Video card drivers

[pillar]

I seem to be having some issues with watching youtube videos. The video quality is rather choppy and kinda lags from time to time. Got over half my memory available. I did check into my driver for my video card & it shows that the driver was released back in May of last year. I have a couple of questions.

#1 Will updating the video driver help the performance when it comes to being able to watch youtube videos?

#2 How often should I go about updating the video card drivers?

Personally, I never really found this to be that big of an issue in the past. Also, even tho my rig stats r in my sig, let me tell you that I actually have 6gb instead of 4gb. I recently installed 2x2gb sticks so that I could get a lil more performance before I go for the big jump on upgrading my cpu, mobo, & memory. I also think that this thread should get some consideration when it comes to becoming a sticky since im sure that we will have some people curious bout video card driver updates and the such.

 

[Skagnatti]

#1 Will updating the video driver help the performance when it comes to being able to watch youtube videos?

Yes and no.

Yes, it can help from the angle that inside nVidia and ATI/AMDs software drivers are options for streaming playback configuration. Aside from this, typically the updated drivers handle much of this on default configuration just fine.

No, in that if your connectivity is poor or your streaming via WiFi your video will degrade accordingly as it is trying to buffer as it goes with avaialable bandwidth or OTA respectively. Keep in mind the actual video itself is recorded via various means i.e compressed mpeg, WMV, MPEG4, etc. with varying degrees of quality from the get-go.***Disclaimer: Someone with extensive YouTube video uploading can attest to the formats allowed and such.***

#2 How often should I go about updating the video card drivers?

Browsing to the manufacturer website every couple of months if not once a month is good practice. ATI/AMD has built into the their Catalyst Control Center to alert you of new drivers and will give you the opportunity to download and install. I can not speak to nVidia and their unified driver doing the same, but most likely. If one does, usually so does the other to some degree.

Personally, I never really found this to be that big of an issue in the past.

And to be honest, neither have I. However, speaking more to the tune of game rendering, there are some instances in which particular artifacts present themselves with certain games for certain driver releases in which case reviewing the release notes of the driver will let you know if the issue you may be having is corrected or still a work in process as 'known issues'.

 

[Grimmaz]

Long response:

Skagatti is pretty much right on however one more thing you can do is to make sure your Adobe Flash Player is up to date. Uninstall all old versions of flash player or java and download current releases as websites use either one to display website related material. It is VERY important to have both of those up to date as they are infamous for being exploited. A lot of malware has been known to install itself on your computer through security holes in an outdated browser, flash or java. Long story short keep your software, including your operating system and antivirus program, up to date at all times.

Quick response: Update flash player and java.

Adobe Flash Player

Java

 

[Severend]

I agree with Sicko and Skagnatti on this, it's where I would start if I had the same issue. One thing I want to add is updating drivers are in your best interest all around. Keeping them up to date is a big part in keeping your comp running smoothly also. I have a pretty good feeling that updating Java/Flash will fix it. If not run a speed test and see if your getting the correct speeds from your ISP. If all that is in order and your still having issues post back there are other tests that can be run to see where the point of failure is.

 

[pillar]

I know that this is a bit of a late update, but ive done quite a bit to get my machine working better. I did update the driver to the latest, which has helped a lil in my gaming. Also I did update Flash (since it always keeps asking me to update). Also, starting today, I decided to defrag my hard drives for the 1st time since I installed Win7 (which was over a year ago). Big difference in the video playback on Youtube. No lag or sluggishness on the video playback @ all. Thanks for all the help.