Motherboard Drivers: Multiple Drivers Listed, but what to install?

[ecliptic5]

Hello,

I’m planning on building a PC in the next couple of days, but I wanted to research everything first. After doing all the research regarding parts, I now am onto the software tenet of my build. I am aware that you need to download drivers for everything to communicate and work properly, and I know where to find the drivers for my motherboard.

Currently I am planning on getting the MSI - Z370 SLI PLUS motherboard. I’ve gone to its respective website, gone to support, and have loooked at all the drivers that there is to install. I know I will need the Chipset, Audio Drivers, and LAN Driver (I am getting a graphics card, so no need for a VGA driver). Do I need the PIDE/SATA Drivers? I do not plan on using a RAID configuration.

Second, for each driver type, there are a bunch of different installation prompts. If you go to the website, you will see that each driver has multiple download. Which versions should I get, looking at the audio drivers there are two different downloads, and for the PIDE/SATA drivers there are many different downloads...?

 

[SchizTech]

What I'm seeing is that there are updates to certain drivers. For example, the IRST starts at 16.5.1.1030 and then they posted newer revisions. In this instance grab the most recent update (that with the most recent date alongside it, which should have the highest revision number).

Also make sure the Management engine driver under "other" gets in. The IRST is an optional download particularly when not doing RAID. It may marginally improve HDD performance but not to a noticeable degree.

In truth if installing Windows 10 that OS is very aggressive about automatically downloading the latest drivers from the MS update store when it gets online the first time, so you may not even need to get that far. Of course I'd check the device manager either way.

 

[ecliptic5]

What I'm seeing is that there are updates to certain drivers. For example, the IRST starts at 16.5.1.1030 and then they posted newer revisions. In this instance grab the most recent update (that with the most recent date alongside it, which should have the highest revision number).

Also make sure the Management engine driver under "other" gets in. The IRST is an optional download particularly when not doing RAID. It may marginally improve HDD performance but not to a noticeable degree.

In truth if installing Windows 10 that OS is very aggressive about automatically downloading the latest drivers from the MS update store when it gets online the first time, so you may not even need to get that far. Of course I'd check the device manager either way.

Thanks for the reply! So you think I’d be good installing each driver with the most recent date? I’ll be going through and not downloading duplicates, I’ll be looking for drivers that I haven’t installed (meaning I won’t download all 4 of the same drivers under the PIDE/SATA) and downloading the most up-to-date ones when there are duplicates.

 

[SchizTech]

Right, except in particular circumstances grabbing the most recent/ highest version number of a program or whatever kind directly is the optimal route. The exceptions are special cases in which a program must be installed then upgraded, whether because updates are distributed only as patches or another technical reason. In most cases if you go to a site to grab a common program you'll automatically get the latest version. Driver sites usually retain the record of older versions for reasons of backward compatibility, the possibility of bugs/regressions or other reasons which might require a user not to use the most recent version but unless and until there are problems with the updated version, just stick with that.