NVIDIA GeForce Driver 596.36 Released With RTX 5070 and Major Game Fixes

The newest GeForce Game Ready Driver 596.36 from NVIDIA just came out. It fixes a few things for players, creators, and new hardware. This driver was released on April 28, 2026, and is WHQL-approved. It supports Conan Exiles Enhanced from the start, the GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU with 12GB of memory, and fixes for a number of games, video playback, and Blender.

The GeForce Game Ready driver has been released by NVIDIA, and it's worth noting because it's not about a new driver number on the surface. As you can see on NVIDIA's driver page, this is a WHQL-certified driver released on April 28, 2026. So this is the "real" thing, not some BETA driver leaked on a website somewhere.

NVIDIA is also promoting it as a Game Ready Driver. Hence, the idea is to get gamers ready for new and existing games with the latest optimizations and patches already implemented.

Conan Exiles Enhanced is Day-One Optimized

The main news is that it comes with Conan Exiles Enhanced support. NVIDIA claims this driver is optimized for the release. The company's press release says that Conan Exiles Enhanced is a technical update that includes Unreal Engine 5 enhancements such as Lumen Global Illumination, Nanite Geometry, and Virtual Shadow Maps.

According to NVIDIA, the game also supports DLSS Multi-Frame Generation, DLSS Frame Generation, DLSS Super Resolution, and NVIDIA Reflex. If you want to join in on the fun on launch day, you can be sure there will be GeForce hardware to play on.

GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU 12GB Support Added

Also, in this release, there is another hardware announcement that is important to those buying laptops and tracking laptop graphics. According to NVIDIA, this release now supports the GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU 12GB.

NVIDIA explains that the 12GB version will use 24 GB G7 memory to increase supply and give laptop manufacturers a choice, in addition to the current 8GB version. This is a good thing as it means more RTX 5070 laptops will be able to ship with different memory sizes to suit the market and the laptop's intended use.

Major Game Bug Fixes Included

The list of fixes is where this patch starts to make a difference. NVIDIA's feedback thread mentions a fix for God of War Ragnarok that addresses textures sometimes appearing white in certain situations.

It also addresses the flickering of character garments in Assassin's Creed Shadows, and grass and plants flicker in The Crew Motorfest. If you have experienced any of these issues, you should see a more stable gaming experience with this driver.

Video Playback and Blender Improvements

It's not just games. There is also a fix for blocky artifacts when playing back H.264 with DXVA 2.0 decoding - useful if you watch a lot of video or use software that uses hardware decoding.

Also, Blender 5.1 EEVEE gets a fix for a rendering issue where nodes that are not shaders and are connected to the material output could render black. If you use Blender, this is a fix for a problem that could mess up your rendering workflow.

A Useful New Driver

If you're one of those people who need to know whether a driver is worth downloading immediately, then this one is probably a resounding yes for GeForce users. It includes game support for a big new game release, a new laptop configuration, and fixes for both games and content creation.

This usually means that NVIDIA is fixing specific problems, rather than just rolling out a refresh. In this release, the notes indicate those upgrades. What's most exciting is that the update is useful, if not spectacular. There is no new major user interface and no new feature intended as the show-stopper.

Instead, there are fewer texture artifacts in one game, less flicker in another, better video playback, and a fix for a Blender rendering bug that may have slowed you down. 

Those are the sort of things that make the software easier to use, even if they don't make the biggest splash.

NVIDIA GeForce Driver 596.36, released on April 28, 2026, is WHQL-certified, supports Conan Exiles Enhanced, officially supports the GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU 12GB, and includes various fixes for games, video, and Blender.

If you have GeForce graphics, particularly if you intend to play Conan Exiles Enhanced or have run into any of the issues patched here, this is the kind of update you want.