Advanced Shader Delivery: Nvidia's 621.01 driver joins AMD

Update, 23 October 2026

On 21 October 2026 Microsoft's DirectX team said Advanced Shader Delivery is now "broadly available" on AMD, Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm hardware. The same post published Intel's minimum driver, 32.0.101.9150, for Arc B570, Arc B580 and Core Ultra Series 2 and 3. It confirmed Nvidia's 621.01 driver for all GeForce RTX GPUs and RTX Spark. Windows Mode reported the same driver list on 22 October.

Microsoft also said for the first time that ASD "will soon expand beyond the Microsoft Store and XBOX PC app to the Epic Games Store and Steam". It gave no date. Epic Games will add ASD to Fortnite in an upcoming update. On the developer side, Unreal Engine 5.8.4 can generate the required shader database now, and Unity support is due in 2027. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is the showcase title. Microsoft says its first-launch shader compilation takes "just a few seconds", compared with several minutes on a typical PC without ASD.

Key takeaways

• Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) is a Microsoft DirectX feature. It downloads shaders that have already been compiled for your exact GPU and driver alongside a game, so your PC does not have to compile them at first launch or while you play.
• Nvidia's GeForce Game Ready 621.01 WHQL driver, announced on 20 October 2026, brings ASD to GeForce RTX graphics cards. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is the first game Nvidia names.
• AMD has supported ASD since Adrenalin 26.6.1, covering every RDNA generation from RDNA 1 to RDNA 4. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 is supported from driver 2026.08.3. Intel Arc B570, Arc B580 and Core Ultra Series 2 and 3 need driver 32.0.101.9150 or newer, according to Microsoft's 21 October post.
• For every GPU vendor, ASD requires Windows 11 version 24H2 or later, a game whose developer has enabled the feature and, for now, the Xbox PC app.
• Microsoft said on 21 October that ASD will "soon" expand to Steam and the Epic Games Store, with no date. Nvidia says Steam purchases can already benefit if the Xbox PC app is installed. GOG has not been mentioned.

What is Advanced Shader Delivery?

Advanced Shader Delivery (ASD) is a Microsoft DirectX feature that downloads shaders already compiled for your exact GPU and driver, so your PC skips compiling them at first launch or while playing. Nvidia's Game Ready 621.01 driver brings it to GeForce RTX cards, after AMD.

That local compilation shows up in two familiar ways. Some games compile everything up front, which gives the long "compiling shaders" progress bar on first launch. Others compile shaders on demand as new effects appear, which can cause brief freezes known as shader stutter. Microsoft's DirectX team said in its August 2025 introduction of ASD that the cached results are also invalidated when the graphics driver is updated, so players can face the same wait again after a routine driver install.

The scale varies by game and hardware. Nvidia's 20 October post says local shader compilation can take up to 30 minutes per game launch or update in some cases. It also says that pre-compiling every possible combination on the developer's side and shipping them all would mean terabytes of downloads.

How Advanced Shader Delivery works

ASD moves the compilation work from the player's PC to the cloud, and does it at download time instead of launch time. Microsoft's DirectX blog describes the pipeline in three steps:

1. Collection: The developer gathers the game's shader and pipeline data into a standard package called a State Object Database (SODB). This can be done by tracing the game as it runs or by generating the data programmatically.
2. Cloud compilation: Microsoft and GPU vendors separated the shader compiler from the graphics driver. A cloud compiler turns the SODB into a Precompiled Shader Database (PSDB) for each supported hardware and driver combination.
3. Delivery: When the player downloads or updates a supported game, the matching PSDB arrives with it and fills the local shader cache. On first launch the game finds its shaders already compiled. If the driver is updated later, Windows detects the change and refreshes the cache.

Nvidia says Microsoft's cloud compiles shaders for hundreds of thousands of hardware and driver combinations and that ASD achieves a near-100% cache hit rate. In other words, almost every shader a game asks for should already be waiting in the cache. Microsoft says games with working ASD show the message "Precompiled shaders installed" in the launch window.

