Nvidia releases GeForce driver 621.01 with Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery

Nvidia released GeForce Game Ready driver version 621.01 on Oct. 21, 2026, adding support for Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery on Windows 11. Nvidia announced in early October 2026 that it would soon add ASD to RTX and RTX Spark drivers.

Microsoft’s Advanced Shader Delivery offloads shader compilation, the process of preparing graphics code for the GPU, to the cloud to speed up game launches and reduce mid-game stuttering. The system downloads precompiled shaders tailored to a specific graphics card on Windows 11. Microsoft combines shader information with hardware vendors’ compilers in the cloud to create a database tailored to the user’s hardware, so Windows receives ready-to-run shaders instead of making the CPU compile them locally.

Microsoft says ASD can reduce up-front shader precompilation by up to 95 percent. Digital Foundry reports that initial shader precompilation can take upwards of 20 minutes on high-end systems in some games. Digital Foundry cites the 20-minute duration to explain why the 95 percent reduction matters to players waiting for games to launch.

Most games run a shader burn at first launch or after a driver update, yet some shaders are still missed. Digital Foundry describes the existing precompilation step that ASD seeks to supplement by catching missed shaders via the cloud. ASD works similarly to Valve’s Linux-based Steam Shader Pre-Caching system for Steam Deck. Digital Foundry uses this comparison to explain the cloud precompilation approach used by Microsoft’s technology.

The first games to support ASD are Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Developers must explicitly implement ASD, though the feature normally works automatically without user input. Supported games must implement the technology in addition to the driver installation. The sources describe the current launch list as short.

Players need Windows 11 24H2 or later to use ASD with driver 621.01. ASD requires DirectX 12, Windows 11, and Microsoft’s Agility SDK, so the driver by itself does not suffice. Players must install the Xbox PC app for ASD to turn on, including for Steam versions of supported games.

AMD and Qualcomm already include ASD in their graphics drivers. Digital Foundry notes that Nvidia’s addition expands support to its RTX and RTX Spark cards after AMD and Qualcomm had already adopted the technology. VGTimes says the feature is not limited to NVIDIA graphics cards.

Microsoft says the feature runs on AMD graphics cards with Adrenalin 26.6.1 or a later version. Microsoft says the feature supports Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 machines running driver version 2026.08.3 or later. Support for Intel discrete and integrated graphics is coming later this month, though Intel has not announced a release date or driver version number. Digital Foundry reports Intel support is pending after Nvidia, AMD, and Qualcomm already support or are adding ASD.

ASD does not help prevent traversal stutter, a separate hitch caused by data moving into and out of memory at invisible world boundaries. Digital Foundry lists this limitation separately from shader compilation hitches. PCWorld likewise says traversal stutter and asset streaming are different problems that ASD will not cure. Digital Foundry and PCWorld both distinguish shader compilation stutter from traversal stutter, noting that ASD addresses only the former.

PCWorld reported in 2023 that Forspoken, Dead Space, The Last of Us Part I, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor arrived with shader compilation and traversal stutter problems. PCWorld uses these 2023 releases as examples of how shader stutter has plagued major PC ports for years, explaining why ASD is significant to players. Microsoft introduced ASD last year for ROG Xbox Ally handhelds before expanding it to more AMD-powered PCs this summer.

“NVIDIA representative Andrew Burnes said that a near-total cache hit rate can prevent shader compilation from interrupting gameplay in supported titles:” Nvidia claims the technology can reach a shader-cache hit rate of almost 100 percent in supported titles.

PCWorld reports this performance claim as part of its explanation of why skipping local shader compilation matters for the gaming experience. Nvidia’s Automatic Shader Compilation prevents driver updates from deleting shaders and can work alongside ASD. Digital Foundry presents Automatic Shader Compilation as a separate Nvidia feature that complements ASD by preserving shaders across driver updates.

Players can get driver 621.01 through the Nvidia app or by downloading the installer manually. Digital Foundry says it had to manually download because the driver was not showing as available in the app for its PC.