Stick with OEM supplies version of drivers or is it safe to update?

I have a MSI Gaming Laptop and have downloaded the drivers for restoring my pc from MSI. I noticed that many of the drivers they have for my pc are out of date compared to the version I can download from Intel, ASMedia, etc...

Should I stay with the supplied version of drivers MSI supplies from their site or is it safe to update to newer versions from the official sites such as Intel?

I usually go with the newest version.

Sometimes that doesn't work, when the laptop manufacturer uses a custom ID for the hardware, and the installer from the hardware maker (like Intel) doesn't recognize the device.

Also, things can get awkward if the laptop has Optimus graphics (both onboard Intel graphics and a discrete nVidia adapter). It mya be possible to get those working properly with the drivers from Intel and nVidia, but I'm not sure how easy it is. (I have never owned such a laptop.)

CampNowhere said:

I have a MSI Gaming Laptop and have downloaded the drivers for restoring my pc from MSI. I noticed that many of the drivers they have for my pc are out of date compared to the version I can download from Intel, ASMedia, etc...

Should I stay with the supplied version of drivers MSI supplies from their site or is it safe to update to newer versions from the official sites such as Intel?

I just now struggled with that actually. I have a gaming desktop computer and my previous Windows 10 installation was done with only drivers provided by Microsoft and AMD. I was not really happy with the graphics and was getting an error that said I had to keep restarting my computer due to audio driver update.

I downloaded all the drivers for my specific computer from Dell and saved them on a drive partition. I did a clean install of Windows 10, but I did not let it connect to the internet (pulled Ethernet cable and did not connect to WiFi). Then I installed all the hardware drivers provided by Dell. After that was done, I connected to the internet and let Windows 10 update everything that it wanted to. So far, I seem to have better graphics performance and the notification that I have to restart for the audio driver has gone away.

It seems to be both ways. Some PC vendor specific drivers are needed or work best. Drivers from hardware device vendors can work better or add additional functions in some cases. 50/50.

I'm doing field testing on a new Dell G7 gaming laptop. It had the latest drivers when I got it but it had an intermittent problem with Wi-Fi dropping out. It had the latest on the Dell downloads (a two week old dated driver) and as it has an Intel Wi-Fi I got an updated driver from Intel and it fixed the Wi-Fi dropout problems.

NavyLCDR said:

I just now struggled with that actually. I have a gaming desktop computer and my previous Windows 10 installation was done with only drivers provided by Microsoft and AMD. I was not really happy with the graphics and was getting an error that said I had to keep restarting my computer due to audio driver update.

I downloaded all the drivers for my specific computer from Dell and saved them on a drive partition. I did a clean install of Windows 10, but I did not let it connect to the internet (pulled Ethernet cable and did not connect to WiFi). Then I installed all the hardware drivers provided by Dell. After that was done, I connected to the internet and let Windows 10 update everything that it wanted to. So far, I seem to have better graphics performance and the notification that I have to restart for the audio driver has gone away.

This method is unnecessary as you let Windows Update do the work anyways. Nowadays WU have all the drivers provided by manufacturers that are needed for your pc. It's a waste of time doing it manually even with disconnected internet.

Martinx2 said:

This method is unnecessary as you let Windows Update do the work anyways. Nowadays WU have all the drivers provided by manufacturers that are needed for your pc. It's a waste of time doing it manually even with disconnected internet.

Thank you for your opinion three years late!

NavyLCDR said:

Thank you for your opinion three years late!

Better late than never