How To Clear Nvidia Shader Cache To Stop Stuttering

If your games have started micro-stuttering or dropping frames out of nowhere, you are likely dealing with corrupted pre-compiled shader files. Your GPU is struggling to read stale data left over from recent driver updates or game patches, which causes those annoying frame time spikes.

Why this happens

Nvidia stores shader files on your disk to speed up game loading. When these files become outdated or corrupted, your GPU chokes on the bad data instead of loading textures smoothly.

What you will need

You just need basic user access to your file explorer and Nvidia Control Panel. No extra software is strictly required, though DDU is an optional tool for deeper cleaning.

Steps

1. 01
   Right-click your desktop and open the Nvidia Control Panel, navigate to Manage 3D settings, set Shader Cache Size to Off, and click Apply.
2. 02
   Restart your computer to ensure no active processes are locking the cache files.
3. 03
   Press Win + R, type %userprofile%/AppData/Local in the box, and press Enter.
4. 04
   Open the NVIDIA folder, then open the DXCache and GLCache folders and delete all files inside them.
5. 05
   Navigate back to %userprofile%/AppData/Local/NVIDIA Corporation, and if you see an NV_Cache folder, delete all contents inside that as well.
6. 06
   Go back to the Nvidia Control Panel, set Shader Cache Size back to Driver Default or Unlimited for high-end titles, and click Apply.

Still not working?

If you are still seeing stutters, use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to perform a clean wipe of your GPU drivers, as the corruption may be baked into the driver installation itself. If the issue persists across every game, check your drive health using CrystalDiskInfo to rule out failing storage, as shader cache errors are often a symptom of bad sectors on your SSD.

Frequently asked questions

Will deleting these cache files delete my game progress?

No. These files are only temporary data used by your GPU to render graphics; they do not contain your save data or personal settings.

Does setting the shader cache to Unlimited hurt my PC?

Not at all. Setting it to Unlimited just allows the cache to grow as large as it needs to be to prevent stuttering, provided you have sufficient free space on your storage drive.

Will my games run slower after doing this?

You might notice a tiny bit of stuttering the first time you boot a game immediately after this fix. This is normal because the GPU is building a fresh, clean cache, and it will smooth out as you play.

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