New Nvidia driver makes for the 'definitive experience' in Cyberpunk 2077
If you're going to have game wrecking glitches, they may as well be pretty ray-traced glitches.
If you've got an Nvidia graphics card and want to get the most from Cyberpunk 2077, then you're going to want to update to the very latest drivers. Released yesterday, the new GeForce Game Ready 460.79 WHQL driver brings specific improvements to Cyberpunk 2077 as well as for Minecraft with RTX for Windows 10 (quite the title), along with DLSS support for a few more games, including Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord.
The headline act here is obviously Cyberpunk 2077, which is a graphically sumptuous game, at least it is when it isn't glitching. You'll find ray-traced pretties to be had as well, at least on Nvidia's RTX hardware (ray-tracing support for AMD's new cards are expected shortly), which shift the graphical fidelity up a gear at the cost of performance.
The good news is that Cyberpunk 2077 also supports DLSS, which helps offset the impact of turning those ray tracing options on. Alternatively, if you're running a more modest card, just helps improve frame rates regardless. Nvidia reckons that DLSS can improve frame rates by 60 percent or more, depending on resolution and settings.
If you're planning on playing Cyberpunk at 4K, then be warned that you're going to need some serious graphics hardware to get the job done. Even Nvidia's own numbers paint a scary picture of the kind of hardware needed: even an RTX 3090 only manages 22 fps without DLSS. The good news is that DLSS does up this to a far smoother 57.8 fps. So basically you're going to want to turn on DLSS here.
We'll be looking at Cyberpunk 2077 performance on the latest AMD and Nvidia hardware shortly—we've been waiting for the final game code to drop before testing, as DRM for the review code was affecting performance.
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This latest driver also packs some improvement for Minecraft RTX, which recently made it out of beta. You don't need to install this driver to experience the new ray-traced worlds, but doing so will ensure that you're getting optimal performance.
As for the other games that are singled out in this update, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord will be getting DLSS support in an up and coming game patch, but this driver means you're ready to roll once it does drop. You're looking at a 50 percent performance boost at 4K when it does. Both CRSED: FOAD and Scavengers will see up to 40% performance improvements using DLSS as well.
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Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.