Nvidia has implemented a fix for some nasty issues with its graphics cards that have led some GeForce owners to experience stuttering not only in PC gaming, but also in everyday computing activities.
This is driver hotfix version 551.46, an update based on the latest Game Ready driver (v551.23) that should be applied by anyone experiencing the aforementioned issues, known as micro-stuttering.
Essentially, this is when movement in games feels choppy, and the hotfix cures what Nvidia says is “intermittent” micro-stuttering when V-Sync is on (vertical sync, which syncs the game's frame rate with the refresh rate of your monitor). This is to prevent it from breaking.
Another issue is that you can experience stuttering in web browsers, which means choppy scrolling while browsing a web page, although we're told this only happens on certain system configurations.
There are also a couple more niche cures with this new hotfix, including fixing stability issues with Immortals of Aveum that occur during long play sessions.
Analysis: quick solution
These are small but important fixes for Nvidia to make, as is always the case with hotfixes. Sure enough, these are quickly being weeded out for more aggravating problems, and based on complaints we've seen online, these stuttering attacks have been causing a lot of frustration (for some time). Especially when it interferes with web browsing and turns into a choppy experience (which must definitely feel like you're using a potato PC from the '90s or something).
The caveat, as always with Nvidia reviews, is that because they are rolling out outside of the usual driver release schedule, they are provided as beta software.
They are tested, but only go through a short quality control process. In other words, there may be side effects and other problems caused by the patch, as well as the problems it fixes (hopefully, one of the things that can go wrong is that the fixes themselves fail, of course, but as of comments I have seen that this patch seems to work well).
To be safe, you really want to wait for the next official Nvidia driver that will have these fixes built in (in their fully tested form). However, if the problems fixed by a hotfix have you tearing your hair out right now and you can't take it anymore, you may decide that installing this update is the lesser of two potential evils.
Via VideoCardz
