Thanks for the info.
Just out of curiosity, I am wondering if the ASUS EZ Update utility provided you with a newer driver that "was or was not" already listed on the ASUS download page for your motherboard ?
Has there ever been any known cases where something such as ASUS EZ Update utility provides the user with updated drivers that are not listed on the website ?
Very good questions. So I went to look.
Asus offers
Latest on site
Now the numbers don't match at all but if you squint and shorten .18019 to .1
and .8144 to just .44
Then the numbers match what the Asus tool found. I know, I know I'm stretching it.
@Caledon Ken
Thanks for the information, appreciate it.
So we can "assume" it is the same driver as on the ASUS download page
I seen quite a lot of online posts describing Windows 10 updates having negative effects on peoples hardware / drivers, audio and video seem to be fairly common.
Out of curiosity, would you be able to elaborate a little more on why the Windows 10 updates can potentially break drivers and what are some of the changes needed in a Windows 10 OS version update that warrants the need for a new driver ?
Kind of like being steadily promoted to the point where you can't do the job.
Example, I had a wireless AC7260 card. Worked fine on the old drivers, I used Feb 2014, but every feature update it would updated to an Intel driver from 2018 for the family of devices it belonged to. Boom, it would connect but never could get internet.
This is a great example, we regularly tell people buy a wireless USB dongle cause you will drive yourself nuts trying to get internal card working.
I'v also seen this type of behaviour on Video drivers on older machines. Before the feature update it is fine, drivers get updated and we see "my screen is black". Or it is a really old device, Windows doesn't have the specific driver so it loads a generic Basic driver. Now machine won't sleep.
Can't comment on last sentence. I'm not sure. One that might be applicable is the coming of WPA3 security protocol. Newer wireless cards would understand this, older cards in the family might not. I would welcome the comments of other members but the two things I see drivers breaking the most are video and I swear wireless. My guess is this is two areas with massive change, speed, protocols, resolution, gaming visuals.
Here is another example of updates causing issues. No doubt this machine was fine and along the trail Windows decided to update but didn't have good matches so ....
Is my Motherboard kippered?
Once MB drivers loaded no issues.
@Caledon Ken
Thanks for the information. I understand more or less.
So from what I have gathered (please correct me if I am mistaken), Windows 10 version updates have a tendency to install drivers on top of drivers that you have already installed on your system, along with changing various aspects of Windows 10 software itself that could also "break drivers. Is this a fair assumption ?
This was also one of the reasons I was asking about the LAN Driver for the ASUS Z370 ROG Maximus X Hero motherboard because in the driver description on the download page it states things such as "Support RS5 only." or "Support RS5/19H1", but it does not mention anything about support for future Windows 10 versions such as 1903/19H1, 1909/19H2, 2004/20H1 etc. (See picture below)
Is this basically ASUS not being able to guarantee proper driver functionality in future Windows 10 versions ?
Consider this hypothetical situation: If a driver provided on the ASUS website was to break on a future version of Windows 10 in 2 years time, do you think they would release a new working driver on the ASUS website ? or would it be expected for the user to buy a whole new computer ?
It's not so much they install over, they just load all the latest versions in their library.
I wouldn't worry to much about future, I was unaware the something was required for RS5. The OS does not change often, in my opinion, that you need new network drivers.
Possible, no vendor is going to go carte blanc on guaranteeing future capabilities. They don't own OS. That said it is a named brand NIC so if MS was to break it and disable millions of user there would be a revolt.
I very much doubt Asus will release a driver. To much work. They would assume we would go to Intel, and because they didn't screw with any customizations, we would get driver there. That is what I did for my old P8P67.
At some point way off, yes there is the expectation we will have to buy just like everything else in our life. Phones, cars etc.
@Caledon Ken
Thanks for the info.
I am feeling confident enough now to build my new computer and install the drivers. I was just trying to demystify a bunch of things before proceeding. You are much more knowledgeable about the topic than I am, the forum members here have answered my questions and then some. I appreciate it.
After all, I am still on a Intel x58 chipset platform with a i7 960 cpu. This platform was not recommended to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 but at the time I was unaware of this. My computer had the "Free upgrade to Windows 10" notification pop up all of the time, so I decided to do it. Luckily the computer has functioned properly from what I have seen, however apparently I surrendered my Windows 7 Licence over to Microsoft once I updated to Windows 10 as well, which I was also unaware that would happen (the beauty of reading the fine print), So I have no Windows 7 licence if I had wanted to revert back.
I am fairly confident to consider this thread as resolved now. If anyone wants to add onto anything please still feel free.
Thanks
Not so sure that you couldn't use your Windows 7 license on your device. Some people got there 10 license and then fell back for years.
Not sure why you would want to, Win 10 runs on gear 13 years old.
Your new build is going to be fine. Windows 10 is going to handle most if not all the drivers.
To date I have not had driver issues with my X Code. It is a quality board and that is the way it should be.
I have a new question that has arised in regards to SATA Drivers.
Standard Microsoft SATA AHCI Controller Driver vs Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver.
According to google searches, the general consensus seems to be that the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) Driver is not necessarily needed unless you want more control over handling RAID setups. Some people report seeing performance improvements for single disks and some people do not (inconclusive).
My setup will be all single disk drives, with no intentions of ever using RAID. The main OS drive will be a SSD and additional storage drives will be a combination of SSD and HDD.
So my question is:
(Q1) Does the Standard Microsoft SATA AHCI Controller Driver provide support for SMART and TRIM, etc ?
(Q2) Does the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver provide substantial performance increases for single disks ?
(Q3) Is it really worth installing the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver for my situation ?
Feel free to add any additional information.
1) Yes I'm very sure. Those are industry things.
2) Don't know, I use their gear, I use their drivers. To me its like having realtek audio and saying I'll just go with MS driver.
3) As per #2 I use their gear and their drivers. In the past on my P8P67 i did use their raid 1. The plan was to do something like that on this device but I went with a NAS and daily incrementals. I recognize it is not the same level of protection.
I have a Samsung M.2 and I use Samsung driver, some don't. You can always start a thread and ask "Do you IRST and why?".
Lot s of members will readily share.
Saw a thread that says they, Intel, are EOL'ing it as we know it.
Hardware Thread 2020
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