RTX 5090 Hit With Voltage Restrictions in Latest NVIDIA Driver

NVIDIA has released a new GeForce driver update after pulling a problematic version that caused severe performance drops in Resident Evil Requiem and other games.

NVIDIA Pulls GeForce 595.59 After Major Performance Issues

NVIDIA’s GeForce Game Ready Driver v595.59 launched with optimization for Resident Evil Requiem. Shortly after release, users began reporting serious problems, including broken fan control, reduced clock speeds, and major performance losses.

Testing revealed performance drops of up to 68% in Resident Evil Requiem compared to older drivers. Following widespread complaints, NVIDIA removed v595.59 from its official website and advised users to roll back to v591.86 WHQL.

According to Wccftech, NVIDIA quickly issued a replacement driver, v595.71 WHQL, aimed at resolving the fan control and performance issues.

GeForce 595.71 Fixes Performance, But Adds Voltage Limits

While v595.71 appears to restore normal gaming performance, new reports suggest it introduces voltage restrictions on RTX 50 “Blackwell” GPUs.

YouTube channel Bang4BuckPC Gamer first highlighted that the RTX 5090 no longer exceeds 3 GHz and seems capped below 1V under load. Independent testing confirmed similar behavior.

Under the older v591.86 driver, with manual overclock settings applied (+200 MHz core, +2000 MHz memory, 100% voltage slider), the RTX 5090 reportedly reached:

• 1.020–1.030V
• 3015–3030 MHz in FurMark

Under the new v595.71 driver, using identical settings:

• Voltage drops to around 1.005–1.010V, sometimes hitting 1.00V
• Clock speeds remain below 3 GHz
• Even stock configurations show slightly reduced voltage

The data suggests NVIDIA may have implemented an artificial voltage cap in the updated driver.

Possible Safety Concerns Behind the Cap

NVIDIA has not officially explained the voltage limitation. However, speculation points to potential safety concerns surrounding 16-pin power connectors.

Recent reports documented RTX 5090 connector melting incidents during extreme overclocking scenarios. Similar issues were also observed at around 500W power draw in certain cases.

Some users identified a pattern involving MSI connectors that allegedly loosen over time, potentially contributing to power instability. MSI has not issued a public response.

For most gamers running stock settings, performance appears stable with v595.71. Resident Evil Requiem reportedly runs correctly with the fixed driver, and general gaming performance remains unaffected.

The main impact falls on enthusiasts and overclockers, who now face reduced voltage headroom and limited manual tuning potential on RTX 5090 and potentially other Blackwell GPUs.