To install, or not to install the Motherboard Drivers

[RPatrick6]

I have heard different things in the past about installing Chipset or other drivers that are provided with motherboards. Some say don't bother, the instructions say to do it.

I am installing an ASUS A7N8X-X and will be using Windows 2000. Should I install the included nForce driver, USB 2.0 driver, or the E-Color 3 Deep driver ?

Comments appreciated.

 

[Polishwonder74]

I built a system with that board in it recently. I grabbed the latest NForce2 drivers from the Asus website. If you want her to run as fast as possible you should do that too.

I'm also running an A7N8X-Deluxe in my main rig, and I keep my NForce drivers up to date. I really can't think of a good reason to not use the mobo drivers.

The only bad thing I can think of is that I can't install my RAID drivers now that I'm booting from SATA because it causes me to not be able to boot, so I have to leave the little yellow question mark in the device manager. (Article here), but nobody seems to be jumping on it to help me out.

 

[LiLithTecH]

RPatrick6:

Its always a good idea to install the motherboard drivers on a new install
(especially if you board has come out after the OS you are using).

There is really no need to keep updating the drivers unless you are having a
specific problem that the current drivers addresses.


Polishwonder74:

If you are not going to be using the RAID as you have stated in
the other thread(s), why do you feeel the need to install the drivers?

If you do not setup an array, there is no reason for the drivers.
All that is required is the SATA driver.

 

[Polishwonder74]

Oh sweet! Then I won't even worry about the RAID drivers. I just thought that data transfer might not be optimized if anything was going through that chip since it had no real drivers installed.

Thanks!

 

[cheapherk]

The only driver you might not want to install is the nvidia IDE driver. One of my CD burning programs do not recognize my CD-Writer or DVD-writer with this driver installed. You won't notice any performance difference if you don't install it. It will specifically ask if you want to install the nvidia IDE drivers. The choice is yours.

 

[Ryoga]

You should always install and update your chipset drivers. The ones that come with Windows are intended as "bootstrap" drivers. Their claim to fame is that they work... probably. The default drivers can cause blue screen errors if the OS is older than the chipset (which is fairly common on a new install).

The chipset is the most important component of the system. Everything that goes in the the system is managed by or transported through the chipset in some way. The CPU might be the biggest factor in performance, but the chipset is the biggest factor in stability and reliability.