"An out-of-date GPU driver has been detected. Please update to the latest version."
 As of this month's Patch 3.26, Path of Exile 1 is now walking in Path of Exile 2's footsteps by nagging people upon game launch that they are not running the latest driver available for their video card. In this thread I will dig into this, the timing of it, and whether it might do more harm than good. The Windows platform is an open one, and - consequentially - there is no single 'source of truth' regarding the litany of computer configurations out there. While Microsoft themselves could, hypothetically, serve such a function - historically they haven't, and some may have concerns about the company publishing such data. Thus, we must look elsewhere for such information. At least in the context of gaming, one of the most reliable sources available is likely to be Valve's hardware survey. Users of the Steam platform are periodically prompted to choose whether to participate in the survey, with the results being published on Valve's official website. At the time of this post, the latest data available corresponds to May 2025. The pertinent information is that of video card manufacturer marketshare (at least among participating Steam users). Valve reports that of those participating, 74.18% were using an Nvidia video card; 17.62% an AMD solution; and 7.85% using an Intel option. The latter two will be comprised of both discrete cards, as well as integrated graphics adapters built into the CPU on systems where no discrete card is available. In this post, I will refer to Nvidia as both the 'market leader' which is objectively accurate by any definition, and the company with "75%" marketshare which - according to the information provided by Valve - is not technically correct, but is rounding up by less than 1%. Now that we have established which company is producing the GPUs used by a substantial majority of Steam users - who, lacking any information to the contrary, we will assume are broadly representative of PC gamers writ large - let's explore the reception of drivers released by that company so far this year to gauge whether GGG's move constitutes a good idea. (The below are the titles provided by the source without editorialising of any kind.) January 2025 January 21 · "NVIDIA Details Alarming Security Threats Fixed In Latest GPU Driver, Update ASAP" · HotHardware · article February 2025 February 4 · "NVIDIA's New Hotfix GPU Driver Stops These Games From Crashing" · HotHardware · article February 5 · "Serious issues with NVIDIA 572.16 Driver! Beware!" · JayzTwoCents · video February 7 · "Nvidia is 'investigating the reported issues with the RTX 50-series' cards after RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 owners (and some RTX 40-series folk) report black screen problems" · PC Gamer · article February 8 · "Nvidia is investigating RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 instability issues" · Tom's Hardware · article February 21 · "Nvidia confirms it is investigating RTX 50-series BSOD and black screen troubles, no timeline for a fix" · Tom's Hardware · article February 26 · "Nvidia driver update for GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs will address black screen issue" · Notebookcheck · article March 2025 March 1 · "Nvidia Hotfix arrives to address black screen issues remaining after Thursday's driver release" · Tom's Hardware · article
funny note
Above article features this hilarious strapline;
"A GeForce driver is an incredibly complex piece of software," bleats the green team. March 2 · "NVIDIA’s Latest Driver Update Is Apparently Unable To Resolve “Black Screen” Issues For Many Users; MFG-Supported Titles Are Now Crashing" · Wccftech · article March 6 · "Nvidia's 572.70 Game Ready Driver promises a black screen fix - but unless you have an RTX 5070 it's probably best to avoid updating for now" · TechRadar · article March 9 · "NVIDIA Releases Another Hotfix Driver to Resolve Black Screen Issues, Marking the Firm’s Fifth Attempt to Address The Problem" · Wccftech · article March 10 · "Nvidia says it really has sorted RTX 50-series black screen issues this time around as yet another driver fix finds its way to release" · PC Gamer · article March 20 · "Nvidia's new Game Ready Driver repeats an annoying black screen issue from previous versions - it needs fixing ASAP" · TechRadar · article March 23 · "RTX 40 GPU owners suffering from BSODs and crashes complain about Nvidia's RTX 50 focus" · Tom's Hardware · article March 23 · "NVIDIA Game Ready Driver 572.XX Is Reportedly Causing Serious Problems For RTX 40 Series Owners: Crashes, Blackscreens, And More!" · Wccftech · article March 24 · "Now even Nvidia RTX 40 owners are getting hit by weird black screen driver bugs" · XDA · article March 31 · "Game developers warn GeForce RTX 