Updating the drivers of our graphics card is one of the most important, and also the most basic, maintenance that we must carry out with some frequency. If we forget from time to time, nothing bad should happen, although we must keep in mind that if we go a long time without updating them, we may end up finding Serious performance, stability and even security issues due to outdated drivers.

I’m aware that our more advanced readers clearly know why they need to update their graphics card drivers, but when we go to users with less knowledge, things change completely. I’ll give you a simple example, over three years ago an acquaintance asked me for advice on setting up a cheap PC to play with. I had a very small budget, so I finally opted for a Radeon RX 470 with 8 GB of graphics memory, which was available at the time for less than 100 euros.

He was thrilled with the PC, but a few years later he told me he was having issues and the computer was no longer “smooth” with games. I didn’t fall in there It’s been two years without updating the drivers graphics card, and I actually wasted time investigating issues on other fronts, including overheating. Ultimately, it’s the graphics drivers. I installed the new ones and explained that he needed to repeat this process at least once every two months, and he hasn’t had a problem since.

Why is it important to update your graphics card drivers?

Well, for many reasons. The first is that the performance of your graphics card will depend on it, and it’s been more than proven that it’s no good having a very powerful model if it doesn’t have good driver support, or fails. they present problems in terms of compatibility and optimization. Some outdated drivers will make new games less efficientand in extreme cases they may not even work for you.

New controllers usually bring performance improvements and new features, so updating your graphics card drivers will allow you to take advantage of important and totally free improvements. It may be that in very old graphics cards these improvements are minor or almost nil, but in the end it is worth updating for a question of support and compatibility, and that brings us precisely to another reason: to avoid stability issues. Very old drivers may have issues with newer games.

Finally, it is important to note that updating your graphics card drivers may also have security benefitsbecause they can correct errors or failures that affect the integrity of the graphic, and therefore that of your computer.

How can I update my graphics card drivers?

It’s very simple, just enter the website of the manufacturer of the GPU used by our graphics card, that is, AMD, Intel or NVIDIA. By following the links that I left you you can directly access the driver download section of each of them.

We start with AMD. For update amd radeon graphics card drivers We must click on the link that we left you in the previous paragraph and follow these steps:

• We choose the type of product we have, if it is a graphics card, the option will be “graphics”.
• Now we choose the generation to which our graphics card corresponds.
• We continue to choose the series in which it fits.
• We choose the exact model, in the example we have selected a Radeon RX 6900 XT.
• We click on send and we choose the download option corresponding to the operating system we are using.
• It is important to always select the WHQL drivers, which are the ones in the stable version.
• You can also use the auto-detection tool offered by AMD.
• Once downloaded, we double click to start the installation and follow the self-guided process.

Now let’s move on to NVIDIA. For update nvidia graphics card drivers the process is similar. We enter the corresponding link and follow these steps:

• We selected the product type, which would be GeForce for a consumer graphics card for gaming.
• Now we need to choose the product series, in this example “GeForce RTX 30“.
• We choose the graphics card we have, an RTX 3080 Ti in this example.
• We end up choosing the operating system we use, the drivers we want (Game Ready are for games, and Studio for professional use) and the language.
• We click on the search.

• What we see in the second image will appear. We click on download now.
• We look in the folder where the download is completed and proceed to install the drivers following the self-guided process.

Now let’s move on to Intel. For update drivers for an intel graphics solution We go to the corresponding link and complete these steps:

• In this case, we have a more general interface, with the controllers grouped by families, but we can use the filters on the left to find, in a more direct way, those used by our graph.
• For example, if we have an Intel Core Gen12 (Alder Lake) processor, we must download the corresponding drivers depending on whether we have an Intel UHD GPU or an Intel Iris Xe. For example, an Intel Celeron G6900 mounts an Intel UHD 710 GPU.

• We can also find drivers for quite old generations and legacy type drivers, as well as filter by operating system.
• Once you know which one suits you best, download and install it following the self-guided process.
• If you have any doubts, or if the process seems complex to you, you can use the self-detection and driver installation tool offered by Intel.

Remember that if you want to keep your PC in good shape, you should update your graphics card drivers at least once every two months. It won’t take you more than a few minutes, and you should have no problems. However, if after reading this article you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments and we will help you solve them.