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Driver Booster for Gaming: Updating NVIDIA, AMD and Intel Graphics Drivers

How Driver Booster helps gamers keep NVIDIA, AMD and Intel graphics drivers current, plus realistic expectations about FPS, crashes and game components.

Updated October 27, 20263 min readDriver Booster guide
Driver Booster for gaming guide cover illustration

For PC gamers, the graphics driver is the most important piece of software after the game itself. GPU makers regularly release drivers with fixes and optimisations for new titles. Driver Booster helps you keep up with those releases without checking three different vendor websites. This guide explains what it can realistically do for your games.

Why graphics drivers matter

A graphics driver translates what a game asks for into instructions your GPU understands. New drivers can:

  • Fix crashes, stutters or visual glitches in specific games.
  • Add optimisations for newly released titles.
  • Support new graphics features and newer versions of Windows.

What a driver cannot do is turn an entry-level card into a high-end one. Expect fixes and sometimes modest improvements, not miracles.

NVIDIA GeForce drivers

NVIDIA publishes "Game Ready" drivers timed to major game launches. Driver Booster detects your GeForce card and offers the current driver for it. If you also use NVIDIA's own app, avoid having both tools update the same driver at the same moment.

AMD Radeon drivers

AMD releases drivers for Radeon graphics cards and for Ryzen processors with integrated graphics. Driver Booster matches the update to the GPU it detects, which is handy on laptops and mini PCs where integrated graphics do the heavy lifting.

Intel graphics drivers

Intel integrated graphics are in a huge number of laptops, and Intel's Arc cards are now a desktop option too. Laptop makers often ship Intel graphics drivers that are months old, so a driver updater can be particularly useful here. Note that some laptop makers prefer you to use their customised drivers; if an update causes issues, roll back.

Game components and missing DLLs

Many "game won't launch" errors are not about the GPU driver at all but about missing runtime files, often reported as a missing DLL. Driver Booster checks game components, and IObit says Driver Booster 14 detects and repairs missing game DLLs, covering more than 60 game components and over 680 DLL files.

Game Boost

Driver Booster also includes a Game Boost function that reduces non-essential background activity while you play. Results depend on how busy your PC normally is; on a clean system the difference will be small.

A sensible update routine for gamers

  1. Before a big game launch, run a scan.
  2. Update the graphics driver on its own and restart.
  3. Launch a game you know well and check that everything looks and runs normally.
  4. Then update other drivers, such as audio or network, if needed.

If performance drops after an update: roll back to the previous driver using Driver Booster's backup or a restore point. Our backup and restore guide shows how.

Common gaming driver problems an update can help with

  • Crashes to desktop shortly after launching a new game.
  • Black screens or flickering in full-screen mode.
  • "Your graphics driver is out of date" warnings from a game launcher.
  • Missing DLL or runtime errors at launch.

Problems caused by overheating, a failing power supply or an underpowered GPU will not be solved by a driver. For broader fixes, see our troubleshooting guide, or jump to the gaming section on the homepage.