How to Easily Update Your NVIDIA Drivers

Whether you’re a content creator or a gamer, opting for an NVIDIA GPU can help ensure you have access to some of the best features available from the company. Wearing something from the GeForce RTX 50 series, for example, can give you access to fourth-generation Ray Tracing cores and fifth-generation Tensor cores with FP4 and DLSS 4.5 (Deep Learning Super Sampling). As powerful as they can be, it’s important to keep drivers up to date to improve performance, and luckily NVIDIA makes the process quite simple.

If you need to update the drivers for an NVIDIA GPU, the easiest way these days is to use the company’s proprietary application, simply known as the NVIDIA application. From there, just go to the Drivers page and find the right settings. Additionally, users can switch between different driver types or simply check version numbers. You can even configure automatic downloading of updates in the Settings section of this app, and there are options to revert to previous drivers in the Driver menu.

Although the application can display the drivers you currently have, you can also check by right-clicking on your desktop and choosing the NVIDIA Control Panel. Choose Help, then select System Information. Driver information will be at the top of the Details window. Besides the NVIDIA app, it is also worth remembering that NVIDIA GPU users have another free app that can improve performance.

To quickly update your drivers (manually or automatically), the NVIDIA application will prove very useful. In addition to managing drivers, the app is also useful for optimizing your GPU or using NVIDIA ShadowPlay to capture screenshots or videos (up to 8K HDR at 30fps) while you game. Make sure to download and install the app to get started.

Once the NVIDIA app is installed, it guides you through a setup process. Answer the questions, but be sure to select the correct option when prompted to set your drivers to GeForce Game Ready Drivers (for gaming) or NVIDIA Studio Drivers (for creation, such as streaming or video editing). This can also be changed later.

Then just follow these steps:

1. Choose Drivers from the left column of the NVIDIA app.

2. You will see your driver information at the top of the page.

3. If an update is available, click Download.

4. Wait for the download to complete, then click Install.

You will receive a confirmation once the installation is complete. You can also revert to previous drivers from the Drivers section. Simply scroll down the Drivers page until you see something titled Previously Installed. You will see the driver type (Game Ready or Studio), version number, and release date. Click the three dots next to a version and choose Reinstall. The app will guide you through the process. You may also want to know about two hidden NVIDIA GPU features that you should start using.

You can configure the NVIDIA app to automatically download drivers, but you’ll need to install them yourself through the app. It presents a certain level of convenience, as you no longer need to manually download the update and wait for it to arrive on your computer. Hey, even if the company made one of its gaming apps much worse, at least updates are easy.

To launch this one, all you have to do is navigate to the Settings page on the left column of the NVIDIA app. Scroll down and then turn on the switch that says Automatically download drivers and let me choose when to install. Remember to choose Install the next time you open the app. It’s also good to know that in the upper right corner of the app you can easily switch between Game Ready drivers and Studio drivers.

Finally, remember that the Driver page can also be a source of company news. The drivers section features a carousel with a variety of articles covering new games and other relevant information on new technologies for your GPU drivers. There’s actually quite a bit under the hood of the NVIDIA app, so be sure to poke around to see everything that’s available.