Want Better GPU Performance? Update Your Nvidia and AMD Drivers Now (2024)

Always update your drivers. This is especially essential for your graphics card, because they’re constantly receiving iterative updates and major upgrades to keep pace with emerging technologies from the manufacturer and software developers. Even within a single card series or architecture, your GPU can evolve significantly through driver updates.

This is why most troubleshooting guides suggest updating your drivers to fix any issues. New releases often include fixes for some of the most widely reported issues you might experience. So if you experience graphical issues, unusual behavior, or performance problems, the first (and often easiest) solution you should attempt is a driver update.

The good news is that Nvidia and AMD have made updating their drivers a more streamlined experience than you might expect. Both AMD and Nvidia now have full software suites that eliminate a lot of the manual work on your end, and streamline the update process as much as possible. Both also include a feature to automatically search for driver updates and notify you when a new driver is available.

What Graphics Card Do I Have?

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If you are unsure of the model name and number of your card, type "Device Manager" into the Windows search box and open the Device Manager. Unfurl the Display Adapter entry to see what card is currently installed in your computer. It will be named something like “NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070” or “AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT.”

How to Update AMD Drivers

The best and easiest way to keep up to date with AMD drivers is to grab the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition. Click Download Now on that page, then select your graphics card. You can then select the software version you need based on your current Windows OS. If you have have an outdated card, you may land on a page for AMD's legacy software and drivers.

Once you have installed the software and signed in, find the Driver & Software section of the UI on the right side. Click the Check for Updates button and, if one is available, the update will be automatically installed.

(Credit: Alan Bradley)

You can also just grab the AMD Auto-Detect and Install tool, which is a good option if you want to go from zero to complete with as little manual input as possible. As the name implies, this tool will analyze your PC and determine precisely which drivers and software you need for your setup and walk you step-by-step through the installation process.

If you are looking for drivers for an AMD processor, you can find them on the same drivers and support page. Just click on Processors in the selection menu, then select your CPU from the box on the right.

How to Update Nvidia Drivers

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Nvidia releases what it calls “Game Ready Drivers,” which are designed to make the experience of playing specific new releases on its hardware as optimized as possible. Like AMD, the process for grabbing updates for your Nvidia driver is user-friendly and streamlined.

Start by downloading the latest version of GeForce Experience (or make sure the software is updated). Once launched, click on the Drivers tab next to Home at the top. Click on Check for Updates or, if the app has already identified an update, just click the Download button.

After the download has completed, you are given the option to do an Express Installation or Custom Installation. Generally, Express should be fine for a simple update. Choose Custom if you want to pick which driver elements you want installed, where you want to store the driver on your hard drive, or if you want to do a clean install (by first removing all previous driver installations and data).

Either way, go through the install process. When finished, you may be prompted to restart your machine to complete the update.

How to Manually Install Drivers

(Credit: Alan Bradley)

If you prefer to avoid updating your graphics card through a software suite, you can manually search for and install drivers for your specific card. However, the process differs greatly depending on if you have an Nvidia or AMD card.

For Nvidia GPUs, go to the Download Drivers page and choose your card series, GPU, and operating system from the list. You will be directed to a download page for the latest version of the driver for your card and can then install it manually by double-clicking the downloaded file.

AMD no longer offers its drivers outside of the AMD Software download, but it is possible to extract the driver update without installing the program. You can do this by downloading (but not installing) AMD Software. Open Device Manager and right-click on your GPU.

Select Update driver and navigate to where AMD Software was extracted. Click Next and Windows will find and install the driver from within the software package without necessitating a full installation of the software suit.