How to update video card driver

Are you unable to play a game you just installed on your PC because it tells you the video card drivers are out of date? Is your screen resolution too small for what it should be and you can’t enlarge it in any way? Again you need to absolutely update your video card drivers.

How do you say? Have you already made it yourself but you don’t have the faintest idea how to do it? Well, don’t worry… I can give you all the explanations on how to update the video card driver you need. This is essential to always have maximum performance and to be sure that your computer plays games, videos and other multimedia content without errors.

Contrary to what many think, it is an extremely simple operation to complete, you just need to pay a little attention to the trap sites that sell viruses and malware as drivers. Come on then: follow the instructions I’m about to give you and fix your graphics card drivers once and for all!

Index

• Preliminary operations
• How to update video card driver: Windows 10
  • How to update NVIDIA video card driver
  • How to update AMD video card driver
  • How to update Intel video card driver
• How to update video card driver: Mac

Preliminary operations

Before you even take action and find out how to update video card drivers, you need to identify the exact model of the GPU you have (eg NVIDIA GeForce XXX), in order to avoid problems, especially if you have to reinstall the drivers “from scratch. “.

To proceed, if you are using Windows, press the key combination Win + R on the keyboard, type the command dxdiag.exe in the window that appears on the desktop and press the Enter key: after a few moments, the window of the tool should open. DirectX diagnostics, which will immediately perform an automatic analysis of the graphics hardware present on the computer.

When finished, open the Screen tab of the program and read what is written in the Device box: the make and model of your graphics card are right there. If your PC is equipped with dual video cards, also consult the Rendering tab, to view information about the card used for games, video rendering and other complex operations.

If this procedure fails to provide you with the information you are looking for, you can use some third-party programs, such as GPU-Z or Speccy , which are able to provide details of the hardware devices installed in the computer, even if their drivers they are obsolete, or absent: I explained their operation, in detail, in my guide on how to see the video card installed in the PC .

This operation is not necessary on a Mac, as, as you will discover shortly, the download of updated drivers is carried out completely automatically and does not require manual intervention by the user.

How to update video card driver: Windows 10

Once you are aware of the graphics card on your computer, you can proceed with updating its drivers in various ways, depending on how you first installed the software and, above all, on the hardware model you own.

For example, if you use Windows 10, you can try to update them using the built-in Device Manager utility, knowing however that the driver update function is not available in all builds: to proceed, however, right-click on the Start button (the flag icon visible in the lower-left corner of the screen) and select the Device Management item from the menu that appears.

Once in the new window, click on the button > located next to the entry Video cards, double-click on the name of the video card to update and reach the Driver tab, visible in the window that appears immediately after. Now, click on the Update drivers and Automatically search for drivers buttons: if there are updates available, Windows will automatically download and install them, asking you to restart your computer at the end of the process.

Otherwise, the system will notify you that the best drivers for your device are already installed: in this case, click on the item Search for updated drivers in Windows Update, in order to open the Windows update manager and check if its new driver versions are available.

Finally, click on the Check for updates button and wait a few moments for the operating system to carry out the necessary checks; if there are updates (not necessarily only for the video card), you just have to click on the Download / Install updates button to apply them.

The way I have just suggested is the simplest, but it is not always decisive and it is not feasible in all versions of Windows: the safest method to always have the most updated video drivers, in fact, is to use the appropriate management software distributed by the video card manufacturer.

These programs are usually installed together with the graphics hardware drivers (or are available for free from the hardware manufacturer’s website) and allow you to update the drivers in a couple of clicks. Here is explained everything in detail.

How to update NVIDIA video card driver

At the time of this writing, NVIDIA allows for semi-automatic download of driver updates via the NVIDIA GeForce Experience tool, a utility that is typically installed along with video card drivers. To use NVIDIA GeForce Experience, you need to log into an existing NVIDIA account or sign up with Facebook, Google, or Apple ID.

In any case, if you have the aforementioned software (which can be easily recalled from the Start menu ), open it, log in or register on the platform using the appropriate forms (if necessary) and, once logged in, click on the Driver tab, placed at the top. Now, click on Update driver located at the top right and then on the Search for updates button, which appears in the same position.

