Updating Drivers?

Nobody develops, writes and releases new drivers for nothing,there's always some reason why. Mostly for bug fixes but possibly for performance improvements. For instance last AMD GPU drivers which can possibly double performance for last 3 generations of their GPUs.
AMD chipset drivers are recommended by AMD along with BIOS version updates.
Now comes fun part. Both, GPU and Chipset "Drivers" you download actually consist of several drivers for several generations in one package. Just because such driver package has higher number it doesn't it will install it for your 5-10 year old GPU, only a control program for it may be newer. Most driver updates with fixes are within first year, eventually second year from that parts manufacture, most bugs are fixed by then. An exemption from those are when there are changes in Windows with larger updates.
Drivers are essential link between hardware and OS but Windows have another layer in between, DirectX which is actually more than half of whole package driver latches to. All of those have to be synchronized to work properly.

If you want to do it, at least do it right to minimize the risk of BSOD or other issues. Since all other components connect to the motherboard, install the chipset driver first and then the graphics driver and anything else. Most of the times you won't see any improvement in performance, but there are welcome exceptions. Let alone the bug fixes. Having an old system like my main PC (2nd system specs) is peace of mind driver-wise since you already have the latest and best drivers. The only driver I have to worry about is the graphics driver for my nVidia GTX 1050 Ti and even for this I don't install every update it comes out, precisely because I see zero improvement in performance. I just want to beat Windows Update to messing with my graphics driver, so I keep an eye an I install the latest official nVidia driver once a while. This renders the Windows Update driver obsolete, so I prevent an unwanted replacement of my good working driver. Also I keep a couple of old drivers handy just in case the latest driver sucks, as explained in my earlier post (have seen that a lot in XP) and I need to return to an older version.

BamaInArk said:

Once your motherboard has been out a while the motherboard vendor will more than likely not keep up with the latest drivers.

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When you buy an Asus mobo, you will get several many more years of THE most critically important updates.

hdmi said:

When you buy an Asus mobo, you will get several many more years of THE most critically important updates.

View attachment 86573

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Not even registered version and SW comes in .ZIP format.

Thankfully my main PC has an Asus P8H61 motherboard. Never had any issues, perfect.

As long as you make regular image backups, there can be no harm in updating drivers. I have set Windows Update to update drivers and I also install the optional driver updates. But I agree that third party driver updaters are very capable of hosing your system. I also check my computer manufacturer's site for updates but rarely find any that WU has missed.

I only use Snappy Driver Installer as a last resort when I cannot find a driver for a certain device. I only install the missing drivers (green text), I avoid updating other drivers (blue text), especially those of motherboard.

Warning: Never use a driver utility on a tablet or you will lose touch and rotation. You might also lose Wi-Fi or sound. Use strictly the drivers from manufacturer support site. If you lose touch you can try installing the platform (aka chipset) driver from manufacturer. This usually fixes the issue and touch works again, otherwise you may have to format and reinstall Windows!

spapakons said:

I only use Snappy Driver Installer as a last resort when I cannot find a driver for a certain device. I only install the missing drivers (green text), I avoid updating other drivers (blue text), especially those of motherboard.

Warning: Never use a driver utility on a tablet or you will lose touch and rotation. You might also lose Wi-Fi or sound. Use strictly the drivers from manufacturer support site. If you lose touch you can try installing the platform (aka chipset) driver from manufacturer. This usually fixes the issue and touch works again, otherwise you may have to format and reinstall Windows!

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I don't do tablets and I'm not a politician. So I never lose touch.

allan said:

Do not, do not, DO NOT use Windows Update to update drivers.

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Nonsense.

rfhar said:

How necessary is it to update one's drivers. I have had many builds since my first Commadore 64 and always relied on om Windows Update to keep drivers OK.

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As a custom system builder, I maintain my own drivers via vendor component/hardware site. And since I'm compulsive about keeping drivers (as well as BIOS) updated I update all the time. I never rely on Windows unless they're basic drivers. I don't even allow Windows to update my GPU drivers. Zero issues here.

In trying to answer your question... it depends on how you feel about such things. Some never worry about drivers and hope Windows deals with them... these are the people most likely to have yellow question marks and exclamation marks in their Device Manager. Others (me) are more hands on and keep have zero yellow or red marks in their Device Manager.

Is it a "must" to have the latest drivers... yes and no. Yes to avoid issues; No in if things are still working. Do note however updates are released for a reason. You might not see an issue now, but....

Lastly, I've found more often than not the "if it ain't broke" mantra just leads to issues later on, and suggestions like... "did you update the drivers" when looking for help with an issue

Many "driver updater" will tell u that your drivers are old, but thats not true. Many are brand new with a old sign.

