What Happens If You Don’t Update Drivers Before Gaming?

If you are a PC gamer, you probably know what drivers are. They help your computer hardware, such as graphics cards, sound cards, and network adapters, to communicate with your game software. Still, there is one important aspect of gaming that many gamers do not pay enough attention to: “Updating their drivers regularly.”

Several people also state that AMD does not focus on updating gaming drivers. It’s possible that they are scared of bugs, can’t spend time fixing things, or assume nothing’s wrong with their system. Using older drivers on your computer is likely to cause your PC to run more slowly, crashing issues, and decrease your overall enjoyment of gaming.

In this article, we are going to review the risks of outdated drivers, discuss how they influence video game play, and explain why updating drivers for gaming.

What Are Drivers and Why Do They Matter?

With drivers, your computer can transfer information between its hardware and your software. For games with unique graphics, your operating system demands that the GPU driver be installed.

If the driver is of an old version, the game may not perform well, crash, or have strange visual problems. That’s because the latest games take advantage of the most up-to-date driver features.

Every update by NVIDIA is said to optimize every new game’s performance and may fix issues by as much as 23%. This type of advantage can disappear if you do not apply the updates.

Don’t Update Drivers for Gaming: The Common Myth

Plenty of users think that there is no need to update their drivers if their game is running well. It’s a common myth.

Here are the consequences you’ll see if you do not pay attention to driver updates:

• The computer you are using is not powerful enough for the game.
• You do not get the chance to increase your software’s speed.
• There is a higher chance of game crashes because of compatibility issues.
• There is a risk that criminals can get into your computer due to these breaches.

Though the game is still playing, it is not behaving as it is supposed to.

Risks of Outdated Drivers

Let’s look at the particular dangers that come with using old drivers while gaming.

Lower FPS and Game Performance

Good gameplay depends on having a good FPS. Using old drivers can be a problem, since the latest games are not fully optimized by them.

Example: It was shown by NVIDIA  that updating drivers raised the frame rate of “Cyberpunk 2077” by 16% when used with DLSS 3. If there were no updates, people playing the game had to deal with slow graphics.

The AMD Adrenalin 23.7.1 release notes showed that up-to-date drivers in PC games can lead to up to 9% better performance in “The Last of Us Part I” as compared to previous versions.

Game Crashes and Glitches

Old people are more likely to trigger concussions, freezes, and anomalies in the vehicle. Why?

This happens since the new graphics capabilities of games are not supported by older drivers.

When the game launched, a lot of users who had old NVIDIA drivers experienced black screens, lag, and damaged textures. Many of the errors were solved after they upgraded their drivers.

Online Multiplayer Issues

Network adapter drivers also matter. If the drivers for your Ethernet or Wi-Fi are old, you could have spikes in latency, experience drops in the connection, or suffer constant ping fluctuations.

It changes the result of head-to-head matches within games such as “Valorant” and “Call of Duty: Warzone.”

Compatibility Problems

Many games and gaming platforms ask you to have your drivers up to date when updates are released. Running an older driver might mean you do not get all the features, or the game can’t start up.

A number of games, for example “Hogwarts Legacy” or “Starfield,” might not start if your GPU driver is lower than what is required.

Security Risks

Apart from the risk of stuttering, aged drivers may be more dangerous than others. In 2022, a weakness was found in an older NVIDIA driver (CVE‑2022‑21815) that allowed attackers to get elevated privileges on affected machines.

An outdated driver on your computer could give unintended access to software on your system. If you keep your drivers up-to-date, your games are safe, and so is your whole PC.

Driver Update and Gaming Performance: Real Numbers

Let’s look at a quick table showing performance improvements from driver updates on popular GPUs.

Why Update Drivers for Gaming?

Now that you know the dangers, let’s look at why it’s good to always update your device drivers.

• Better Performance: It can be noticed from the examples that games can offer different improvements for new drivers.
• Bug Fixes: A lot of known issues can be fixed through driver updates, for example, those related to flickering screens or launch problems.
• New Features: It is usually necessary to have the latest driver to make use of technologies such as DLSS 3.5 (NVIDIA) or FSR 3.0 (AMD).
• Game Readiness: There is a close partnership between game makers and GPU makers. Most big updates are released close to the time when the game launches.
• System Stability: There will be fewer crashes, fewer freezes, and fewer headaches.

Gaming with Old Drivers: Short-Term vs Long-Term

Using an old driver for games shall seem okay to begin with. However, eventually, these problems start to grow:

• Game crashes increase.
• You start experiencing frame drops.
• Newer games won’t launch.
• Your hardware becomes less efficient.

In addition, using a CPU alone means you can’t use GPU features to provide you with faster-loading times or better graphics. It is possible that reinstalling the whole Operating System is required to fix serious driver conflicts.

How Often Should You Update Drivers?

Here’s a simple rule:

• GPU Drivers: When a new game you are interested in is out, or you can do it about every 1–2 months.
• Audio and Network Drivers: Every 3–6 months.
• Chipset and Others: Only when needed or advised.

Conclusion

Basically, skipping driver updates when you play games often leads to a reduction in performance, stability, and can make your gaming system less secure as well.

Risks of outdated drivers include crashing systems, a low frame rate, internet connectivity glitches, and increased vulnerability to security issues. On the other side, downloading the latest drivers helps your computer run more efficiently, gives you more features, and ensures your games run as they should.

Driving an old race car with old tires is similar to playing your game with old drivers. If you keep playing this way, you’ll not have fun and will probably crash. Think of it this way: why update drivers for gaming? Because without updates, your hardware isn’t working at full power. 

Looking for a game experience with fluidity, fewer bugs, and better-looking graphics? Then don’t ignore your drivers. They are much more important than you might expect.