NVIDIA GeForce 617.42: Prefer Maximum Performance Bug Remains Open

The bug doesn't look new. The documentation is what changed: the entry was listed for months, left out of one set of notes with no fix recorded, and has now returned. If you read release notes before you click "Update," it's worth understanding what happened.

What NVIDIA's 617.42 notes actually say​

NVIDIA's official PDF, titled "Release 615 Driver for Windows, Version 617.42," is dated October 6, 2026. It covers the Release 615 family of NVIDIA® graphics drivers (versions 615.xx to 619.xx) for Microsoft® Windows® 10 and later. The open-issues section has a single driver bug: "Prefer Maximum Performance" Power Management Mode may not be applied correctly. [6007998]

There isn't much on the fixed side either. According to Neowin, the driver is mostly about adding support for the next wave of blockbuster games hitting PC this month, plus one fix: Assassin's Creed Shadows may crash to desktop after extended gameplay after updating to driver 616.56. The release notes posted on Guru3D's forums show that fix tracked as [6685219], with Fixed General Bugs listed as N/A.

Funky Kit reports the driver brings support for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Sim Update 7. Windows 10 users are still covered. A Guru3D forum member pointed out that, going by the installer file name, this version still supports Windows 10.

Section summary: 617.42 makes one bug fix (Assassin's Creed Shadows), adds new Game Ready titles and lists one open driver issue: bug 6007998.

How the bug left the notes and came back​

MIXED Reality News followed the entry across NVIDIA's documents. It downloaded nine Windows release-notes PDFs from NVIDIA's download server and searched the text for the bug number. That search returns exactly one hit in each of 610.47 of May 26, 610.62, 610.74, 610.88, 616.56, 616.64 and 616.92 of September 9, zero hits in 617.14, and one hit in 617.42. By the outlet's count, that's roughly 15 weeks of notes across two driver branches, Release 610 and Release 615.

Searching by bug number rather than by phrase mattered. MIXED noted that "Prefer maximum performance" also turns up in all nine documents as a step in an unrelated NVIDIA Control Panel walkthrough. That means a simple text search would wrongly show the bug in 617.14. That nine-document count is MIXED's own analysis, not something NVIDIA published.

The 617.14 notes of September 22 recorded three fixes, and bug 6007998 wasn't one of them. TechSpot's copy of those notes lists them:

• Game launch: Judgement, Lost Judgement and Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. could fail to launch after updating to 616.56 [6681537].
• HDMI blank screen: No picture on a Samsung Odyssey G95NC connected over HDMI after updating to R615 drivers [6771206].
• DisplayPort wake: Some monitors wouldn't wake from sleep over DisplayPort after updating to R615 drivers [6757568].

With no fix recorded, the most likely reading is that the entry dropped out of one document rather than the bug being fixed and then coming back. That's an inference, though. NVIDIA hasn't explained the omission or the return.

A discrepancy worth noting​

The 617.14 story isn't completely tidy. When 617.14 shipped, WindowsForum's own coverage cited Neowin as reporting two known issues for that driver, one being NVIDIA's "Prefer Maximum Performance" Power Management Mode may not be applied correctly, tracked as issue 6007998. MIXED's PDF check found no mention of the bug in the 617.14 PDF.

These accounts don't have to cancel each other out. A plausible explanation is that NVIDIA's web or forum announcement for 617.14 still carried the entry while the PDF didn't. Neither source settles that, so treat it as unconfirmed. Either way, the gap was only in the documentation.

Section summary: The entry was listed for seven straight releases, missing from the 617.14 PDF with no fix recorded, and is listed again in 617.42. Some 617.14 coverage still showed it as a known issue.

What the bug means for your PC (and what it doesn't)​

NVIDIA's description is very short. MIXED notes that the notes name no affected GPU, no affected laptop model and no symptom. Power management mode is a global or per-program setting in the NVIDIA Control Panel. "Prefer maximum performance" is meant to keep GPU clocks high instead of letting the driver lower them when it can.

A few points need careful handling:

• Laptops or desktops? TechSpot's copy of the 617.42 notes adds "(Laptop)" to the entry, and its 610.74 entry starts with "Laptops:". The official 617.42 wording above has no such label. The issue appears right after NVIDIA's standard disclaimer that notebook issues can be system-specific, but that disclaimer appears in every edition and doesn't prove the bug only affects laptops.
• It's not a Windows power plan bug. Neowin described it as related to the Windows Power Management modes affecting its graphics cards. NVIDIA's entry refers to the setting in its own Control Panel, not to Windows power plans.
• "Only open issue" doesn't mean "only bug." NVIDIA notes that its listed changes are only part of the total changes in each driver. The open-issues list doesn't claim to be complete.

A practical checklist for GeForce owners​

NVIDIA hasn't published a workaround. These steps can help you tell whether you're hitting this bug or something else.

1. Check your driver version. You can find it under System Information in the NVIDIA Control Panel's Help menu, or on the Drivers page of the NVIDIA App. 617.42 and the earlier drivers named above carry the entry.
2. Re-apply the setting the way NVIDIA documents it. Open Manage 3D Settings. Then, as the 617.42 PDF puts it, click the Global Settings tab, then scroll to the Power management mode feature, click the corresponding list arrow, select Prefer maximum performance, then click Apply. People often skip Apply.
3. Check that it stuck. Close the Control Panel, reopen it and look at the value again. If it has gone back to the default, or it shows as set but the GPU still clocks down under load, that matches the behavior NVIDIA lists. There's nothing more to do in the panel.
4. Check Windows' own power mode. Go to Settings > System > Power & battery and look at Power mode (Best power efficiency, Balanced or Best performance). Windows sets this separately from NVIDIA's setting. Microsoft's support guidance says that if the mode is greyed out, a custom power plan may be active. Select Balanced under Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options, then change the mode again.
5. Rule out normal behavior. A GPU that's CPU-bound, or that's hitting a thermal or power limit, will run below maximum clocks no matter what this setting says. That isn't bug 6007998.

Should you roll back? Probably not just for this. The same bug number appears in drivers going back to the R610 branch, so an older driver won't avoid it, and you'd lose newer fixes. If you do downgrade for other reasons, the 617.42 notes say not to use Windows' rollback feature. NVIDIA recommends uninstalling the current driver through Windows' Add and Remove Programs, then running the older driver's setup.exe.

The bigger lesson: release notes can change without notice​

This is a small entry, but it shows something wider. Release notes are a vendor's main way of telling you about known issues, and they can change between editions without explanation. If you had read only the 617.14 PDF, you would have reasonably concluded that the power management issue was gone. 617.42 shows it wasn't.

For IT admins managing fleets of GeForce-equipped workstations or gaming laptops, track known issues by bug number, not by checking whether a phrase appears in the latest notes. Better still, test your own systems: if a setting matters to you, check that it holds after each driver update.

Bottom line: 617.42 is a reasonable update if you play Assassin's Creed Shadows or any of the newly supported games. Don't install it expecting a fix for "Prefer maximum performance." NVIDIA still lists that bug as open.