RTX 5060 Ti low GPU usage in Apex DX12 causing 37 FPS drops

GPU: RTX 5060 Ti 16GB
Driver version: 610.62 - Released: Tue Jun 16, 2026
OS: Windows 11

Issue:
When playing Apex Legends, FPS is 144 (Locked) when looking toward the edge of the map but drops to 37 FPS when looking the opposite direction. GPU usage sits at only 35% during the 37 FPS drops, and only 45% during 144 FPS. This is abnormally low, the GPU is not clocking up to proper 3D frequencies. It appears stuck in a low power state.

Setting "Prefer Maximum Performance" in the NVIDIA App only partially helps, raising the 37 FPS to around 70 FPS, which is still far below expected performance. I used to get over 250+ FPS without cap. GPU usage remains abnormally low regardless of power settings.

Troubleshooting already performed:

• NVIDIA Reflex disabled in-game
• V-Sync disabled in-game
• Spot Shadow Details disabled
• DirectX Shader Cache manually deleted
• Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling disabled in Windows
• Power Management Mode set to Prefer Maximum Performance (both global and per-app)
• Deep clean re-install Nvidia driver
  
  

None of these resolved the issue. The GPU remains at low clock speeds and refuses to boost under Apex's DX12 workload.

This appears to be a driver-level power state management bug specific to the RTX 50 series and Apex Legends' DX12 renderer. The GPU's boost algorithm is misinterpreting the game's workload and staying in idle/low-power P-states.