For developers, Microsoft's GDC 2026 post (12 March 2026) introduced two APIs in Agility SDK 1.619. An App Identity API lets a game declare its identity to Direct3D 12 and the driver, and attaching that identity to the SODB is required for Xbox Partner Center submissions. A Stats API reports how often the precompiled cache is hit on a given configuration. Developers upload the SODB with their game package through Xbox Partner Center.

Measured results so far

Microsoft and independent testers have published large reductions in first-load times, but each figure comes from a specific game and system.

The gains depend on how much shader work a game normally does on the player's PC. Titles that already precompile efficiently, or that use few shader permutations, will see smaller differences. ASD also does not change how fast a game streams textures or loads levels from storage.

Does Nvidia support Advanced Shader Delivery? GPUs, drivers and Windows versions

Yes. Nvidia GeForce RTX cards support ASD from Game Ready driver 621.01. Microsoft's 21 October 2026 DirectX post lists the full hardware and driver requirements below. It replaces the 1 October list, which had no Intel driver version.

Every vendor shares the same Windows requirement: Windows 11 version 24H2 or later. Microsoft's May 2026 post also listed Xbox Gaming Services version 37.113.11003.0 or later. Older GPUs outside these lists are not covered. HWCooling reports that Nvidia's GTX 16 series, which lacks the RTX branding, is not on the list.

Nvidia already had a separate driver feature, Auto Shader Compilation, which rebuilds existing DirectX 12 shader caches after a driver update. Hardware.com.br describes the difference this way: Auto Shader Compilation still runs on the player's PC after the fact, while ASD delivers finished shaders with the game download.

Advanced Shader Delivery vs Nvidia and Intel driver features

Each GPU vendor has a shader-cache feature of its own, and the names are easy to mix up. Intel launched its own Precompiled Shaders service for Arc B-Series and Core Ultra Series 3 and 200V graphics in March 2026 with driver 32.0.101.8626. It covered 13 games at launch, according to HotHardware and Tom's Hardware. That service is run by Intel and works separately from Microsoft's ASD.

Does Advanced Shader Delivery work on Steam? Games and storefronts

Not natively yet. On 21 October 2026 Microsoft said ASD "will soon expand beyond the Microsoft Store and XBOX PC app to the Epic Games Store and Steam", but it gave no date. Until then, the Xbox PC app is the only delivery channel Microsoft has confirmed.

A capable GPU is not enough on its own. ASD only works in games whose developers have submitted an SODB, and the precompiled data is delivered through Microsoft's Xbox PC app.

Confirmed now:

• Xbox PC app / Microsoft Store: This is the delivery channel named in every Microsoft post. Microsoft tells players to install the Xbox PC app before downloading a supported game.
• Games: Microsoft names Forza Horizon 6 and Gears of War: E-Day, which entered early access on 1 October 2026 as the first title to support ASD across the expanded hardware lineup. Microsoft and Nvidia both name Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, and Microsoft tells players to install the Xbox PC app before downloading it. Microsoft says more titles are coming but has not listed them all in its blog posts. Many of the Xbox PC titles shown at the ID@Xbox x IGN October showcase have not said whether they support ASD.
• Coming: Epic Games will add ASD to Fortnite in an upcoming update. Unreal Engine 5.8.4 can already build the shader database that ASD needs, and Microsoft expects Unity support in 2027.

Claimed, but not yet confirmed by Microsoft:

• Steam purchases via the Xbox PC app: Nvidia's 20 October post calls the system "storefront-agnostic." It says players benefit even when playing games bought on Steam, as long as the Xbox PC app is installed. Microsoft's DirectX posts do not make this claim. Its 21 October post instead describes Steam support as a future expansion. Players should treat Steam support as dependent on the individual game until Microsoft or the publisher confirms it.

Not announced:

• A date for Steam and Epic Games Store support: Microsoft named both stores on 21 October but gave only "soon". GOG has not been mentioned by Microsoft. Epic Games has tested SODB and PSDB generation as an engine and middleware provider, according to Microsoft's GDC 2026 post.

