In recent times, AMD has launched a series of graphics cards that are succeeding among users for their excellent performance / price ratio, but it must be recognized that when it comes to drivers, there are times that they continue to cause problems. So, in this article we are going to tell you how you should update or install AMD graphics drivers from scratch to avoid current and future problems.
Despite the efforts with which AMD has tried to improve its set of drivers and software, by now we all know – and more gamers – that the operation of these is not entirely good, especially when you have been with the card for a while. graphics and have gone through different versions of the drivers. For this reason, and although it is already advisable in itself, it is always advisable to carry out a clean installation even if you only intend to update, since this is the best way to avoid conflicts and problems.
As a note, if you are trying to configure a new computer that has never had drivers, you can skip to the second point of this article and skip the first.
Completely uninstall the graphics drivers
Although if you already have Radeon Software installed on your system, the process of updating to the latest version of drivers is as simple as clicking a button, even to update the drivers it is always recommended to perform a “clean installation”, since this way you make sure that there are no remnants of the previous drivers.
As you can see in the screenshot above, even when you are going to update or install the AMD drivers, the option “Factory Reset” is offered, but you should know that this option does not “clean” the previous drivers but simply installs the software. returning all the options to their default state, that is, overwriting any special configuration you may have.
Fortunately, getting rid of old installations of graphics drivers is very simple since we have free tools such as Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), which we have already talked about in other articles but we are going to do a quick review of how it works.
Remove old drivers with DDU
Downloading Display Driver Uninstaller is free and is where you should start. Once downloaded, unzip the file in the folder you want on your PC, such as on the Desktop. Once done, you must restart the computer and boot in safe mode to prevent any drivers from loading and thus be able to eliminate them without problems. With the computer started in safe mode, open DDU and you will see the following screen.
On the right side there is a drop-down, in which you will obviously have to select AMD (the other options are NVIDIA and Intel) and you will see that the color of the window changes to red, with the AMD Radeon logo. Now you have three options, located in the form of buttons in the upper left:
- Clean and restart : this option will remove the AMD drivers and automatically restart the computer. It is the recommended option if you are simply updating the graphics drivers.
- Clean and fo NOT restart : this option can cause problems, and is only recommended if you also want to remove remnants of third-party driver installations. It is recommended in that case to execute the elimination of the other brands first and the AMD drivers last.
- Clean and shutdown : this option removes the AMD drivers and shuts down the computer. It is recommended if you intend to change graphics card.
Once the process is finished, when you start the computer again you will see that the resolution is changed and the icons on your desktop are out of order, and it is completely normal because we have eliminated the drivers from the graphics and Windows will have loaded basic drivers. It is time, therefore, to move on to the next point.
Update or install AMD GPU drivers from scratch
Now that the computer is clean of graphics drivers, it is time to download and install the new ones. To do this, go to the AMD download website and, in the lower area, select Graphics and then more windows will appear on the right in which you must select your graphics card model. Once selected, click on Send.
On the next screen you simply have to select your operating system; click on the + icon to the left of the name, and the option to download the drivers will be displayed.
Once downloaded, click on the installer and the usual wizard to install the drivers will appear. Keep in mind that even if you wanted to simply update, with this we have eliminated any old driver in the previous step and, therefore, it is necessary to install from scratch, there is a possible update.
In the first step, simply click on the Install icon, unless you want to change the default installation path (C: Program FilesAMD), in which case you can click on Additional Options to do so.
The process is automatic and generally does not take more than a couple of minutes (mainly depending on the speed of your storage device). It is common for the screen to flicker and even you see that the resolution changes itself (it should, in fact, be set to your default monitor resolution), do not worry because it is totally normal.
The whole process is automatic, and even when finished the system will restart automatically (a button appears to restart before the countdown ends).
Once the system restarts, it will appear with the resolution well configured, and you will see that a Radeon Software Installer window appears indicating that the installation has been successful and offering you to allow AMD to collect anonymous information (we recommend not selecting this option) and if you want to launch the AMD configuration software at that time.
Once done, click on the Finish button and you are done. With this you have managed to perform a clean installation of the AMD drivers, something that is not really necessary if you were simply going to update but it is always recommended to avoid possible problems or conflicts (in fact, it is especially recommended if you had problems with the previous version drivers).
