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NVIDIA P-States

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Recommendation

Leave as default

Enable only with confirmed stutters from P-State switching; otherwise leave the original state.

Locking can increase power consumption, temperature and idle noise without improving game performance.

Main effect
GPU frequency lock
FPS and memory
See the research

What changes

Section titled “What changes”

The NVIDIA driver normally switches the graphics card’s power states (P-States) dynamically: under low load the frequency and voltage drop, under load they rise. This setting removes the dynamic switching and locks the card in a high-performance state — frequency and voltage do not drop at idle. This is visible in any monitoring tool (HWiNFO, GPU-Z, Task Manager → “Performance”): the GPU frequency at idle stays high instead of dropping.

The point of enabling it is when the card “jumps” between frequencies and the switching causes stutters and lags. Visible behavior in the app: the setting is shown only in expert mode, and when applying it BoosterX warns — be sure to monitor the GPU temperature: overheating leads to reduced performance and unstable operation.

Exceptions and differences

Section titled “Exceptions and differences”
  • Not available on laptops or on systems with a non-NVIDIA graphics card — the setting is hidden; do not bypass the hardware compatibility filter.
  • After reinstalling the NVIDIA driver, the setting must be applied again.
  • Check scenarios sensitive to GPU power: sleep, multiple monitors, video playback.

How to verify the result

Section titled “How to verify the result”

In a GPU frequency monitor, compare idle before and after the change: without P-State dynamics, the idle frequency does not drop. Then compare frequency, power and frametime under gaming load and make sure sleep, multiple monitors and video work as before.

How to change and revert

Section titled “How to change and revert”

In BoosterX, select the “Expert” display level, then open “Optimization” → “Power options” → “NVIDIA P-States” and change the setting’s state. Click “Apply” at the bottom of the page; if “Instant apply” is enabled, the change is applied immediately.

To revert, return the original state and apply the change — the driver again lowers frequency and voltage under low load.

Confirmation

Section titled “Confirmation”
  • Research on GPU presentation and power: Runtime power and P-state — what is confirmed for GPU power parameters and where the results apply.
  • Related setting: HAGS — another GPU parameter with a similar verification scheme.
  • NVIDIA driver behavior and compatibility boundaries — based on the app’s visible descriptions; no DocsX measurements were performed for this setting.

Last checked: 2026-09-20.