If you play a lot of video games on your PC, chances are you want to get the most out of your GPU. Unless your graphics card is showing signs of failure or is horribly outdated, you probably won’t need to replace it. In fact, you can often get additional performance if you install an update, but these aren’t strictly necessary.
GPUs are, at their core, powerful electronic components that run highly specialized computing processes, specifically converting data into graphics. CPUs can also perform these tasks, but GPUs are simply better at it. GPUs run on cores (small processors), and the more cores one has – and the more powerful those cores are – the more easily it can render high-fidelity graphics and effects without sacrificing frame rates. Some GPUs even have specialized programs that allow them to produce unique effects. For example, Nvidia RTX cards include the ability to render ray tracing, which realistically simulates how light splits and scatters on different objects and materials.
Out of the box, each GPU can (or should) perform any graphics rendering tasks assigned to it. The only difference between an updated graphics card and a non-updated one is efficiency. Unlike programs, graphics card updates usually tell the hardware how to render a game optimally on your monitor. These “patches” are usually just about increasing your frame rate. As long as the graphics card meets the processing speed requirements, it can still run a game, so graphics card updates are often optional. An exception is when a graphics card manufacturer releases a faulty update that causes crashes. If you installed this update, you should definitely download the following hotfix when it becomes available. Security patches or major bug fixes would be other good reasons to update.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
If you’re having graphics issues with gaming or general computer use, many technicians recommend updating your graphics card. Certainly, newer drivers can do wonders for issues like flickering and choppy visuals. However, because of the way GPUs interact with the rest of a computer, updates can easily introduce new issues.
As a general rule, if your graphics card is working fine, don’t update it. Let’s say you have an Nvidia GPU. The company mainly releases updates in the form of Game Ready drivers designed to optimize the performance of the latest game versions. If you have a title listed in the release notes for a Game Ready driver, you should probably update the drivers for your Nvidia graphics card. Otherwise, you may want to keep it as is because, if a driver isn’t designed to optimize a specific game, installing the latest update likely won’t make it any more efficient.
Since no two computer configurations are the same, updates can have unforeseen effects on performance. From experience, I once downloaded an Nvidia GPU update that introduced some scary instability. Specifically, every time I turned on my laptop, it would start, restart, then restart before resuming normal functions. Every Game Ready driver above a certain version triggered this issue, so I had to revert my GPU to that specific version for system stability reasons. If you experience something similar (or if an update breaks game capture software), you should downgrade your driver to a compatible version. The worst case scenario would be that some games require you to update your graphics card every time you start. As long as they still work, you can probably safely ignore the admittedly annoying warnings.
