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Procedure for switching from nvidia to AMD graphics cards

Shashman

Shashman

Shashman

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Bournemouth
Hi all!

I've just bought a Gigabyte Aorus rx580 to replace my EVGA GTX 670ftw. This being a very recently upgraded system (last week), I've obviously just installed the latest nvidia drivers.

When I replace the 670 with the rx580, what will happen? System will obviously think it has a totally different graphics card in so what's the procedure for this sort of scenario? Will I need to start in safe mode? Will I need to download some sort of driver removal tool before installing the rx580?

Sorry for the noobish questions but it's been about 6 years since my last upgrade!

Thanks in advance :)
 
Uninstall NVIDIA drivers, shutdown and swap cards, boot back up and install AMD Drivers.


In most cases you don't even need to uninstall the NVIDIA Drivers, as it's entirely possible to have both drivers (and indeed cards) exist side by side in the same machine.
 
Whenever I change GPUs, i use the device manager in windows (assuming you are using windows) to uninstall the GPU. Then power down, swap out GPU, power on and let windows do its thing, then install the latest drivers for the new card.
 
ChocoViennese said:
Whenever I change GPUs, i use the device manager in windows (assuming you are using windows) to uninstall the GPU. Then power down, swap out GPU, power on and let windows do its thing, then install the latest drivers for the new card.
Click to expand...
Although, having said that, just swapping out and installing new drivers will be fine, as also noted here.
 
Thanks for the responses! So the consensus (ish) is to make the software changes before I remove the old card. Makes sense. I don't want to have redundant drivers on my system so I will completely remove the nvidia stuff.

IIRC I once saw something about needing driver removal software to remove them 100%? Or am I thinking of a different scenario?
 
Shashman said:
IIRC I once saw something about needing driver removal software to remove them 100%? Or am I thinking of a different scenario?
Click to expand...

Historically this used to be the case (e.g. when drivers were older/buggier, and in XP and earlier when drivers didn't get removed correctly), but for 99% of people it is unnecessary, as drivers from all 3 vendors (NVIDIA/AMD/Intel - onboard GPUs) are more robust and will happily coexist e.g. for multiple monitors.

DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) is the software that is frequently mentioned, but as above it shouldn't be needed for most users.
 
Nvidia's drivers are bad enough when you need to use them. Best not to have them sitting on the system if you don't need them :P
 
Take out NVidia card once PC is shut down. Cry for quite some time. Possibly self harm but no real need, as you are doing that when you pop in the AMD card. Install AMD drivers, cry some more and that is pretty much it :)
 
Fully clean your pc using bleach and hire a decontamination chamber to fully clense your pc.

Chuck your 670 in the contaminated bins at any hospital and install your amd card.

Or do as others have said, its upto you :)
 
Ian Evey said:
Fully clean your pc using bleach and hire a decontamination chamber to fully clense your pc.

Chuck your 670 in the contaminated bins at any hospital and install your amd card.

Or do as others have said, its upto you :)
Click to expand...
:D
You forgot the sprinkling of holy water.

As others have said, it's a straight forward deinstall via Add/Remove programs(all Nvidia items) before turning off and removing the card and fresh install of new drivers once the new card is installed and system up. You could ensure there;s no internet access during this entire procedure as Windows might try to install a driver for you.
 
Shashman said:
Hi all!

I've just bought a Gigabyte Aorus rx580 to replace my EVGA GTX 670ftw. This being a very recently upgraded system (last week), I've obviously just installed the latest nvidia drivers.

When I replace the 670 with the rx580, what will happen? System will obviously think it has a totally different graphics card in so what's the procedure for this sort of scenario? Will I need to start in safe mode? Will I need to download some sort of driver removal tool before installing the rx580?

Sorry for the noobish questions but it's been about 6 years since my last upgrade!

Thanks in advance :)
Click to expand...

https://www.overclock.net/forum/71-...emove-your-nvidia-gpu-drivers-new-2016-a.html

https://www.overclock.net/forum/70-...w-remove-your-amd-gpu-drivers-new-2016-a.html

Why was this guide created?

3rd Party software uninstallers (DDU, CCleaner, AMD Uninstall Utility) have been known to cause software corruption by removing essential chipset, audio and system library files. This may cause system instability, OS corruption or personal data loss.
Click to expand...
 
Just take the old card out and pop in the new one. Windows 10 will figure it out at startup. Then install the latest AMD drivers and reboot.

If things go horribly wrong, then perhaps resort to DDU, but it's mostly unnecessary.
 
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