Should you update your GPU drivers?

In this final episode on my GPU Drivers series, I wanted to test how much a GPU is effected by old drivers vs new... so, did it matter?

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[alcatrazzle]

Agree that dry paste/dust would have an effect, but I’d argue that most people who are experiencing a slowdown of performance over time would be due to bloatware/background processes on their PC. I know so many people who have systems that haven’t been formatted in years, and would have so much crap running in the background… maybe a video on how to clean up an old windows install could be the culmination of this series?

[BlastFM]

> old GPU
> 3070

Is my 1050Ti a fossil then?

[HartenDylan]

Hey Jay! I just wanted to say that I appreciate these videos about saving money with PC parts. Driver updates, re-pasting GPUs, real world ram speed tests, all things with the intention of how to get the best out of our stuff without forking out cash if we don't need to. Would be interested to see more videos like this! I was wondering how much would replacing stock case fans with Noctua/BeQuiet fans effect temps/performance per dollar.

[henryjhost]

It probably won't make a huge difference, but there are older drivers available for the 3070 for Windows 10. Version 465.89 from March 30, 2021 is the oldest still available for download. I'm assuming this is because Windows 11 officially released almost a year after the 3070, in October 2021.

[DragoNate]

"No product is designed to last forever" isn't a valid argument for planned obsolescence. It's when products are intentionally designed to last only a short period of time or caused to reach end of life prematurely.
No, some bugs or issues with a software update is not planned obsolescence. If said update bricks your device or causes it to irreparably function worse and the company doesn't admit wrongdoing or do anything to fix their "mistake" THEN yes, it is.
It is also pretty telling that old things were 100% built differently and built to last much longer than they are now. New printers go kaput in a couple years while some old printers in offices and whatnot are STILL going with the only maintenance required being a bit of a kick if it starts complaining a bit.

[kalmtraveler]

If I still had any older hardware I think that would be more useful to test this theory instead of just 1 generation back. I'd be curious to see if the results with something older like a 1080 Ti or 2080 Ti were any different.

[RagedmeeksGaming]

I always wait a week or two before going to the latest nVidia drivers. Sometimes the latest releases have some undesirable effects so I just read user feedback before installation.

[janas]

Are you planning to do the same for AMD card users??

[hbhamilton]

I've never felt like they slow them down on purpose. Thanks for helping to prove it.

[championCynthia]

One of my friends has a 1650 (iirc), and when he played elden ring he had a lot of lighting glitches around water, causing him to dub one cave "the rave cave"

We realized he was still using the stock driver, so installing GeForce experience (and the latest driver) fixed it and boosted his 1% by a decent amount.

YES, UPDATING YOUR DRIVERS ARE IMPORTANT, but you can likely live without updating for a month or two!

[Finduh]

i have severe OCD and i can't help myself but install the "new stuff" to "keep my PC updated" i haven't ever noticed any performance loss

[AnEternalEnigma]

The only time I ever downloaded any "bad" drivers was shortly after DOOM Eternal came out. NVIDIA put out an update that did something very bad to Eternal and I had to roll it back. Other than that, I stay updated with zero problems.

[Kiyuja]

I remember some months ago there was an Nvidia driver boosting Vulkan performance by almost 10%. 5-7 on average and that was the difference between unstable and locked FPS on an emulator I was running. Update your drivers bois, it help more than just the recent titles.

[Gldmoon]

this is the VIdeo I have been wanting for so long, see benchmarks of a GPU over its lifetime.

[Gmmstr]

It is always a good idea to somewhat regularly stay up to date, they also add in security patches as GPU drivers are vulnerable as well.

[RealShimSham]

A 3 year old is not nearly old enough to drive, and that's a fact.

[NewWave]

The previous 2 driver updates screwed my 3080 over for months, but the newest driver finally solved the stuttering and lag issues I was having in all games. I thought I was done for but now we’re back 😅

[cronos]

I think replacing thermal paste every couple of years on both cpu and gpu is a must to keep temps as low as possible which will reduce thermal throttling and increase performance.

[chestbuster]

Given how much space drivers take up and how buggy GeForce Experience is in installing new drivers, I've literally been thinking about this topic for weeks! Thanks, Jay!

[ComputingCactus]

Was an AMD driver a few months ago that caused a bit of hitching in darktide, fixed it with the next driver release. I always tend to stay one version behind in case of misbehaving. Intel's GPUs are a great example of drivers improving performance over time.