Question - should I install the MB manufacturers drivers or not?


  1. Posts : 165
    Win 10 preview 10074
       #1

    Question - should I install the MB manufacturers drivers or not?


    Whenever I reinstalled the OS, or installed the OS for the first time on one of home/custom-built machines, I always installed all of the drivers from the MB manufacturers' site before the first Windows Update ran.

    The machine I working on now is built on a Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 motherboard. Should I install Gigabyte's drivers first (such as the Intel INF, MEI, and RST, Realtek's LAN/Sound, VGA, and the Etron USB3.0 drivers) then let Win10 overwrite them if it wants to on the first Windows10 update?

    One consideration is that Gigabyte doesn't have any drivers for (Win10). Win8.1 drivers the latest.

    Also note that I already did a clean install to this system with Win10 10074 (without any Gigabyte drivers) and it looks fine, except there are some "devices" listed such as "coprocessor" and "multimedia" that did not install.

    The next clean install in this machine will be when Win10 RTM is released, and I want to do it correctly.

    Thanks
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 22,740
    Windows 10 Home x64
       #2

    I'm getting a Gigabyte motherboard: GA-F2A78M-D3H: in June and I plan on using the drivers from Gigabyte when I get it installed. The drivers for Win8.1 should work fine for Win10, IMO,

    HTH
    Jeff
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 83
    windows 7
       #3

    I have a Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming7 motherboard and I 've used the driver disk for each build of 10 after clean installs with no problems. Everything works.
    Jim
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 3,502
    Win_8.1-Pro, Win_10.1607-Pro, Mint_17.3
       #4

    Rule of thumb ... let Windows install the drivers it thinks are best, then backfill any missing drivers from the OEM.

    It seems as though you already are doing it correctly.

    The Win8.1 drivers are fine. Most OEMs won't release Win10 drivers until later.
    I suspect that most of these Win10 drivers will be the same as Win8.1 drivers, just relabeled for Win10.

    In other words - the Win8.1 drivers should be fine, but only get the ones that Windows does NOT provide.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 27,166
    Win11 Pro, Win10 Pro N, Win10 Home, Windows 8.1 Pro, Ubuntu
       #5

    Slartybart said:
    Rule of thumb ... let Windows install the drivers it thinks are best, then backfill any missing drivers from the OEM.

    It seems as though you already are doing it correctly.

    The Win8.1 drivers are fine. Most OEMs won't release Win10 drivers until later.
    I suspect that most of these Win10 drivers will be the same as Win8.1 drivers, just relabeled for Win10.

    In other words - the Win8.1 drivers should be fine, but only get the ones that Windows does NOT provide.
    Bill's dead on, about this. On my laptop, after numerous upgrade/clean installs, I have found it prudent to let Windows install the drivers first, then I only have to install the OEM graphics(in my case integrated) and Realtek. Being my laptop is originally Win7, I had to get the Win8 drivers from the ASUS site. Any other drivers that were installed after would cause BSOD's.
    I hope this might be of some help deciding.

    One more thing if you're a real geek, do like me and experiment with installs until you find the right mix for your system.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 15,027
    Windows 10 IoT
       #6

    Lately I've just been going with what Windows installs by default, unless something doesn't work. On my laptop all I install from ASUS is the smart gesture utility for my touch pad. Without it I have no scroll etc. On my desktop PC about all that doesn't work is my onboard VIA sound. Windows doesn't detect it at all, not even as an unknown device. I have no choice but to hunt up drivers for it. The Asus ones are way out of date so I had to go to VIA. My only exception is graphics drivers on my desktop PC. I game on it so I usually update the drivers when NVidia releases new ones. If you have a laptop, you may find that you have video and sound etc, but some of your function keys don't work. Volume up down, screen brightness, WIFI in off. That's when you'll need the custom driver from the laptop manufacturer to get everything working correctly. I think that's more of an issue on older models than new ones.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1,625
    W7 Pro x64 | W10 IP x64 | Linux Mint VM
       #7

    I've installed one driver on Build 10122, my GPU driver and that's only because Windows didn't install it.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,481
    W10 22H2 19045.3031
       #8

    Reading my Gigabyte users manual, GA-78lmt, "After installing the OS, insert the MB driver disk into your optical drive.....After inserting the driver disk, "Xpress Install" will automatically scan your system and then list all the drivers that are recommended to install" There is a choice of install single items or all items. Similar instructions should be in your users manual?
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 7,254
    Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
       #9

    The only drivers I've installed are Intel's Chipset inf file, Nvidia drivers and Creative's drivers.
      My Computers


 

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