I'm upgrading my graphics card from a 2060 to a 3070 today and I'm unsure about whether I need to uninstall the old graphics drivers first. I've read that it's necessary to run DDU when switching from Nvidia to AMD, but is it the same when upgrading within Nvidia?
5 Answers
There's really no need to use DDU unless you have issues after the upgrade. If you're concerned, disconnect from the internet and manually uninstall the Nvidia drivers from your settings before reinstalling new ones. I know some folks worry about getting stuck in safe mode, but I think it's a bit of an overreaction.
I recently moved from a 3070 to a 5080 and didn’t uninstall anything beforehand. After the upgrade, I did a fresh install of the graphics drivers just to be safe. Didn't have any issues moving from the 2070 to the 3070 either, so might not be necessary.
In theory, you can keep the same drivers since they use the same ones. However, sometimes unexpected issues might crop up, so running DDU can help. My advice? Try installing the new GPU without doing it first. If you notice any weird behavior after that, then go ahead and use DDU.
I think it’s a good idea to start fresh with the latest Nvidia drivers. Just download the newest ones, choose a custom installation, and check the clean installation option. You can always run DDU later if you run into any problems.
Why not try it without uninstalling first? If you end up facing any instability or performance drops, then that's when you might want to run DDU.
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