Nvidia is officially killing the Control Panel after 20 years
Nvidia’s iconic Control Panel has officially reached the end of the road. After serving PC gamers for more than 20 years, the classic software is now being retired as Nvidia shifts everything over to the newer Nvidia App. The change arrives with the latest Game Ready Driver update, which also adds support for games like 007 First Light, Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, and more.
For many longtime PC users, the Nvidia Control Panel has been a familiar part of Windows for decades. It was the place where players adjusted resolution settings, changed refresh rates, enabled G-Sync, tweaked 3D settings, configured multiple displays, and managed GPU features. While it wasn’t exactly modern-looking, it became one of the most recognizable tools in PC gaming.
However, Nvidia has been slowly preparing users for this transition for quite some time. The company previously introduced the Nvidia App as a replacement for both GeForce Experience and the Control Panel, combining everything into one cleaner interface. Now, Nvidia says all actively supported Control Panel features for GeForce RTX users have officially been moved to the new app.
The biggest change comes after installing the newest drivers. If you perform a clean installation, the old Nvidia Control Panel will no longer appear when you right-click on the desktop. Instead, users will now be directed toward the Nvidia App for all graphics settings and GPU management.
That said, Nvidia is not instantly deleting the software from every PC. Existing installations of the Control Panel will remain on systems unless users choose a clean driver install. Nvidia also confirmed that people who still want to use it can download it from the Microsoft Store. However, the company will no longer add new features, improvements, or fixes to it.
According to Nvidia, the new app offers all the important Control Panel functionality while also being faster and more efficient. It also includes several extra features that the old software never had, including game overlays, driver updates, performance monitoring tools, recording options, and easier game optimization settings.
