I have held on my 1.5 update for awhile but I plan on playing Dawnguard before Dragonborn becomes avilable for the PC (January most likely) so I was thinking of updating to 1.8 but I have some doubts.
I already know I will have to update some of my mods, but do I have to erase my ini files for the new patch?
I have read some stability issues with the new patch, are those caused mre by drivers or by the patch itself?

It's preferable to wipe INI files after an update to be on the safe side.

Nothing was noticed in the beta release from before, but there's really no telling to be honest. Best thing to do is try it and see. /shrug