How Do I Update My NVIDIA GeForce Graphics Driver?
PC gamers want to maximize their gaming experience to the fullest extent. This is why many of us spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars just to have the latest and greatest video cards or also referred to as GPUs.
If you love playing PC games, one of the most important things people overlook is updating their GPU drivers.
Updating your motherboard, soundcard, or network drivers don’t usually provide improvements in speed and performance.
This is not the case with updated drivers for your graphics card. GPU manufacturers frequently roll out driver updates that provide significant performance improvements, especially for newer games.
If you want to save some time maybe check out this option below as well, using Driver Support.
Here’s a quick guide with everything you need to know about your NVIDIA drivers.
What are Game Ready Drivers?
A Game Ready driver is basically a marketing term used by NVIDIA. For years now, they have been using the term “Game Ready” for introducing driver updates and software releases.
Ultimately, it just means that the driver was finely-tuned to support and highly optimized for an upcoming game. The driver will essentially give you the best gaming experience at launch.
In comparison, drivers that were released long before the game may have limited support or even incompatible with that title.
What are NVIDIA Drivers?
A driver is a software that enables the operating system to communicate with hardware or a device. Thus, for an NVIDIA graphics driver, it allows the OS to communicate with the video card, ensuring that it functions properly.
However, the most important reason to update your NVIDIA drivers is for the added support and performance improvements when playing games.
You may have the newest GPU in the market but without the right drivers, your game will suffer with regards to performance like:
- Low Frame Rates
- Stuttering
- Crashing
- Other Graphical Glitches
At worst, you may not even be able to run a game without updating your drivers.
What Do NVIDIA Drivers Do?
Installing the latest NVIDIA drivers does several things. At its most basic, this will install the display drivers along with other add-ons like GeForce Experience and PhysX drivers.
As mentioned, graphics drivers will significantly improve the performance of your games.
NVIDIA frequently releases driver updates that tweak the performance of recent games. As a result, you get to play with buttery smooth frames, better graphical fidelity, and overall stable performance.
Can I Install NVIDIA Drivers on Intel HD Graphics?
No, you can’t.
Intel HD graphics are based on the CPU. You need to have a real, physical NVIDIA graphics card in order to install NVIDIA drivers.
To install built-in graphics drivers like Intel HD, you can download it manually through Intel’s website, through Windows Update, or using a driver utility tool such as DriverSupport.
How to Install NVIDIA Graphics Drivers?
To install NVIDIA drivers, you can do it manually. However, it would require you to find the source for the download, find the latest driver version, and proceed with the installation.
If you want to easily install the latest NVIDIA drivers, it’s highly recommended you use a tool like DriverSupport.
You can simply download DriverSupport, perform a quick scan to find your outdated drivers, then click “Fix it!” to automatically download and install the required NVIDIA drivers.
(Plus, when you sign up for a premium account and you won’t have to manually download device drivers ever again.)
Gaming with the Right Graphics Drivers
If you want the best gaming experience possible, you should make it a habit to update your NVIDIA graphics drivers to the latest version. These tips are designed to help you get the job done.
