ASUS Z370 ROG Maximus X Hero Motherboard - Drivers

spacev2 · 18 Mar 2020

Greetings Ten Forums / Community,

I own a ASUS Z370 ROG Maximus X Hero Motherboard and I plan to install Windows 10 64bit.

If we take a closer look at the following driver comparison list between the Intel and ASUS websites, we can see some discrepancies between the driver versions and the file size.

Windows 10 64bit Drivers

VGA Drivers:
- ASUS Website: Version: 26.20.100.7210, Date: 11/27/2019, Size: 377.37 MBytes
- Intel Website: Version: 26.20.100.7870, Date: 02/19/2020, Size: 340 MBytes

ROG MAXIMUS X HERO Driver & Tools | Motherboards | ASUS Australia
Download Intel(R) Graphics - Windows(R) 10 DCH Drivers

LAN Drivers (Intel LAN I219V):
- ASUS Website: Version: 12.18.9.7, Date: 07/08/2019, Size: 3.3 MBytes
- Intel Website: Version: 25.0 , Date: 01/23/2020, Size: 66.56 MBytes

ROG MAXIMUS X HERO Driver & Tools | Motherboards | ASUS Australia
Download Intel(R) Network Adapter Driver for Windows(R) 10

Chipset Driver (Intel Chipset INF Utility):
- ASUS Website: Version: 10.1.18019.8144, Date: 10/21/2019, Size: 5.36 MBytes
- Intel Website: Version: 10.1.18228.8176, Date: 11/28/2019, Size: 3.12 MBytes

ROG MAXIMUS X HERO Driver & Tools | Motherboards | ASUS Australia
Download Chipset INF Utility

SATA Driver (Intel Rapid Storage Technology RST):
- ASUS Website: Version: 17.5.0.1017, Date: 07/02/2019, Size: 26.88 MBytes
- Intel Website: Version: 17.8.0.1065, Date: 01/17/2020, Size: 22.52 MBytes

ROG MAXIMUS X HERO Driver & Tools | Motherboards | ASUS Australia
Download Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology (Intel(R) RST) User Interface and Driver

My confusion arises from the Intel website stating that the drivers are "Generic Intel Drivers' and in the download description notes it states that some manufacturers "customize" the generic Intel driver to meet the needs of their system design. (Examples shown in the pictures below.)

So my questions are:
(Q1) Which drivers can be downloaded from the Intel website without the risk of losing any features / customizations for my specific motherboard ? (ASUS Z370 ROG Maximus X Hero Motherboard)

(Q2) Which drivers should be strictly downloaded from the ASUS website ?

(Q3) How could I identify any drivers that have been "customized" on the ASUS website ?

Any help would be appreciated, Thanks in advance.

bobkn · 18 Mar 2020

I can't be 100% certain, but I doubt that Asus customizes any of those drivers, other than adding their own launcher (useless). I'd go with the ones from Intel.

spacev2 · 18 Mar 2020

bobkn said:

I can't be 100% certain, but I doubt that Asus customizes any of those drivers, other than adding their own launcher (useless). I'd go with the ones from Intel.

Thanks for the reply.

Just of of curiosity, do you have any ideas or known examples of what kind of additional customized features a manufacturer could add onto any of the drivers / hardware listed above ?

It just seems quite confusing for an average user who would like to keep their drivers updated for any potential bug fixes or performance enhancements.

Thanks

sandyt · 18 Mar 2020

1) Well known example is the Realtek audio driver. Gaming motherboard's would have the generic equalizer stripped off and add their own premium equalizer.

2) But usually, customized driver means reduced features because OEM didn't want to pay for every feature available by the chipset manufacturer. So the are stripping a feature, but not providing a substitute for it.

In other words, follow the money. If OEM advertises premium stuff beyond normal features, then it's number 1. Otherwise, it's either they are including their own installer or it's number 2.

fireberd · 19 Mar 2020

I have an older ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero. I use the ASUS drivers for sound and most other drivers, and Intel for CPU/CPU Video. I haven't found a need for other drivers. I use the PC mainly for my recording studio audio production.

spacev2 · 19 Mar 2020

Thanks for the info.

