Speaking of maintenance and updating of the computer, one really important thing to remember is updating the drivers, especially if our computer is used to play video games (which always require the latest updated drivers to be able to run without jerks). By updating the graphic drivers we will obtain more than once a speed increase in the reproduction of multimedia content (video, 3D content on the Web etc.), an improvement in the management of the Windows graphic effects and, as already mentioned, an increase in speed when we play to video games on Steam or any other platform.
We see in this guide how to update the drivers for NVIDIA or AMD video cards, so you can always get the best performance.
Auxiliary programs are also supplied with the drivers: we will show you what they are for and how to use them to improve the gaming experience.
Update the drivers from Windows
If we don't use the computer to play, we can update the video card driver using the driver update system built into Windows; in this case the drivers will not be very recent, but sufficient to surf the Internet and to manage the graphic effects of Windows.To update the video card drivers with Windows, right click on the Start menu icon in the lower left, go to the Device Management menu, identify the video card among the devices present then right click on it and select the Update item driver .
If there is a more recent version of the driver on the Microsoft server, the management software will download it and install it in place of the one already present.
This method is effective for both AMD video cards and NVIDIA video cards, but it can also be used on laptops or computers that have an integrated Intel video card (in another article how to download updated Intel HD Graphics Video Card Drivers).
Get new updated drivers for NVIDIA video cards
To obtain maximum performance with the NVIDIA video card installed on our laptop or on our gaming PC, first of all we identify the model in our possession using a program like GPU-Z, which gives us the name of the card in use.After obtaining the name of the video card, let's go to the download site of the updated driver NVIDIA, indicate the model of the card in the bullet lists available, make sure to download the version suitable for the operating system in use then click on the Search button.
On the next page we will be shown the version compatible with the card in use; we click instant download to start the download.
At the end we open the installer and choose whether to install only the driver or the driver accompanied by the NVIDIA Geforce Experience program, which provides customized settings for each type of game, so as to always obtain the maximum quality and fluidity necessary to be able to play without losing too long with game settings.
If we want to download this program independently from the video driver, we can use the link present here -> NVIDIA GeForce Experience.
Once the configuration is complete, the actual installation of the driver will start: in this phase we will not have to move anything and not open any program on the PC, since the interface may flicker or jump for a few seconds, the time necessary to replace all the files that make up the driver. At the end of the installation, we restart the computer, so as to make the changes applied and take advantage of the new video driver.
For NVIDIA drivers, there is also a program that allows you to keep them updated automatically . It is NV Updater . This free utility allows you to update the video driver for your Geforce graphics cards without having to create an account with NVIDIA. The application runs in the background and warns of any new updates available for drivers.
Get the new drivers for AMD video cards
If we have an AMD video card, we identify the card in its with the GPU-Z program mentioned above and, having obtained the name of the card, go to the official website for the download of the updated AMD driver.
Once the page is open, scroll down to find the list of the various compatible AMD products and search for our video card in the Graphics section and highlighting the name of our product (which will be displayed in the subsequent tabs that will open but as we select a category of product). If we have a video chip integrated inside the processor (for example on the new AMD Ryzen), we will have to download a specific driver, present in the Processors with graphics section.
After identifying our product, we click Submit ; on the next page, we expand the specific Windows item and click on the Download button next to it.
For some video cards, a tool will be downloaded that can recognize the card and automatically download the right driver; in other cases the AMD Adrenalin tool will be downloaded, which in addition to the updated driver also provides an advanced management program for the video card chip (to overclock or to optimize performance in games).
This tool also allows you to keep the driver up to date, notifying you of new updates when available.
To install the actual driver we start the specific installer downloaded from the site, we confirm all the various steps and, at the end, we restart the system to make the changes effective. As with NVIDIA, we recommend that you do nothing during the update, to make the process painless and as quick as possible.
Conclusions
In another article we told you about the video card (graphics card) to buy for the computer ; we obviously choose based on our budget, the results we want to achieve and the types of games we want to play.If updating the drivers seems too complicated, there are programs to update the drivers automatically, which also allow you to update the drivers of the video card without having to crash into the sites and install the various management tools.
The methods we have shown you are the only ones that we must use: we avoid all unofficial sites, since they can also contain viruses and compromise the stability of our computers.
If the PC is really old, the driver provided by Windows should be sufficient to run a minimum of special effects on the system and to open the Web pages, otherwise we can use the automatic search programs recommended above.
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