How to enable Advanced Shader Delivery and check it is working

Microsoft does not describe a separate setting to turn on; the precompiled shaders arrive with the game download. Based on the requirements Microsoft and the GPU vendors have published, a player who wants ASD should:

1. Confirm Windows 11 is on version 24H2 or later (Settings > System > About).
2. Install the minimum GPU driver for their vendor: Game Ready 621.01 or newer for GeForce RTX, Adrenalin 26.6.1 or newer for Radeon, 32.0.101.9150 or newer for Intel Arc B-Series and Core Ultra, or 2026.08.3 or newer for Snapdragon X2.
3. Install the Xbox PC app and keep Gaming Services updated.
4. Download or update a supported game through the Xbox PC app and look for "Precompiled shaders installed" when the game launches.

Games already installed before the driver update may need an update or a fresh download to receive the precompiled database. Because the cache is tied to a driver version, a later driver update triggers a refresh through Windows instead of a full local recompile.

What it means

Shader compilation stutter has been one of the most common complaints about PC versions of big games for years, and it is a problem consoles mostly do not have. ASD is Microsoft's attempt to give Windows something close to the console model without forcing developers to ship terabytes of variants. With Nvidia now on board, the feature covers the large majority of current gaming GPUs, so studios have a stronger reason to submit shader databases.

The main limits are practical. ASD only helps in games that have been enabled for it, and so far it depends on Microsoft's own app and store pipeline. Microsoft's 21 October promise of Steam and Epic Games Store support is the biggest change so far. Those two stores sell much of the PC catalogue, but there is still no date. Older hardware, such as GTX 16 series and Intel Arc A-Series cards, and Windows 10 users are not covered.

For players, the most useful step is simple: keep Windows 11 and GPU drivers current, install the Xbox PC app, and check each game's launch screen. Over the next few months, watch for three things: a full list of supported games from Microsoft, a launch date for ASD on Steam and the Epic Games Store, and the Fortnite update. Players planning other big autumn PC launches, such as Final Fantasy Resonance, should check each game's store page or patch notes for ASD before assuming it is supported.

Related coverage

• Modern Warfare 4 launch: times, early access and Switch 2 details
• ID@Xbox x IGN Showcase October 2026: Biggest Reveals and Dates
• TorchTPU and TorchNeuron explained: the PyTorch push past Nvidia CUDA
• Midnight Black PS5: Japan-Only Price, Launch Date and Region Lock

Sources

• Microsoft DirectX Developer Blog: Introducing Advanced Shader Delivery (20 August 2025)
• Microsoft DirectX Developer Blog: Advanced Shader Delivery, what's new at GDC 2026 (12 March 2026)
• Microsoft DirectX Developer Blog: Advanced Shader Delivery expands Public Preview with AMD (15 May 2026, edited 11 June 2026)
• Microsoft DirectX Developer Blog: Advanced Shader Delivery coming soon across Windows 11 and available for Gears of War: E-Day (1 October 2026)
• Nvidia: GeForce Game Ready Driver for Phantom Blade Zero and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (20 October 2026)
• Tom's Hardware: We tested Advanced Shader Delivery on the RX 9070 XT
• HWCooling: Advanced Shader Delivery comes to Nvidia, Intel and Qualcomm GPUs (October 2026)
• Hardware.com.br: Microsoft confirms Advanced Shader Delivery for all Nvidia RTX GPUs (2 October 2026)
• Microsoft DirectX Developer Blog: Advanced Shader Delivery is available now across hardware and coming soon to other storefronts (21 October 2026)
• Windows Mode: Advanced Shader Delivery GPUs, drivers and how to get it (22 October 2026)
• HotHardware: Intel Arc GPUs get precompiled shaders (18 March 2026)
• Tom's Hardware: Intel adds precompiled shader delivery to Arc Xe2 and Xe3 GPUs