So with the information provided so far, for my particular situation Im guessing it is safe to assume that there is no problems with downloading and using the Intel Generic Drivers from the Intel website until Intel states that my Z370 Chipset / Hardware is not supported anymore. (Please correct me if I am wrong)

So my next question is:
(Q) The LAN Driver on the ASUS website has two different version schemes being v22.X.X.X and v12.X.X.X with a file size difference of 300MB.
In the v22.X.X.X description it says it is (WHQL) Driver and in the v12.X.X.X description it says it is a (Universal) Driver. However on the Intel website I can only find LAN Driver v25.0 which does not say whether it is (WHQL) or a (Universal) driver anywhere in the description, I can not find any v12.X.X.X on Intel website.
Could someone please clarify this situation for me ?
Should I use the v25.0 (Unknown) found on the Intel website ? or should I use v12.X.X.X (Universal) found on the ASUS website ?

ROG MAXIMUS X HERO Driver & Tools | Motherboards | ASUS Australia
Download Intel(R) Network Adapter Driver for Windows(R) 10

Caledon Ken · 21 Mar 2020

Hi.

I've got your board's cousin. Maximus X Code.

You are comparing two things that look the same but are different. The Intel package is the whole bundle with Proset. You can go back to that page and read about what else is within package.

I'm running just driver v12.18.9.7 dated 2019-05-07. It works flawlessly. You do not need the latest and greatest driver unless you are have errors.

You will see so stickies at the beginning of this section of forum. A couple are on Intel. At the bottom of the tutorial Brink mentions the Intel Driver and Support assistant. I used for a while, not anymore.

I'm a firm believer that you update when you have issue.

I

bobkn · 21 Mar 2020

Caledon Ken said:

(snip)

I'm a firm believer that you update when you have issue.

I

Not me. I am of the "If it ain't broke, mess with it until it breaks, then fix it." school.

More seriously, I agree. Unless you are aware of bug fixes, feature updates, or performance enhancements, driver updates are a waste of time.

spacev2 · 21 Mar 2020

@Caledon Ken
Thankyou for the information.

@bobkn
Thanks for the info.

I also agree with the saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", however this thread was intended to try and gain more insight into several different things other than just that, some of them being:

(1) Why do motherboard manufacturers stop updating drivers on their support / download pages when the Intel newest driver versions state that it still supports the hardware ?

(2) Gaining more insight into "Intel Generic Drivers" vs "Intel Customized Drivers".

(3) Gaining more insight into "WHQL" Drivers vs "Universal" Drivers.

(4) Trying to clear up confusion about the differences between driver versions and file sizes, due to the lack of download descriptions provided on the ASUS website.

(5) Is it best to use drivers strictly provided from your motherboard manufacturer or use the Intel website.

etc.

At this point in time from the information gathered, I will probably use the newest driver versions from the Intel website and if I experience issues I will uninstall and use driver from the motherboard manufacturer website. If everything works I will leave it as is and will not worry about updating from then on.

Caledon Ken · 21 Mar 2020

1) Costs with low return. They have so much staff and they are dedicated to supporting their new models. They also hope you will buy again.

2) Customized drivers are more a thing of the past in my opinion. I don't think people are seeing a lot of this these days because if they do customize drivers then owners are going to demand support. Better to go stock driver. If you look through device manager you are going to see MS drivers from early 2000's.

Not sure if this is happening but I thought I read MS is going to get off this crazy idea of updating drivers every feature update. It was causing issue with old gear, especially around video.

3) That is a topic for Google. WHQL are approved so that says something.

4) That is an issue the industry has. Asus is pretty good compared to some, at least they have some description. I'm sure file sizes change depending on what they include in package (Folders, documentation, languages) when they compile exe.

5) When I clean installed in November I let Windows load the drivers. I then went with Asus Easy Update. As I said I was using Intel updater but decided I would see how Asus did. It just suggested an update this last week so Asus is still interested in our boards. Now I needed drivers for my Marvell expansion card and I got it from the install disk. Not the web.

The one thing I didn't like about Intel was that you were on the leading edge (bleeding edge). I don't install anything when it is first released, I let the brave crave out a wide trail. So being nagged that a new driver was ready was getting old.

You likely will have no issues using Intel's tool. These are quality boards and quality components.

I stay clear of all third party, except Intel, driver update tools. Driver this or booster that.

You should be quite happy with drivers on a clean install. Sure you have to check but thankfully our boards are not that old and the Windows library is quite complete.