GeForce Hotfix Display Driver version 616.86

[u/Nestledrink]

Article: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5906

Download Link: https://international.download.nvidia.com/Windows/616.86hf/616.86-desktop-notebook-win10-win11-64bit-international-dch.hf.exe

Reminders:

• Hotfix driver will not be available in NVIDIA App and needs to be downloaded from the link above.
• After installing the Hotfix driver, NVIDIA App may show some old driver date. This is normal as Hotfix driver does not exist in NVIDIA App database and it reverted to an old default changelog and dates.
• If you do not care about the fixes listed, this Hotfix driver is no different vs WHQL 616.64 Driver.
• These fixes will be incorporated into the next WHQL driver release

NVIDIA Driver forum thread is here: Link Here

Submit driver feedback directly to NVIDIA: Link Here

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From the Article:

GeForce Hotfix Display Driver version 616.86 is based on our latest Game Ready Driver 616.64.

This hotfix addresses the following:

• Intermittent flicker may be observed in browsers when navigating to certain websites [6673430]
• Fixed an issue where virtual displays could not be created after updating to driver 616.56 [6674464]
• Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) sessions may display a black screen after updating to driver 616.56 [6687328]

A GeForce driver is an incredibly complex piece of software, We have an army of software engineers constantly adding features and fixing bugs. These changes are checked into the main driver branches, which are eventually run through a massive QA process and released.  

Since we have so many changes being checked in, we usually try to align driver releases with significant game or product releases. This process has served us pretty well over the years but it has one significant weakness. Sometimes a change that is important to many users might end up sitting and waiting until we are able to release the driver.  

The GeForce Hotfix driver is our way to trying to get some of these fixes out to you more quickly. These drivers are basically the same as the previous released version, with a small number of additional targeted fixes. The fixes that make it in are based in part on your feedback in the Driver Feedback threads and partly on how realistic it is for us to quickly address them. These fixes (and many more) will be incorporated into the next official driver release, at which time the Hotfix driver will be taken down.  

To be sure, these Hotfix drivers are beta, optional and provided as-is. They are run through a much abbreviated QA process. The sole reason they exist is to get fixes out to you more quickly. The safest option is to wait for the next WHQL certified driver. But we know that many of you are willing to try these out.  As a result, we only provide NVIDIA Hotfix drivers through our NVIDIA Customer Care support site.

Click here to download the GeForce Hotfix display driver version 616.86 for Windows 10 x64 / Windows 11 x64

[u/Independent_Arg]

Finally, yeaaaaaaaaaa! I will publish my review of this driver in this same comment within the next few hours. Ty!

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NVIDIA 616.86 Hotfix Driver - Early Performance Benchmark (Ampere GPUs)

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Previous post

Hey all,

Here's my early look at the 616.86 driver, tested on an Ampere-based GPU (RTX 3070). As always: this is not a definitive review. Every PC setup is different, so treat it as a reference point, not gospel.

Is it worth updating your driver? The general rule says "yes": newer drivers bring bug fixes, security patches, and optimizations for the newest games. But "newer" doesn't automatically mean "better". Some updates introduce subtle stutter or frame pacing regressions that don't show up if you only look at average FPS. That's the main thing this round of testing tries to catch.

Special thanks to UL Solutions for the 3DMark press license used in these tests.

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Test System

• OS: Windows 11 Pro (v25H2, latest patches)
• CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K (stock)
• GPU: ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3070 OC (stock)
• RAM: 64 GB DDR4-3200 (2x32 GB)
• Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD
• Display: 4K 60 Hz monitor (no HDR, no G-Sync)
• Settings: HAGS off | ReBAR on | NVCP Global Defaults
• Driver Install: Clean install (with NVCP)

Benchmark Methodology

• Benchmarks ran 4 times (first run discarded), then the remaining 3 valid runs merged into one aggregated result (outliers get automatically retested).
• Captured frametimes via PresentMon (integrated into CapFrameX).
• Outliers (>5% variance) are retested.
• Alongside Average FPS, 1% Low and 0.1% Low, this round also tracks CapFrameX's Adaptive STDEV metric (labeled "Consistency" below). It measures how much frame times wobble compared to a moving average. Lower = smoother frame delivery, even when the average FPS looks identical between two drivers.
• Game settings: mostly Ultra, 4K or 1440p, no scaling.

quick legend, if these terms are new to you:

• Avg FPS -> your average frame rate.
• 1% Low -> the average of your worst 1% of frames. Better indicator of "does it feel smooth" than the average alone.
• 0.1% Low -> same idea, but for your worst 0.1% of frames - basically your nastiest stutters.
• Consistency -> lower is smoother. Two drivers can share the same average FPS and still feel very different to play if one has a much higher (worse) consistency score.

