If your games aren’t running smoothly, chances are it’s time to update your Graphics Drivers. Here’s a quick and easy way to ensure you’re up to date.
When a new game or major update releases, it’s often a good time to update your Graphics Drivers. After all, you’ll want to ensure you’re running on the most up-to-date software to maximize your performance in-game.
Oftentimes, when players aren’t running the latest drivers, they’ll encounter graphical issues, reduced frame rate, and even crashes while gaming.
A quick fix that works more times than not, here’s how to update those Graphics Drivers and boost your performance:
How to Ensure Your Graphics Drivers Are Up to Date
To ensure your graphics card drivers are up to date, make sure you have Nvidia GeForce Experience or AMD Software Adrenalin Edition installed on your PC.
Depending on what Graphics card (or GPU) you’re using, you’ll want to download one of these two different applications to make your life easier.
If you’re using an NVIDIA graphics card, you’ll want to download GeForce Experience.
If you’re using an AMD graphics card, you’ll want to download AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition.
How to Check What Graphics Card You Have
- Click the Windows Search Bar (or press the Windows Key)
- Type in Device Manager
- Press Enter
- Find Display Adapters and click the arror to the left to open the dropdown menu
- This will display your GPU name.
How to Update NVIDIA Graphics Card Drivers
- First, make sure you’ve downloaded and installed NVIDIA GeForce Experience.
- Then, open GeForce Experience and sign in to your NVIDIA account.
- Click Drivers.
- Under the ‘Available’ section at the top you’ll see any new drivers that are available for install.
- Alternatively you can hit ‘Check for Updates’ in the top right to double-check that you’re up to date.
- Hit Download and GeForce Experience will download and prepare your new Graphics Drivers.
- Then, hit Express Installation to do a standard install of the latest Graphics Drivers for your NVIDIA GPU.
How to Update AMD Graphics Card Drivers
- First, make sure you’ve downloaded and installed AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition
- Then, open the AMD application and sign into your AMD account
- Look for the Driver & Software section to the right of the application and click Check for Updates
- If your app detects a new driver, hit install to update your AMD GPU
It’s worth noting that both NVIDIA and AMD drivers are available on their respective websites, allowing users to manually download and install the ones they want.
However, these handy applications are perfect for making sure you’ve got the best software installed with just a few button clicks.
When Should You Update Your Graphics Driver?
You should update your Graphics Driver regularly to avoid in-game issues, we’d say at least once every two months. We’d also recommend updating your driver:
- When you encounter performance issues or crashes in-game
- Shortly after a new AAA game you’re playing launches
- If your graphics are looking poor despite your hardware meeting a title’s recommended requirements
It’s rarely a bad idea to update your Graphics Driver settings, but sometimes the very newest updates can be a bit buggy. That’s why it’s sometimes best to wait to update to the latest driver if you don’t need it for a new release.