Nvidia has released a new GPU driver, version 621.01, that introduces support for Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery technology. This innovation aims to speed up game launches and eliminate mid-game stuttering by precompiling shaders in the cloud. According to Nvidia’s Andrew Burnes, the technology uses DirectX 12, Windows 11, and the Microsoft Agility SDK to capture shaders into a State Object Database (SODB). This allows Microsoft’s cloud network to precompile shaders for various hardware and driver combinations, significantly improving performance.
The first games to support Advanced Shader Delivery are Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, provided they are downloaded via the Xbox PC app. Burnes clarifies that the system is storefront-agnostic, meaning players benefit even when purchasing games on Steam, as long as the Xbox PC app is installed.
With a near-100 percent cache hit rate, Advanced Shader Delivery eliminates mid-game ‘just-in-time’ shader compilation, reducing CPU spikes and frame stutters. The new driver is available for download, and the technology is also supported on AMD GPUs with Adrenalin 26.6.1 or higher and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 series with driver version 2026.08.3 or higher.