For a mainstream desk system: GPU drivers + Chipset drivers, everything else will come over windows updates.
And i would stay away from vendor pages unless u look for a bios update,or missing drivers. most websited are not maintained.

The chance to load a bricked driver or bios is extremly high directly after a release, keep that in mind.

Microsoft has multiple links on updating drivers.

One or more of these may be useful:

Yes, manufacturer doesn't always updates the drivers on their support site, especially for older models. That's why I spend the extra time to download the most important drivers directly from the individual manufacturers (Intel, AMD, Realtek etc). I also keep a copy of each so I don't have to search again for another computer with the same device.

cereberus said:

Nonsense.

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LOL - okay, do as you wish. It's your system after all.

Manufacturers of laptops, OEM PCs, desktop PC motherboards and the like don't always make custom drivers so a part of the "trick" is to, for each hardware component/sub-component, find out if they do, and, if the answer to that is yes, then usually, the generic drivers (e.g. from the chipmakers like Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Realtek) aren't going to be fully compatible with what exactly it is that you have. The problems that may result can affect the whole system, and symptoms may in fact seem like they are unrelated to that specific hardware component/sub-component.

Some drivers may be accompanied by special software the purpose of which is to provide the user with access to functionalities and featuresets revealed by the driver, and there may be custom functionalities and featuresets that are only available on a specific make and model of a component, even if it implements the same sub-component(s) as the bulk of similar components, e.g. due to differences in the implementations/configurations thereof, differences in the device firmware, and etc.. Whether there will be such a special software, whether this software will be part of the driver package or come as a separate download package, and whether you'll find any differences that depend on whether you downloaded it from the manufacturer of the (sub-)component or from the manufacturer of the device/component that integrated that (sub-)component into their product, all are factors that can vary. I.e., just like the implications of there being a custom driver available versus not can also vary. (Which, like I said above, they very often do.)

What you can do is figure out if a driver package downloaded from a component manufacturer or brand contains the same exact files as that from the chipmaker responsible for making the main important chip that the component is based on. That is, when you already know that the two different packages have the same version numbers. If all the files inside the "branded" package are the same as in the generic, that's when you'll know it should be fairly safe for you to go ahead and grab the latest version of the generic instead. If not, then likely, what you have is a custom one so chances will be that you'll need to stick to it even if it's older, as the generic might not work (or only partially work) with what you have.

The same holds true about getting driver updates from Windows Update. I.e., you could always decide to inspect the relevant update packages to see what's in them. My laptop's support page doesn't have a driver download section so it saves the time and effort for me to have to keep looking. lol

allan said:

LOL - okay, do as you wish. It's your system after all.

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Well....its still 95% nonsense.

The update pulled drivers are not that generic anymore since a year ~ . OEMs (manufacturers) have a uploader for drivers, means u get what u need and nothing else.

You own a Dell, right ? This garbage company distribute bios flashes over windows updates...

Well from my experience the majority of manufacturers use the stock drivers of the device and customizations are rather rare. So it is perfectly fine to download the drivers from the device manufacturer to get the latest bug fixes and features. In the rare case that a custom driver is needed you will be warned that this is a generic driver and you should download the custom driver from the manufacturer. Even if you are not warned, as soon as you see any issues or lack of features, replace the driver with the custom from manufacturer and you should be OK. In fact I prefer downloading graphics drivers directly from nVidia, for example, and only if I get a warning I go to the computer manufacturer or motherboard manufacturer support site. My third option is Windows Update and my last resort is Snappy Driver Installer.

spapakons said:

Well from my experience the majority of manufacturers use the stock drivers of the device and customizations are rather rare. So it is perfectly fine to download the drivers from the device manufacturer to get the latest bug fixes and features. In the rare case that a custom driver is needed you will be warned that this is a generic driver and you should download the custom driver from the manufacturer. Even if you are not warned, as soon as you see any issues or lack of features, replace the driver with the custom from manufacturer and you should be OK. In fact I prefer downloading graphics drivers directly from nVidia, for example, and only if I get a warning I go to the computer manufacturer or motherboard manufacturer support site. My third option is Windows Update and my last resort is Snappy Driver Installer.

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Yes and no. An example: Warning: Installing This Graphics Driver From Intel May Overwrite...

As for installing so-called "chipset drivers"... see: How do I Use the Intel® Chipset Software Installation Utility?

hdmi said:

Yes and no. An example: Warning: Installing This Graphics Driver From Intel May Overwrite...

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That's one example of the warning message I was talking about. But the majority of computers and laptops work OK with the stock Intel drivers and this warning doesn't appear when installing them. Like I said customized hardware is rare, most systems use the unmodified devices, so they work with the stock drivers. Been there done that once again.