Official driver and Windows comparison research
Verified 17 September 2026, read-only research. Pre-comparison local evidence: NVIDIA 616.92 / 32.0.16.1692, RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, ASUS H7604JV, Windows 26200.9457, dxgkrnl 10.0.26100.9444. The user reports other games work correctly. The observed TDRs and the findings below do not establish a hardware defect. No installer/package downloads, installations, registry changes, driver-profile writes or GPU tests were performed as part of this research. Subsequent preparation and authorization are distinguished below.
Current result update: after the user's approval without a Windows restart, 610.88 is independently confirmed active by nvidia-smi KMD/GPU queries, PnP 32.0.16.1088 / oem227.inf, and the preserved game log. The manual current-build user test failed with nvlddmkm TDR at 17 September 01:29:52.3631892 CEST and new LiveKernelEvent 117. It used D3D11, alps-02 / Low / Rain / seed 9909140, normal EXE flags; this is not a matched repetition of the earlier automated Forward baseline. Installer Finish and optional component changes were not independently observed. A read-only NVAPI comparison now confirms four prior overrides unchanged in both Base and CurrentGlobal, including Prefer Maximum Performance; this does not verify every driver/App setting. See comparison status and OS evidence. The old Rampage66 content cannot rule out upgrading the current project; a fresh current-content snapshot is now prepared for a separate 6.6 comparison, whose result is pending.
| Official source | Verified finding and relevance |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce 616.92 release notes, pp. 14–15, 32 | These GeForce notes are now accessible, superseding the earlier research's retrieval limitation. They list no gaming fixes in this release; general fixes concern browser flicker, virtual displays and RDP. Open issues include incorrect application of Prefer Maximum Performance [6007998], extended-gameplay crashes in Assassin's Creed Shadows after 616.56 [6685219], and launch failures in three named games [6681537]. None identifies this Unity cross-API TDR. RTX 4060 Laptop is supported. These are GeForce notes, not the different Data Center package's notes bearing the same version number. |
| NVIDIA GeForce 610.88 release notes, cover, pp. 15, 32 | WHQL release dated 28 July 2026, R610 branch, with Windows 11 and RTX 4060 Laptop support. This is a concrete alternate branch for a controlled comparison, not a documented fix for Rampage. The same power-management issue [6007998] remains listed. GPU/OS support does not certify stability on this exact laptop and Windows cumulative build. |
| ASUS H7604JV driver page | Lists OEM NVIDIA 32.0.15.6607, dated 20 December 2024, and Intel 31.0.101.4255, dated 13 April 2023. The Intel version matches the installed driver, so its age alone does not establish an incorrect OEM configuration. NVIDIA package metadata specifies minimum Windows 11 22H2, not explicit testing on build 26200.9457. Data was readable in the official page's search-index content; direct page fetches timed out. No package was downloaded or inspected. |
| Microsoft KB5129195 and 25H2 release health | Build 26200.9457 is the 14 September 2026 out-of-band update. Its documented changes concern security, Remote Desktop Services, Hyper-V sharing and USB audio. No matching NVIDIA/Unity GPU-timeout issue or correction was found in the reviewed pages. Absence from these lists does not exclude an undocumented OS/driver defect. |
| Microsoft KB5054156 | Windows 24H2 and 25H2 share their core and system files. The 26100 prefix of dxgkrnl on a 26200 OS therefore does not by itself demonstrate a mixed or broken installation. The exact .9444 file revision was not independently checked against the cumulative update's file manifest. |
The existing local NVIDIA profile audit found global Prefer Maximum Performance and no Rampage-specific profile. Issue [6007998] is therefore configuration-relevant, but describes a setting not applying correctly; it does not prove that setting causes these TDRs. The audit also cannot exclude undocumented NVIDIA App options. Loaded overlay modules were observed, without proof that an effect was active or causal.
Historical evidence limits the driver-regression hypothesis: 14 September's GBV log, lines 10/22, identifies NVIDIA 32.0.15.7700 (577.00); from line 49 it already records root-CBV out-of-bounds validation errors. Thus relevant graphics failures predate 616.92. This does not prove every older and newer failure has the same cause, but 610.88 must not be presented as a likely fix or 616.92 as the sole origin.
At the initial research stage, fresh current-build GBV without RenderDoc took priority over a driver comparison. A clean capture of selected frames does not establish correctness of all earlier/later frames or resource lifetimes. For the now separately authorized driver comparison, preserve the same capture/reproducer or unchanged build, course, seed, graphics API, quality and render flags while comparing 616.92 with 610.88. Preparing the package itself did not confer installation authorization; the user subsequently supplied that authorization, excluding reboot. A stored oem6.inf / nvamsi.inf 577.00 package is not assumed compatible merely because it exists in the driver store.
Subsequently authorized preparation downloaded the notebook installer from NVIDIA's CDN into Tools/Downloads/NVIDIA-610.88. Final size is 979,651,304 bytes, Authenticode is Valid for NVIDIA Corporation, and SHA-256 is 576A90C6F6EEA47748DB1DEFCBCA1746C81FE4EB972F3132D30878778CEE0B09. Read-only 7-Zip archive inspection verifies nvami.inf version 32.0.16.1088 and its declared exact match for the local ASUS hardware ID PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_28A0&SUBSYS_299D1043, including the NTamd64.10.0...26200 model section. A validly signed 616.92 notebook installer from the NVIDIA App cache is preserved in Tools/Downloads/NVIDIA-616.92-Restore; its archived INF declares the same exact device. No installer execution, installation, elevation or system-setting change occurred during preparation. The comparison review records the subsequent authorization and current interactive-installation status.