This time briefly, but to the point. Both the competition on the software market and the increasing expectations of the creators themselves make the updates of the applications we use almost everyday. And on one hand, they usually bring new functions, or at least an improvement in stability, on the other hand, however, they require better and better hardware in the form of faster processors, more efficient graphics cards, more RAM and the latest drivers. It’s hard to keep up with it. I will only add that I am a user of NVIDIA cards personally and when once again on one or the other internet forum I came across the described problems of users, the solution of which was actually quite simple, I decided to write about it. But first things first…

NVIDIA GAME READY

Currently, someone who is looking for a strong workstation or laptop for creative work in photography, film, graphics or any other field is practically doomed to an offer aimed at… players. It is not so bad if he also plays, but if not, he is not necessarily a fan of multicolored RGB lamps and other accessories. The truth is that gamers are the main purchasing power, so it’s no surprise that the standard NVIDIA graphics driver is “Game Ready”. It turns out that there is an alternative, because some time ago NVIDIA introduced the “NVIDIA Studio” project in response to the expectations of the creators. What is this?

NVIDIA STUDIO

It can be said that it is a kind of platform that has something to offer both in the sphere of “hardware” and “software”. I honestly admit that the former is a bit far-fetched for me, let’s say more marketing one. Well, NVIDIA promotes a line of products that are characterized by a fairly strong specification, such as GeForce RTX 2060, TITAN RTX, Quadro RTX or higher, Intel Core i7 processor (or equivalent) or higher, minimum RAM 16 GB, SSD disk min. 512 GB and the driver in the Studio version. Such devices, both workstations and laptops, are marked with a special sticker “NVIDIA Studio” and are intended to provide a potential user with an easier decision before the purchase and a joy to use after. However, it seems to me that even with a little knowledge, you can choose a laptop yourself or complete a workstation without this sticker, obtaining equipment perfectly tailored to your own needs, and at the same time often cheaper.

The latter software sphere is much more convincing for me. I have already mentioned it, but I emphasize it again; if we use a computer for creative work, it is much better to use a driver that is designed for such purposes as NVIDIA Studio. Before this post, I checked various comparative tests of the Studio and Game Ready versions, and it is true that in the performance itself this difference in favor of Studio is not significant, the most important thing we will gain is stability! Nvidia cooperates with publishers of programs such as Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, After Effects or Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Autodesk, Blender, OBS and many others. For example, recently Blackmagic Design released the official version of DaVinci Resolve 17, and a day later, the latest version of the Studio driver with relevant corrections was available for download.

So you can download the latest drivers from the NVIDIA Studio website, but that’s not all. I definitely recommend installing the NVIDIA Experience program, thanks to which we will be kept informed about the possibility of updating! Additionally, there is an option to quickly switch to the Game Ready driver and back, so being both a developer and a gamer can seamlessly use both of the dedicated drivers. There are also other applications in NVIDIA Studio, such as the NVIDIA Broadcast App, NVIDIA Omniverse, and the NVIDIA Texture Tools Exporter.

SUMMARY

We do not change computer components every day, which is associated with considerable costs, not to mention the fact that the availability of most of the components has been problematic in recent times. But it is worth keeping all drivers up-to-date, it costs nothing and is often a solution to the problems we encounter!

PS. In the case of Intel processors, I recommend the Intel Drive & Support Assistant program, which also checks, informs and helps in updating Intel drivers on an ongoing basis.