2017 Hardware Thread [2]

Well. I took the time this morning and cleaned up all my old drivers from my Z170 system from my disk finally.
Had to set device manager to see them.

Yeah I know "There is no need to do it , they're not turned on or hurting anything, and BLA BLA BLA!"
But my system cleanliness OCD is a demanding woman(starts with "B")

Any how for all the faded looking icons, I always checked properties to see if the device for the driver was "connected", and if not uninstalled it.

Nice thing about windows is, you could even uninstall your chipset drivers, and Windows will run well until you reboot, as it cannot nuke the driver if it's still in use, then you might need to reimage 'cause you're screwed.
Before rebooting, if you uninstall a questionable drive you are not sure about, go to Windows update and check if it has 1. already re-downloaded the driver, or 2. check for updates, and see if one wants to install, to be on the safe side.

Anyhow, it too a looooong time to do, especially the USB controllers, with all the old stuff from the Z170 system, and the old HID devices, and lastly a whole slew of Storage Volumes

The safest way to start is set View to "Devices by connection" first. That way you know what some of the more cryptic sounding drivers are actually for, and are connected too.
Oh and it still had the processor drivers for the 6700K there along with the ones for my 8700K

You're right, a clean Device Manager is half the health. You never know when some new driver or update would mistaken remnants of old drivers for real.

CountMike said:

You're right, a clean Device Manager is half the health. You never know when some new driver or update would mistaken remnants of old drivers for real.

Yep, but still one needs to be careful.
Some of the hidden unconnected drivers are for things you might have turned off or not plugged in, like external USB drives, but they will probably reinstall as soon as the object is plugged back in.
But I had a lot of drivers for the Z170 system, and others that were installed from MSI's driver BIOS and software updater, like their IPhone fast charger for USB 3. Or there was still the old ASMedia USB 3.1 drivers along with my current ones for the Z370.

Cliff S said:

Yep, but still one needs to be careful.
Some of the hidden unconnected drivers are for things you might have turned off or not plugged in, like external USB drives, but they will probably reinstall as soon as the object is plugged back in.
But I had a lot of drivers for the Z170 system, and others that were installed from MSI's driver BIOS and software updater, like their IPhone fast charger for USB 3. Or there was still the old ASMedia USB 3.1 drivers along with my current ones for the Z370.

When I start putting my new rig all together, it will be a Clean Windows install for me, I always do a clean install on a new build. :) Got my Intel 8700k chip already. Delidded ....

OldMike65 said:

When I start putting my new rig all together, it will be a Clean Windows install for me, I always do a clean install on a new build. :) Got my Intel 8700k chip already. Delidded ....

I just had too many licenses, and too much software to deal with
But after all my years geeking out with Windows, I'm pretty proficient and fast at cleaning the system out manually:)
I mean, I learned by Trial & Error, and many, many, many... times reimaging

I'm glad you got your chip already, is it also binned to any specific speed(in optimal conditions of course)?

Cliff S said:

I just had too many licenses, and too much software to deal with
But after all my years geeking out with Windows, I'm pretty proficient and fast at cleaning the system out manually:)
I mean, I learned by Trial & Error, and many, many, many... times reimaging

I'm glad you got your chip already, is it also binned to any specific speed(in optimal conditions of course)?

Sorry for the late reply Cliff ....yes it is. :)

OldMike65 said:

Sorry for the late reply Cliff ....yes it is. :)

Yeah Baby!
I am so happy for you Mike

Nice, congrats Mike

Thanks Cliff & Doug, will still be a while till I get this rig finished. Taking my time. Just wanted to get this chip early, cause they run out of them at times.