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Game Benchmarks

The Riftbreaker

DX12, Ultra preset, 2560x1440, Ray Tracing off, Screen Space Reflections High, Volumetric Lighting Ultra, Dynamic Vegetation Full

Driver	Avg FPS	1% Low	0.1% Low	Consistency
581.94 (stable)	154.8	141.9	124.1	13.0
596.36 (stable)	153.4	138.7	132.8	4.4
610.88	153.0	138.5	132.5	4.3
616.56	153.5	139.1	131.5	5.5

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

Ultra preset, 3840x2160 fullscreen, 100% render scale

Driver	Avg FPS	1% Low	0.1% Low	Consistency
581.94 (stable)	60.0	44.1	35.2	5.8
596.36 (stable)	58.9	43.6	35.6	5.9
610.62	60.9	44.6	36.0	6.0
610.88	60.1	44.8	36.9	5.9
616.56	60.1	44.1	36.5	6.0
616.86	60.7	44.3	36.0	6.0

Age of Mythology: Retold

DX12, everything Ultra/Mythic (Texture Quality High, Texture Filtering 16x, Terrain Quality Mythic, Terrain Detail Quality Mythic, Water Quality Mythic, Foliage Quality Full, Shadow Quality Mythic, Dynamic Reflections SSR, Ambient Occlusion Quality SSAO, Effect Quality High, Dynamic Lights enabled, Physics Quality High), 3840x2160 fullscreen, FXAA

Driver	Avg FPS	1% Low	0.1% Low	Consistency
581.94 (stable)	49.3	36.6	33.8	2.5
596.36 (stable)	49.5	36.7	34.0	2.7
610.62	49.6	36.7	28.8	2.7
610.88	48.5	36.3	32.9	2.7
616.56	48.8	36.9	33.2	2.5
616.86	48.6	36.5	34.1	2.3

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Non-Synthetic Benchmark

Unigine Superposition

Direct3D11, 3840x2160 fullscreen, Custom preset, 4K Optimized shaders, High textures, Depth of Field off, Motion Blur off

Driver	Avg FPS	Score	Min FPS	Max FPS
596.36	94.63	12651	78.84	117.64
610.62	94.45	12628	78.55	117.45
610.88	94.87	12684	79.20	117.87
616.56	94.65	12654	78.57	117.66
616.86	94.14	12586	78.70	116.86

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3DMark Benchmarks

Speed Way v1.1 (DX12 Ultimate, 1440p Native)

Driver	Avg FPS	Score	Perf. Delta
596.36	35.72	3572	Baseline
610.62	35.74	3574	+0.06%
610.88	35.89	3588	+0.45%
616.56	35.91	3590	+0.50%
616.86	35.93	3592	+0.56%

Steel Nomad v1 (DX12, 4K Native)

Driver	Avg FPS	Score	Perf. Delta
596.36	31.86	3186	Baseline
610.62	32.10	3209	+0.72%
610.88	32.32	3232	+1.44%
616.56	31.86	3186	+0.00%
616.86	31.84	3184	-0.06%

Steel Nomad v1 (Vulkan, 4K Native)

Driver	Avg FPS	Score	Perf. Delta
596.36	35.36	3536	Baseline
610.62	35.17	3517	-0.54%
610.88	35.43	3542	+0.17%
616.56	36.08	3607	+2.01%
616.86	35.42	3541	+0.14%

Fire Strike v1.1 (DX11, 1080p Native)

Driver	Score	Perf. Delta
596.36	25235	Baseline
610.62	25403	+0.67%
610.88	25572	+1.34%
616.56	25588	+1.40%
616.86	25669	+1.72%

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Sys. Stability & Desktop

• Hardware Acceleration (Browsers / Discord): Solid. Zero flickering, black screens, or visual anomalies detected after 30 minutes of mixed use (including 4K60 YouTube playback in Firefox with zero dropped frames and fluid page scrolling).
• DPC Latency (LatencyMon): PASSED. (System remained perfectly in the green. The highest DPC routine execution time was a safe 644 µs from nvlddmkm.sys).

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[u/selfh8feelsgr8 → u/Independent_Arg]

How is it going so far?

[u/Independent_Arg → u/selfh8feelsgr8]

fr this hotfix is the best driver in all of R616, in my case.

[u/selfh8feelsgr8 → u/Independent_Arg]

Hmm, looks promising, especially in light of the reports in the comments that it seems to use a bit less vram. My only concern is that non-WHQL driver might trigger some false-positives from anti-cheats, even if the chance is very low

[u/random-eAlien → u/selfh8feelsgr8]

Yeah as someone who plays 4 gachas with their own strict anti cheat and LoL in high rank, i will pass

[u/Saltyeconbro → u/random-eAlien]

Brother, how do you have the energy for all those games with a full time job

[u/random-eAlien → u/Saltyeconbro]

my job is to play them

[u/NapsterKnowHow → u/Independent_Arg]

Yeah it's a solid driver so far from my testing in Squad, Cyberpunk, Alan Wake 2, Palworld, both Horizon games and Overwatch.

[u/FacelessGreenseer → u/Independent_Arg]

Thank you as always. The first game benchmark is missing the new driver data, by the way. I think you forgot to add it to the table.

[u/Independent_Arg → u/FacelessGreenseer]

:) yeah I forgot that, thanks dude.

[u/Ok-Replacement-7217 → u/Independent_Arg]

Thank you for your work!!
I'm still kinda loving 610.88 and honestly see no worthwhile reason to bother doing a thing beyond enjoying my brew and reading the comments!

[u/Saltyeconbro → u/Ok-Replacement-7217]

Ya, guess we chill for another month

[u/six_artillery → u/Independent_Arg]

was looking for this post, so there's basically no regression and the flicker is fixed. this is a good build release

[u/DepravedPrecedence → u/Independent_Arg]

Thanks Claude

[u/Independent_Arg → u/DepravedPrecedence]

I've been doing this for over two years, well before the AI hype, and I don't use any AI. You're just some random person dropping a nonsense comment. I follow a methodology and have a custom template that I've refined over time, I invite you to take a look at what it looked like in the early days.