Drivers

[nick_123]

Hi all. Bit of a newbie question here. I am under the impression that where possible, you should only install drivers via the windows update tool (except graphics driver which is via GeForce experience). The reason I ask is that armoury crate has just booted up and tells me there are updates for the following:

- AMD chipset driver
- Realtek audio driver
- Realtek LAN driver

Do I ignore this and just use windows or crack on? Thanks in advance.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi all. Bit of a newbie question here. I am under the impression that where possible, you should only install drivers via the windows update tool (except graphics driver which is via GeForce experience). The reason I ask is that armoury crate has just booted up and tells me there are updates for the following:

- AMD chipset driver
- Realtek audio driver
- Realtek LAN driver

Do I ignore this and just use windows or crack on? Thanks in advance.

As it’s dedicated software for the motherboard I would allow it to update them.

 

[nick_123]

Great, thanks for the quick response. I had read (on the internet, so a big handful of salt taken) that armoury crate is crap so didn't want to do anything before checking.

 

[ubuysa]

In general you don't want to (or need to) update drivers unless you're having problems or the updated driver contains features that you need. An example of the latter is graphics drivers that quite often contain updated features for specific games.

I would investigate what's new in the updated drivers and decide whether I needed that functionality.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Great, thanks for the quick response. I had read (on the internet, so a big handful of salt taken) that armoury crate is crap so didn't want to do anything before checking.

Oh, if armour crate has a bad rep then I’d avoid it, sorry.

 

[nick_123]

Thanks both. I don't think AC is 'bad' just buggy, from what i've read.

 

[ubuysa]

If you look at the software problems most people have, the overwhelming majority are driver related. In part that's because drivers install as kernel code, which severely limits the problem recovery that's available, and why you get BSODs. It's also because new code is inherently less well tested than older code. As a general rule you want to avoid introducing less well tested code into your kernel unless there is a good reason to do so.

 

[nick_123]

Yes, I seem to now remember one of you giving the ‘if it ain’t broke’ advice before so I shall stick to that mantra from now on. Thank you.

@Nursemorph has gently segued on to my next question. What software do you guys use for fan control? I’ve got the X570 and neither armoury crate or AI suite fill me with hope. Is there anything better?

 

[nick_123]

Well, I can't really comment as I use AI Suite But then for me all I need is silent for when I want quieter and Turbo when I am gaming.

I may just go with aI suite then. To be honest, I’ve thrown the PC various tasks over the last fortnight - editing, gaming and general purpose - and it seems to be managing temps well. Perhaps it doesn’t need my cack handed intervention.