Microsoft's Shader Stutter Fix Coming to NVIDIA RTX GPUs This Month

Microsoft is expanding its Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) technology to all NVIDIA RTX GPUs later this month, eliminating the shader compilation stutter and long load times that have plagued PC gamers. Initially limited to AMD’s RDNA-based hardware, ASD will now support RTX 20-series and newer GPUs, as well as upcoming RTX Spark-powered laptops, across Windows 11 24H2 and newer versions.

ASD works by delivering pre-compiled Shader Object Data Blocks tailored to a user’s specific graphics card and driver combination through the Xbox App. This approach significantly reduces the time required to prepare shaders upon launching a game for the first time, cutting first-launch shader prep times by up to 95%. For example, players of Gears of War: E-Day on supported Windows 11 machines have seen initial shader compilation times drop from 15 minutes to about 20 seconds.

In addition to NVIDIA, Microsoft is also extending ASD support to Intel’s discrete Arc B-Series cards, integrated graphics on Core Ultra Series 2 and Series 3 chips, and Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Series mobile processors. This move standardizes shader packages through the OS and game client, reducing the need for developers to create custom caching solutions.

Future major game releases, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, are set to integrate ASD out of the box as support rolls out globally over the coming weeks. This expansion marks a significant step forward in optimizing PC gaming performance for a broader range of hardware.