How important are all drivers?

[Tony Williams]

Hi guys, I am due to format to my ssd drive soon and get Windows 8.1 on there, my queestion is I have a Asus Crosshair IV Formula (summit like that). I will confirm real model and I am updating BIOS as it's 2012 or summit heh but in Windows do I need to install ALL drivers? like chipset,audio,lan and usb? or is it only if I get an error in device manger?

Would Windows find slimier drivers or are they different?

Well it'sCROSSHAIR V FORMULA-Z and I doubt I have previousloy installed drivers deffo no audio - theres features like Fast Boot? a switch on the board and on in 2 seconds? never had that, better get looking

 

[mrk]

I wouldn't want slimy drivers on my system.

Anyway, yes, install manufacturer drivers for chipset, LAN, video and audio as Windows Update may not always have the latest or best driver. Pretty self explanatory though really.

 

[El_Watcher]

It all depends.

Chipset - Yes. Windows built-in drivers might get it running, but latest manufacturer's driver will be more optimised and improve functions like SATA speed. Plus Windows won't always have drivers for all parts of the chipset.

Audio - Depends if you want to use the onboard sound. If yes, then get the latest for same reason as above. If no, then it will be disabled anyway, so won't install anything.

LAN - Windows drivers should be OK, but the manufacturer's latest may add extra software good for monitoring connection speeds and diagnosing issues.

USB - Only the latest USB3 chips should require extra drivers.

 

[Elevon]

I normally get latest drivers from the manufacturers,for example even Asus drivers may be older then Intels(for my Asus Intel chipset based motherboard) so I check intels site to see if there are newer drivers(normally are).



Win8/8.1 has native USB 3 support but I normally still get latest drivers for my USB 3.0 chipset(Asmedia in my case).
Lan and chipset I get from Intel(since my Lan and chipset is Intel based) are normally updated quicker then from Asus.

They do have a good autocheck program over at Intel's website as well.
Soundcard wise is simple for me I disabled my onboard sound since I don't use it so didn't bother installing those,only installed drivers for my Asus Xonar PCI-E sound card via Asus website.

Nvidia drivers I get from Nvidia for my video card.

Last I always check in Device Manager to see if any issues are listed(normally no issues).

 

[bledd]

lan
chipset
graphics
audio

That's the order I do mine in.

If a driver asks for a reboot, I always do it right away. Last thing you want is two drivers messing each other up during boot by removing temp files that the other is about to use etc.

I tend to go to the chip creator for each device, not the product manufacturer. IE, intel for chipset drivers, not the gigabyte website.

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Since you're installing to an SSD, set your SATA ports to 'AHCI' mode in the bios, on most modern boards it's automatically set to that, maybe not on older boards. You get better performance and the full SSD features.