should i update my nvidia driver

Discussion in 'Videocards - NVIDIA GeForce Drivers Section' started by shadi, Jan 24, 2020.

  1. shadi

    shadi Guest

    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    gtx 1080 8gb
    my laptop is an alienware 17 r5 which has an i9 processor and an nvidia gtx 1080 graphics card. i put a new nvme ssd in my laptop on june of last year and i installed windows 10 build 1809

    from june until recently i have been constantly updating the nvidia driver whenever a new version is released and sometimes i skipped a new version and i installed the next new version. i always pick the clean install option in the setup of the driver when i want to update the nvidia driver

    after that i started to read the release notes of the nvidia driver and i kept on reading things like some games are crashing and fixed game crashes. that worried me so i looked more into it. i found out that some crashes are caused by something called dxgi_error_device_hung and that happened because the nvidia driver clashed with directx12 and that causes games that use directx12 like shadow of the tomb raider, gears 5, the division 2, witcher 3 and red dead redemption 2 to crash. i also saw https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/a...-fix-or-are-the-games-api-just-broken.430313/ which complained about stuttering in directx12 games

    recently i installed nvidia driver version 441.87 and i was worried when i did that. i tested a bunch of games and they were ok but i don't want to have to keep on testing a bunch of games each time i update the nvidia driver

    i need to understand more about the issues that are happening. those problems only happen in games that use directx12 and old games that rely on directx11 and under are unaffected by those issues and will always run ok regardless of the nvidia driver version?

    also some people say that if your computer is stable then don't update the drivers. thus does that mean i should not update the nvidia driver if i don't need to? i don't think that i am benefiting by updating the nvidia driver. the new drivers contain tweaks for games and also the optimized game database in geforce experience is updated. i don't play the games that get tweaks and i don't use optimize game in geforce experience. so is it ok if i stop regularly updating the nvidia driver and i update less frequently?
     
  2. SSJBillClinton

    SSJBillClinton Master Guru

    Messages:
    845
    Likes Received:
    171
    GPU:
    RTX4090 MSI GX Trio
    I always update and never had any problems in 7+ years, aside from actual driver bugs.
     
    Kolt likes this.
  3. shadi

    shadi Guest

    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    gtx 1080 8gb
    that's another issue. some drivers have bugs. what are the bugs that you faced?
     
  4. Yxskaft

    Yxskaft Maha Guru

    Messages:
    1,495
    Likes Received:
    124
    GPU:
    GTX Titan Sli
    If you don't have any performance issues or glitches in the game you play, there's no need to update. Though it might still be a good idea to update to the drivers touting having fixed security holes.

    You'll always get different answers in these kind of threads. I've read various issues from people advising against updating during all my years lurking this forum, only to almost never get one of them myself. The times I've suspected it was an actual driver issue, I've just reinstalled the older drivers.

    I've never even had to resort to 3rd party tools like DDU except for when having tried unofficial drivers. I even stopped using Driver Sweeper regularly for my first gaming PC ten years ago because THAT caused the Service pack 1 update for Win7 to fail.
     

  5. snave

    snave Active Member

    Messages:
    97
    Likes Received:
    3
    GPU:
    Sapphire HD3650 512 AGP
    If you don't update there is no answer to the question: Could I see better performance from newer drivers?

    Only YOU can decide whether the answer is in the positive, or negative.

    This forum is only for those who answered `yes` to the former...
     
  6. Agent-A01

    Agent-A01 Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    11,628
    Likes Received:
    1,119
    GPU:
    4090 FE H20
    Always update drivers for security reasons if nothing else.
     
  7. Caesar

    Caesar Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    1,555
    Likes Received:
    680
    GPU:
    RTX 4070 Gaming X
    The latest BIOS * (be careful....check your model):
    .......addresses the Intel security advisories INTEL-SA-00219, INTEL-SA-00220, INTEL-SA-00270, INTEL-SA-00241, INTEL-SA-00220, INTEL-SA-00260, and INTEL-SA-00254. A security advisory is a statement when a product is impacted by a security vulnerability and a remedy is available.
    ------------------------------------
    Go there: https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/alienware-17-r5/drivers *

    Install those that should BE!
    ------------------------------------------------------
    * running latest Windows 10 OS
    ------------------------------------------------------
    By z way..install this(chipset driver): https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER03709265M/4/Chipset_Driver_GH5T3_WN32_10.1.1.18_A04_01.EXE
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2020
  8. shadi

    shadi Guest

    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    GPU:
    gtx 1080 8gb
    how can a graphics driver have security issues and they are security patches?
     
  9. snave

    snave Active Member

    Messages:
    97
    Likes Received:
    3
    GPU:
    Sapphire HD3650 512 AGP
    Errors can crop up with driver changes. One reason to update, regularly.
     
  10. SyntaX

    SyntaX Master Guru

    Messages:
    279
    Likes Received:
    118
    GPU:
    RTX 4080

Share This Page