4000 and 3000 owners to roll back Nvidia drivers" · TechSpot · article April 2025 April 1 · "Nvidia Drivers Suck at the moment - Nvidia Black Screen Display Port Problems" · The Provoked Prawn · video April 5 · "Nvidia driver 572.83 is causing a black screen on Windows 11, Windows 10" · Windows Latest · article April 7 · "Get It Together, NVIDIA | Terrible GPU Driver Stability" · Gamers Nexus · video April 7 · "NVIDIA driver issues branded "absolutely abhorrent and completely embarrassing" — Gamers Nexus replicates bugs plaguing PC gamers" · Windows Central · article April 7 · "Nvidia’s graphics drivers are in worse shape than we thought" · Digital Trends · article April 14 · "Get It Together, NVIDIA | Terrible GPU Driver Stability" · Gamers Nexus · article April 16 · "The new Nvidia driver comes with a looooong list of fixes and a dozen of these fix black screen issues" · PC Gamer · article April 16 · "New Nvidia drivers for GeForce graphics cards finally fix major game crashes" · PCGamesN · article April 17 · "I’ve never seen so many bug fixes in an Nvidia GPU driver, as new release offers vital cures for black screen crashes, Windows 11 24H2 glitches and more" · TechRadar · article April 17 · "NVIDIA drops another "horrible driver" — The latest update still hasn't fixed GPU stability issues for all" · Windows Central · article April 18 · "Latest Nvidia drivers boost synthetics by 6-8% on RTX 50 GPUs — Users still report stability woes" · Tom's Hardware · article April 21 · "I think NVIDIA is doing this on purpose now... New driver issues. BEWARE!!!" · JayzTwoCents · video April 22 · "Nvidia’s GPU drivers are a mess" · The Verge · article April 29 · "Nvidia has just released yet another GPU driver hotfix to add further fixes to the other hotfix driver it released last week. And it still hasn't really fixed things" · PC Gamer · article April 29 · "A string of driver hotfixes suggests Nvidia RTX 50 GPUs are having trouble keeping their software down" · Rock Paper Shotgun · article April 29 · "Nvidia's new GeForce hotfix driver 576.26 is its second in a row - and it's still giving users issues" · TechRadar · article May 2025 May 1 · "NVIDIA GeForce "Game Ready" graphics driver update fixes bugs from a previous release — Flickering screens patched" · Windows Central · article May 13 · "NVIDIA's drivers are causing big problems for DOOM: The Dark Ages, but some fixes are available" · Windows Central · article May 21 · "Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 review: passable GPU, shame about the drivers" · Rock Paper Shotgun · product review May 24 · "Nvidia releases emergency RTX 5060-series firmware to fix blank screens on reboot" · Tom's Hardware · article May 27 · "Nvidia confirms another black screen bug, and it’s a nasty one hitting RTX 5060 GPUs this time – but a fix has been rushed out" · TechRadar · article June 2025 June 4 · "Nvidia has a new GeForce hotfix GPU driver to address several issues – but I'm terrified of installing any updates" · TechRadar · article June 12 · "Tech Note: Known issues with NVIDIA 576.xx drivers on RTX 50-series GPUs" · Epic Games · developer-focused game engine alert pertaining to the latest-available Nvidia drivers So... to sum up the above as well as providing a touch more context;
Er, yeah - thanks for that. I've an idea, GGG: if you care, start providing technical support to your customers again. If you don't care, kindly just keep out of it. The various server-side issues your games have aren't earning you any credibility in this space - and trying to coddle people while not offering the support expected of a game developer just comes across as being aloof and tone-deaf. tl;dr: Remove the nagging on game launch, or at the very least add a "don't show again" checkbox. Today… by divine decree… your patch of Excel, begins. Last bumped on Jun 25, 2025, 5:46:16 PM
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Yeah stop the nagging
And with the way nvidia drivers have been lately You "GGG" should NOT tel ppl to update to the latest version !!! |
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" Yes. Over in the PoE2 forums someone even said one of the devs explicitly said not to update beyond a certain NVIDIA release, so PoE1 nagging for an update is pretty silly and contradictory. | |
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I would like to ask if there is currently a driver more stable than 566.36 tho ? because i do feel like they did something this league that maybe needs a more up to date driver... im getting 30-40 less fps on average in extreme deli/beyond/harbi juiced maps. my RF explosions and my merc dot explosions on top. For now im not doing anything because i really worked hard to have my driver working correctly in this harsh time. maybe it is time to go with amd soon ?
