[Help] Drivers selection. Which should I use?

beegeepee

Honorable
Oct 6, 2012
167
0
10,690
I currently have a Sapphire HD 7970 3GB OC graphics card. I originally went to sapphires website to get my drivers. However, when I started having trouble with Battlefield 4 (shocking I know) I used the newest beta drivers directly from AMD's website which worked well. It appears AMD releases new drivers more frequently than Sapphire.

Does it matter which drivers I use? Will Sapphires be more stable/better suited for my specific card? Or should I just go with the newest drivers available.

Also, I recently purchased an MSI N780 Lightning graphics card. Again, when I install it should I get MSI's drivers or NVIDIA's?

Thanks!

BeeGeePee
 
Solution
Always get the drivers from AMD or Nvidia.
The GPU on the card does not change with manufacturer and the drivers from AMD and Nvidia will be newer.
Get the latest BETA drivers if you need them, but generally the latest release version drivers from AMD or Nvidia are more stable (BETA drivers often have bugs, they have not yet been released as a full version because they have not been fully tested).

jznightmare

Honorable
Nov 6, 2013
78
0
10,660
it would be best to use the ones from AMD's website. i also use a sapphire card and i get my drivers from AMD instead of sapphire's site.

for your n780 i suggest you get your drivers from nVIDIA's site.
 
Always get the drivers from AMD or Nvidia.
The GPU on the card does not change with manufacturer and the drivers from AMD and Nvidia will be newer.
Get the latest BETA drivers if you need them, but generally the latest release version drivers from AMD or Nvidia are more stable (BETA drivers often have bugs, they have not yet been released as a full version because they have not been fully tested).
 
Solution

beegeepee

Honorable
Oct 6, 2012
167
0
10,690


But doesn't the sub-manufacturer cards have different BIOS and clock speeds? I haven't have any problems with the AMD drivers I am using on my Sapphire I just find it odd there is no issue.

Is it possible my card will run sub-optimal if I use the stock manufacturers drivers? What is the point of Sapphire releasing drivers if I can just use AMD's
 

jznightmare

Honorable
Nov 6, 2013
78
0
10,660
it will work just fine there isnt any difference. AMD / nVidia's drivers are up to date than the manufacturer's website. clock speeds are usually set on default. using different kinds of drivers wont raise or lower those default clock speeds.

manually overclocking the video card will change the clock speeds.
 

jznightmare

Honorable
Nov 6, 2013
78
0
10,660
it will work just fine there isnt any difference. AMD / nVidia's drivers are up to date than the manufacturer's website. clock speeds are usually set on default. using different kinds of drivers wont raise or lower those default clock speeds.

manually overclocking the video card will change the clock speeds.