Do you need to use DDU when upgrading your GPU?

Do you need to use DDU when upgrading your GPU? Whether it's the same brand or switching from NVIDIA to AMD or even Intel. In this video I try my best to mess things up without using Display Driver Uninstaller to see if there's any instability, performance loss or other issues.

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[Wagnard]

As the developer of DDU I have to agree. DDU is a tool made mainly to fix problems that you *may* encounter when you are switching brand or update driver etc. It was not made specifically for using everytime or to give free FPS boost . The main 2 things that would happen when using it everytime is that you are sure to avoid *possible* conflict/corruption, name it, between driver version / brand and mostly recover disk space on your main drive. If you have a lot of drivers updates and never clean installed, you could have several wasted GBs from theses drivers. Bottom line, use DDU when you need it or if you want to recover some disk space of accumulated drivers. DDU is not mandatory to upgrade your drivers if everything's goes fine.

[CaptainMustanG]

bro gave the answer in under 17 seconds, without even an intro, 10000/10 we should all aspire to be like Robotech

[trevor]

I have watch a lot of YouTube videos on lots of topics and I must say yours was by far one of the best ones I have seen, this will be the first time ever I have left a positive comment on any video. The video was very clear straight to the point and well presented, and finally it gave me the information I was looking for without loads of waffle. Thank you.

[SunBearDabs]

You’re amazing. I was stressing a little about replacing my gpu, I thought I was gonna have to use ddu and jump through all types of hurdles

[dave_r]

Rob, I've been looking a bit further backward in videos (I'm new to following this tech stuff on youtube), and found this a few days after I'd been debating using the DDU since i'm switching from nVidia to AMD, and I couldn't figure out why it was such an issue. So stumbling on this today was very helpful and what a pain it must have been to make. Thanks Dave

[OldsXCool]

Actually after just going through a major headache switching from Nvidia (GTX 1660S) to AMD (RX 6700XT), I can say that using DDU is a good idea. The AMD RX 6700XT driver was very confused and kept choosing crazy refresh rates like 30 and even 24 on Crysis 3! Doom Eternal claimed that it needed a driver update even though I was running the latest driver! When I ignored the message, the game booted and stuttered like crazy! Ironically Rise of the Tomb Raider had no problems running whatsoever. I initially thought that the AMD drivers were just trash or something, but then I gave in and booted into safe mode. I pulled the internet connection, ran DDU, and cleaned all the drivers from both manufacturers. I reinstalled the AMD drivers and then reconnected the internet (which DDU tells you to do btw). Now Crysis runs in 60ish frames (which is normal on AMD) and Doom Eternal runs flawlessly. Before running DDU I did reinstall the GTX 1660S to find that everything still worked great so it seemed that just the AMD drivers had issues. I have in the past switched to better Nvidia GPUs several times without using DDU with no issues, so going from one manufacturer to the other may be where problems can pop up, and like me they can pop up only in certain games. So just do it. It may save you alot of trouble.

[wizardchris]

Thanks for literally testing that and making a video about it, viewer count made me a bit sceptic but now watching all of it to the end i can say you make pretty good content and deserve more views :)

[svr_armani]

I had to run it when upgrading from a 2070 Super to a 3080 TI last week. My games were just dropping frames all over making them completely unplayable. DDU has saved me quite a few times over the years but I only use it when I need to.

[flyingsodwai]

Ive been upgrading PC things since the early 90's. Not much in the last decade though. Since before the internet its been recommended to remove old drivers first. I've done it both ways and both ways have always worked.

[Vespr]

The reason they all recommend using DDU is to make sure theres no issues. As far as i know nobody is claiming issues will 100% occur if you dont do it with DDU. I personally had an issue while switching GPU though my test was on a w10 machine that didnt have an OS refresh or system cleanup for 5 years

[therevanchist]

A fresh windows install is always my first option lol, I get frustrated trying to diagnose issues and just find it the simplest and easiest solution to any major issues, that and reset cmos

[blueseeker]

Thank you.. I just got a recent gpu upgrade and seeing this gives me peace of mind when switching

[jymnds]

A lot of peeps are very convinced huh. But for my personal experience before upgrading from nvdia to amd I used DDU just to clear the driver and clear the storage and Havent encountered a single problem after using DDU, but like you said if there are crashes if not using DDU to upgrade GPU it could be corrupted etc etc because each ones pc is diff at some point then why not give DDU a shot, like you said it if there are crashes not using DDU a lot of factors might affect but this CONTENT only RELIES ON YOUR EXPERIENCE but not also considering others experience for not using DDU.

[jimmychoo]

Good man i was worried about doing the DDU stuff not knowing what to remove etc, since all the videos ive watched seem to use it. Thanks ill just install it so.

[internetexplorer]

Been wanting to upgrade from a 4060 to a 7900 xtx. Watched this and it’s going good so far

[seto]

I do think this video would've been more useful had you been switching between cards of the same brand of different architectures. Back when I upgraded from my 780ti to my 1080, the 1080 didn't output any display in Windows until I swapped back to the 780ti and removed the drivers.

Now that I'm going from a 1080 to a 3090, I'm trying to figure out whether this will cause the same issues.
Guess there's only one way to find out.

[KiLLLexXx]

great video! thank you so much. Now I'm trying my luck without DDU but will eventually use it if any problems come up :)

[andrewau]

Love your videos bud, great work. I recognise you from somewhere other than on here but can't place where...

[discodinooo]

You deserve more views and likes from the amazing work you did for us. Thank you for using a scientific method for your proof.

[videocruzer]

what a huge amount work for a video. I can only hypothesize, that the presentation is some kind of project for credits toward graduating.