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" If you have a 30XX or 40XX card, moving to anything newer than 566.36 is currently a gamble at best. For now we seem to be stuck with both that driver version and that obnoxious popup every time we start the game... |
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" that pop up is the least of my issues right now, im getting way worst fps in super juiced maps. non juice is about the same it seems. I made sure it wasnt on me tho : fans to 100% to make sure it wasnt caused by heat, downscaled resolution = same fps. seems to be the patch ! :( |
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Ah yes, the horror, a game politely reminding you your current GPU driver, whether it’s brand new or a bit behind, might not play nice with the latest patch.
Utterly intolerable, apparently. Let’s be honest, new drivers can absolutely be faulty sometimes, but guess what? So can sticking to an older version that suddenly hates a new patch. That’s just how PC gaming works, and it’s exactly why “update your drivers” has been the #1 troubleshooting step since we had to blow into cartridges to make things run. GGG just automated the reminder so support doesn’t have to say it for the ten-thousandth time. Meanwhile, people shrug while Blizzard sneaks always-on launchers and background clutter onto their PCs, or Riot’s Vanguard camps in your kernel before Windows even boots — but a harmless Path of Exile pop-up? Now the pitchforks come out. Truly peak gamer logic. Don’t like it? Cool. Ignore it. Sit on that glitchy driver, whether new or old, enjoy your stutters and crashes, and circle back here next week to post an outraged tech thread. Same clown car, different driver. Windows 11, 9950X3D, RTX 4090, 96GB DDR5, 14,100 MB/s SSD, 15,360x2160p @240Hz Ultra 4K Gaming & Workspace Powerhouse
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" Oh, what did they do exactly ? You can say to the Blizzard Launcher to close when the game starts - the process doesn't actually close ? (Slightly moot point I guess for their singleplayer-first games like D3 that are online-only...) What background clutter ? Were those before or after Microsoft bought them ? Do these issues also affect Linux users ? (Are they using the same drivers ?) Wow, such an effort post, I'm in awe (sincerely). " Well, they do. On the forums. (Look for the threads with GGG on front of them.) Which is better than e-mail (when it doesn't concern very account-specific issues) because other people with similar issues can find these threads and try out the solutions, and share them between them. Saves effort for everyone. But sadly GGG's support seems a bit anemic on the forums too, I think I have seen one-dev-company forums where the developer was more active in support subforums than this ! (Unless I am being fooled by the large volume of posted threads of course...) |
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" Mate, I have 13,460 posts on this forum. A sizable proportion of these are in Technical Support. With all due respect, I think I'd have noticed by now if GGG were providing technical support to their customers. Even their emails are explicit: they do not provide technical support, but you can post on their community forum. You're more Catholic than the Pope if you claim GGG provide technical support when they themselves claim not to. Looking at Page 1 of Technical Support, one thread out of 28 non-stickied threads has the logo that denotes GGG activity in the thread. It is a thread from last year with 239 posts spread across 24 pages. GGG's sole post in that thread - from a member of QA, not Support, by the way - is thus; "Thanks for your reports, we're looking into this." Page 2 of Technical Support? Zero threads with the logo denoting staff participation. Page 3? Zero. Page 4? Zero. Page 5? You guessed it! Zero. You claimed they provide technical support - this is quite clearly not true. You told me to look for threads with the logo. I'll ask you to do exactly that yourself. Would've been nice if you'd done so before telling others to, but alas. Today… by divine decree… your patch of Excel, begins.
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Ok, I seemed to have (mis?)remembered more involvement from posts I had seen in previous seasons, my bad.
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