I already have the NVIDIA App. Do I need an optimizer like Rise?
If your card is a GeForce, the NVIDIA App from NVIDIA updates the driver and tunes the graphics of many games. It does not take care of the rest of the PC: Windows, power plan, background programs, network and peripherals.
Rise TeamThis comparison was written by the Rise team, which has a stake in it. Data about the other products comes from their official pages, with the link and the date we checked it. Prices and features change: check the source before you decide.
Short answer
The NVIDIA App works with GeForce cards, tunes the graphics settings of more than a thousand games and its overlay shows FPS and 1% low. Rise does not depend on the card’s brand: it tunes Windows, the network, peripherals and games with a preset, shows each change before applying it and measures before and after. The two complement each other.
Side by side
| What to compare | Rise | NVIDIA App |
|---|---|---|
| Price | No: Paid: Rise Basic or Rise Premium | No price shown on the official pages; sign-in is optional[2] |
| Graphics card | Any brand; what can be tuned on the card depends on the model | GeForce cards, listed in the FAQ[2] |
| In-game graphics | Partly: Video presets for CS2, VALORANT, Fortnite, FiveM, Apex and others (Premium) | Yes: Optimal settings for more than a thousand games[2] |
| Windows, power and background | Yes: Yes: power plan, services, background programs and maintenance | Not among the features on the official page[1] |
| Network and peripherals | Yes: Yes: the PC’s network, mouse and keyboard | Not among the features on the official page[1] |
| Measure FPS | Yes: Rise Benchmark before and after, with average FPS, 1% low and stutters | Yes: Overlay with FPS, 1% low, CPU and GPU usage and latency[1] |
| Graphics driver | Driver Center, official packages only | Yes: Updates the NVIDIA driver and lets you roll back to a previous one[2] |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Rise makes more sense if
- Your FPS drops even with the graphics settings right, because of Windows, background programs or the power plan.
- Your card is not NVIDIA, or you play on a laptop with integrated graphics.
- You want to tune the network, mouse and keyboard in the same app.
- You want to compare before and after with the same test.
NVIDIA App makes more sense if
- Your card is a GeForce and you only want the graphics tuned by the card maker’s own app.
- Your game is among the more than a thousand that the NVIDIA App tunes.
- You want to update the driver and record your match in the same program.
Using both together
It works well: the NVIDIA App takes care of the driver and the graphics of its games; Rise takes care of Windows, the network, peripherals and the games with a preset. To avoid two programs changing the graphics of the same game, pick one of them for each game.
What if you have an AMD card?
AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition has HYPR-RX, which turns on driver features (like Anti-Lag and frame generation) in one click and, in HYPR-Tune games, in-game settings like FSR, on Radeon RX 7000 and newer. Like the NVIDIA App, it takes care of the card, not the rest of Windows.
Frequently asked questions
Is the NVIDIA App free?
NVIDIA’s official pages show no price for it: you download it from nvidia.com, and sign-in is optional (checked on November 7, 2026). It works with the GeForce cards listed in its FAQ.
If I already use the NVIDIA App, does Rise still help?
It can help where the NVIDIA App does not reach: Windows, power plan, background programs, network and peripherals. The way to know is to run the Rise Benchmark before and after and compare on your PC.
Does Rise work with an AMD card or integrated graphics?
Yes. Windows, network and peripheral optimizations work on any PC with Windows 10 22H2 or Windows 11, and the Benchmark has a Light profile for integrated graphics. What can be tuned on the graphics card depends on the model.
Sources
- NVIDIA App: official page (checked on Nov 7, 2026)
- NVIDIA App: FAQ (checked on Nov 7, 2026)
- AMD: HYPR-RX (checked on Nov 7, 2026)
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