Using DDU after new GPU installation?

[comruse99]

Hi all.

I recently upgraded from a 980 to a 1080ti, having swapped out the 980 for the 1080ti and updated the 1080ti's drivers to the latest version prior to hearing about the benefits of using DDU beforehand. Will any problems arise if I use DDU to clear out my drivers now, since my new card is already installed?

I've seen many threads claiming that it is common practice and ideal to use DDU before the swap but it is too late for that now, which is why I'm asking.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Don't use it if your new card is up and running , DDU is only if your having issues , I've only ever used it once when updating or loading drivers.

 

[DRagor]

If the card works fine and gives you expected performance in games, no need to do anything extra. Using DDU is only recommended (as one of the steps) when for some reason new card does not work as is should. Since you went from one NVidia card to another, I doubt you should face any problems.

 

[Solandri]

That's not entirely correct. The reason Nvidia and AMD can release a single installer for all their video cards is because the installer auto-detects the card and enables/disables the features which are/aren't supported by that card as part of the install process. If a feature is not supported by the video card hardware, the drivers are usually set to emulate it in software, rather than error out and fail when a program tries to use that feature.

When you upgrade video cards, in rare cases the new driver install can fail to change some of your old driver settings. If you upgraded to a newer, better card and this happens, it's possible for the driver to still be using software emulation for a feature that your new card supports in hardware. The result being that your games all run, the new card is faster than the old card, and everything seems to be working as they should, but you're not getting the full performance that the new card is capable of.

In theory simply reinstalling the drivers after you upgrade video cards should enable all the correct driver settings. But Windows being the huge, complicated thing it is, occasionally things go wrong (more frequently if you cross-upgrade between AMD and Nvidia). And this is a silent, undetectable failure - you don't get any error messages or indications that cruft from your previous driver install is still hanging around. The only symptom is you're not getting the full performance the new card is capable of, which you can't detect because by definition you've never used the new card before in your system. So DDU is a good idea after a GPU upgrade for peace of mind that your drivers are in fact set up correctly for your new card.

I would set a System Restore point (Windows 10 disables System Restore by default), download the latest driver installer for your new GPU, disconnect the computer from the Internet (so Windows doesn't try to auto-install drivers), run DDU, then install the GPU drivers again. Just for peace of mind. It's easier than running a gazillion benchmarks trying to figure out if your new GPU is running as fast as it should be.

 

[comruse99]

That's not entirely correct. The reason Nvidia and AMD can release a single installer for all their video cards is because the installer auto-detects the card and enables/disables the features which are/aren't supported by that card as part of the install process. If a feature is not supported by the video card hardware, the drivers are usually set to emulate it in software, rather than error out and fail when a program tries to use that feature.

When you upgrade video cards, in rare cases the new driver install can fail to change some of your old driver settings. If you upgraded to a newer, better card and this happens, it's possible for the driver to still be using software emulation for a feature that your new card supports in hardware. The result being that your games all run, the new card is faster than the old card, and everything seems to be working as they should, but you're not getting the full performance that the new card is capable of.

In theory simply reinstalling the drivers after you upgrade video cards should enable all the correct driver settings. But Windows being the huge, complicated thing it is, occasionally things go wrong (more frequently if you cross-upgrade between AMD and Nvidia). And this is a silent, undetectable failure - you don't get any error messages or indications that cruft from your previous driver install is still hanging around. The only symptom is you're not getting the full performance the new card is capable of, which you can't detect because by definition you've never used the new card before in your system. So DDU is a good idea after a GPU upgrade for peace of mind that your drivers are in fact set up correctly for your new card.

I would set a System Restore point (Windows 10 disables System Restore by default), download the latest driver installer for your new GPU, disconnect the computer from the Internet (so Windows doesn't try to auto-install drivers), run DDU, then install the GPU drivers again. Just for peace of mind. It's easier than running a gazillion benchmarks trying to figure out if your new GPU is running as fast as it should be.

Thank you so much for your response. I did actually notice that my new 1080Ti isn't really performing as well as it should be, which is why I researched and found out about DDU. So are you saying that going through this process with DDU is 100% OK considering that I already have my new GPU installed? There won't be any problems?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I've never encountered any performance issues by just doing an over-write of the drivers.

 

[RaianJ]

That's not entirely correct. The reason Nvidia and AMD can release a single installer for all their video cards is because the installer auto-detects the card and enables/disables the features which are/aren't supported by that card as part of the install process. If a feature is not supported by the video card hardware, the drivers are usually set to emulate it in software, rather than error out and fail when a program tries to use that feature.

When you upgrade video cards, in rare cases the new driver install can fail to change some of your old driver settings. If you upgraded to a newer, better card and this happens, it's possible for the driver to still be using software emulation for a feature that your new card supports in hardware. The result being that your games all run, the new card is faster than the old card, and everything seems to be working as they should, but you're not getting the full performance that the new card is capable of.

In theory simply reinstalling the drivers after you upgrade video cards should enable all the correct driver settings. But Windows being the huge, complicated thing it is, occasionally things go wrong (more frequently if you cross-upgrade between AMD and Nvidia). And this is a silent, undetectable failure - you don't get any error messages or indications that cruft from your previous driver install is still hanging around. The only symptom is you're not getting the full performance the new card is capable of, which you can't detect because by definition you've never used the new card before in your system. So DDU is a good idea after a GPU upgrade for peace of mind that your drivers are in fact set up correctly for your new card.

I would set a System Restore point (Windows 10 disables System Restore by default), download the latest driver installer for your new GPU, disconnect the computer from the Internet (so Windows doesn't try to auto-install drivers), run DDU, then install the GPU drivers again. Just for peace of mind. It's easier than running a gazillion benchmarks trying to figure out if your new GPU is running as fast as it should be.

Hello! So I get my RTX 2060 tomorrow. I currently have a 970. Should I be using DDU BEFORE I INSTALL THE RTX or do I use this after the new gpu install? People told me to use this that way it clears off old junk from this 970 and doesn't just overwrite and sit on my hard drive etc.

So before I move this 970 would I "clean and shutdown" or install my new rtx 2060 gpu and then "clean and restart" ?

Photo: This is with my current 970 in the pc. http://prntscr.com/mlr47r I would assume do it before I install my 2060 and use "Clean and Shutdown"