Despite the efforts with which AMD has tried to improve its driver and software set, we all now know – and more gamers – that they are not working quite well, especially when you have been using the card for a while. time. and went through different versions of the drivers. For this reason, and although it is already advisable in itself, it is always advisable to perform a clean install even if you only intend to update, as this is the best way to avoid conflicts and The problems.
Note, if you are trying to set up a new computer that has never had drivers, you can skip to the second point of this article and skip the first.
Completely uninstall graphics drivers
Although if you have already installed Radeon software on your system, the process of updating to the latest driver version is as easy as clicking a button, even to update the drivers, it is always recommended to perform a “clean install”, because this way you make sure that there are no leftovers from the previous drivers.
As you can see in the screenshot above, even when you are going to update or install AMD drivers, the option “Factory Reset” is offered, but be aware that this option does not “clean” the drivers. previous ones but just installs returning all options to their default state, i.e. overwriting any special settings you might have.
Fortunately, getting rid of old graphics driver installations is very easy since we have free tools like Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), which we have talked about in other articles before, but we’ll take a quick look at how it works.
Remove old drivers with DDU
Downloading the Display Driver Uninstaller is free and this is where you need to start. Once downloaded, unzip the file in the folder of your choice on your PC, for example on the desktop. Once completed, you need to restart the computer and boot in safe mode to prevent the drivers from loading and thus be able to remove them without any problem. With the computer booted in Safe Mode, open DDU and you will see the following screen.
On the right side there is a drop down list, in which you will obviously have to select AMD (the other options are NVIDIA and Intel) and you will see that the window color changes to red, with the AMD Radeon logo. You now have three options, located as buttons at the top left:
- Clean up and restart: This option will remove the AMD drivers and automatically restart the computer. This is the recommended option if you are just updating graphics drivers.
- Clean and do NOT restart: This option can cause problems and is only recommended if you also want to remove leftover third-party driver installations. It is recommended in this case to run the removal of other brands first and AMD drivers last.
- Clean up and shut down: This option removes the AMD drivers and shuts down the computer. It is recommended if you intend to change graphics card.
After the process is complete, when you restart the computer, you will see that the resolution is changed and the icons on your desktop are out of order, and this is completely normal as we have removed the drivers from the graphics and Windows will have loaded basic drivers. It is therefore time to move on to the next point.
Update or install AMD GPU drivers from scratch
Now that the computer has run out of graphics drivers, it’s time to download and install the new ones. To do this, go to the AMD download website and in the lower area select Graphics, then other windows will appear on the right where you need to select your graphics card model. Once selected, click Submit.
On the next screen, you just need to select your operating system; click the + icon to the left of the name, and the option to download drivers will appear.
Once downloaded, click on the installer and the usual wizard to install the drivers will appear. Keep in mind that even if you just wanted to update, we have removed any old driver in the previous step and therefore it is necessary to install from scratch, there is an update possible.
In the first step, just click on the Install icon, unless you want to change the default installation path (C: Program FilesAMD), in which case you can click on More Options to do so.
The process is automatic and usually doesn’t take more than a few minutes (mainly depending on the speed of your storage device). It’s common for the screen to flicker and even you see the resolution change on its own (it should, in fact, be set to your monitor’s default resolution), don’t worry because it’s all right. normal.
The whole process is automatic, and even when completed, the system will restart automatically (a button seems to restart before the countdown ends).
Once the system has restarted, it will appear with the resolution properly configured, and you will see that a Radeon software installer window appears, indicating that the installation was successful and offering to allow AMD to collect anonymous information. (we recommend that you do not select this option) and whether you want to launch the AMD setup software at this time.
When done, click on the Finish button and you are done. With this you have managed to do a clean install of the AMD drivers which is not really necessary if you were just going to update but it is always recommended to avoid possible issues or conflicts (in fact it is especially recommended if you had problems with the drivers of the previous version).