If available updates are found, click on the corresponding button to download and install them, which should take place completely automatically.

If you don’t find the option dedicated to updating drivers, or if you don’t have the NVIDIA GeForce Experience, you can manually download the latest software from the NVIDIA website. So, after reaching the page I indicated earlier, specify the type, series and family of the graphics card (eg. GeForce, GeForce 10 series and GeForce GTX 1050 Ti ), the running operating system (eg . Windows 10 64-bit ), the type of driver to download (eg Game-Ready Driver ) and the language of the download.

Once this is done, click on the Search button and, once you have reached the driver page, press the Instant Download button twice in succession to download the drivers to your computer.

When the download is complete, open the file obtained (eg XX.YY – [operating_system] whql.exe ) and follow the instructions that appear on the screen, which may vary slightly depending on the type of driver downloaded: in most cases, you must initially click on the Yes and OK buttons to extract the necessary files.

Then, you need to choose whether to install the graphics driver and the GeForce Experience software or just the graphics driver, by clicking on the appropriate box and then clicking on the Accept and continue and Next buttons, in order to start the actual installation of the drivers. , which could take up to a few minutes.

During the procedure, your computer screen may flicker or go dark completely – don’t worry, this is normal. Once the drivers have finished installing, click the Close button and restart your computer if prompted.

How to update AMD video card driver

AMD provides a program dedicated to automatic hardware recognition, compatible with all supported versions of Windows and able to identify the graphics card installed on your computer and download the latest drivers.

To do so, open this website, click the Download now button and wait for the recognition software file to be downloaded to your computer. When the download is complete, open the file obtained, click on the Yes and Install buttons and, once the installation is complete, wait for the software to analyze the computer hardware and detect the video card.

When this happens, you should be offered a list of compatible drivers: locate the most recent one from the list displayed, making sure that it is a recommended version and that it is Microsoft certified, click on its name and then on the Install button to download and install the chosen driver.

At the end of the setup, specify whether or not to restart the computer, intervening on the appropriate box and press the Finish button to complete the procedure. That’s all!

How to update Intel video card driver

Even owners of Intel video cards can count on a tool dedicated to the automatic recognition of video hardware, called Intel DSA ( Intel Driver & Support Assistant ), able to automatically download any available updates.

To use it, go to this website, click the Download button located within the Support pane, and wait for the diagnostic program to download to your computer.

When the download is complete, start the file obtained (eg Intel-Driver-and-Support-Assistant-Installer.exe ), put the check mark next to I accept the terms and conditions and press the Install, Accept and Yes buttons, to install the automatic recognition tool. Finally, press the Restart button, to restart your computer.

After logging in to Windows again, open the Intel Driver & Support Assistant program using the icon that has been added to the Start menu and wait a few moments for the necessary hardware checks to be carried out: if everything went smoothly, a browser window should open, containing the list of drivers that can be updated: to obtain them, click on the Download all button, located at the top and wait for the necessary files to be downloaded.

Once this procedure is completed, press the Install and Yes buttons, in order to start the actual installation of the drivers, which you can conclude by clicking on the Next, Yes and Next buttons twice in a row. Finally, put the check mark next to the option to restart the computer, press the Finish button and that’s it: the next time you restart, the drivers will be updated to the latest version available.

How to update video card driver: Mac

If yours is a Mac, things are quite different from what we have seen for Windows: any updates available for graphics drivers (and not only), in fact, are released through system updates and can be installed in a just click.

To make sure that the download and installation of drivers for the Mac is performed directly from the operating system, when there are updates available, open the System Preferences by clicking on the gear icon attached to the Dock, click on the Software update and then on the Advanced… button, located at the bottom right.

Once in the new window, put the check mark next to the item Search for updates (if not already there) and check the boxes next to the items Download new updates when available and Install system data files and security updates: the changes will be applied immediately. If you want the updates to be installed as well as downloaded automatically, also check the Install macOS updates box.

If you are unable to intervene, because the aforementioned items are locked, first click on the locked padlock symbol in the lower left corner of the settings window and, when prompted, enter the Mac password in the appropriate field and click Enter.