frustrated, with some resorting to rolling back to the December 566.36 driver before the RTX 50-series. However, those who have purchased one of Nvidia's latest GPUs aren't able to roll back to the old drivers as they simply don't support the new RTX 50-series.

The situation highlights the importance of thorough testing and quality assurance in the development of GPU drivers. Nvidia's reputation for producing stable and high-performance drivers has taken a hit, and the company needs to take swift action to address the issues and restore confidence among its customers.

In the meantime, Nvidia GPU owners are advised to exercise caution when updating their drivers and to carefully monitor the Nvidia forums for updates and hotfixes. The company's ability to resolve these issues quickly and effectively will be crucial in maintaining its market share and reputation in the competitive GPU market.