What drivers should be regularly updated?

JimmyGizmo

JimmyGizmo

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So I just updated my graphics card drivers and I realized I don't really know what else I should be checking regularly; driver-wise, that is.

There seem to be some knowledgeable persons around here, so I ask you: what should I be keeping up to date?

Also, is firmware the same type of thing? Should I be updating that also?

Cheers,
Jim
 
Often none of them depending on your philosophy.

Video card drivers on a new major game release are a must and after that its often good to keep up on it to stop some problems cropping up. But some new drivers can ruin your day so if it ain't broke and you are really sure it ain't broke then maybe don't do it.

Bios updates can sometimes do a lot. But your taking a huge risk should the update fail. Just like any of the others, I like to keep an eye out on what issues I'm having and what the updates bring.

I think the most overlooked are the Intel storage drivers. If your using an Intel board or raid controller this driver is a huge performance gain or bust.
 
Yep, bios updates come down to stability and features. If you aren't having a stability (overclocking) and there isn't a new feature you care about (newer supported CPU for example) then usually I don't bother upgrading the bios on the motherboard. Other than that the only one I've checked firmware for is my SSD.
 
RainMotorsports said:
Often none of them depending on your philosophy.

Video card drivers on a new major game release are a must and after that its often good to keep up on it to stop some problems cropping up. But some new drivers can ruin your day so if it ain't broke and you are really sure it ain't broke then maybe don't do it.

Bios updates can sometimes do a lot. But your taking a huge risk should the update fail. Just like any of the others, I like to keep an eye out on what issues I'm having and what the updates bring.

I think the most overlooked are the Intel storage drivers. If your using an Intel board or raid controller this driver is a huge performance gain or bust.
Click to expand...

Ok so I've more or less been accidentally doing right. I'm using an i5 cpu ... tell me more about these storage drivers.

Thanks guys.
 
All of Intel's drivers can be checked and updated from some part of their site. The storage drivers have IRST in the name. The machine will actually function without them installed and is slower because of this. Chances are they were installed with the motherboards CD or whoever built the machine. But they are also likely out of date.
 
So why would updated drivers make things function slower?

I've never really been able to wrap my head around a lot of PC hardware subtleties. So how can I determine if I should update? Check current version and google it?
 
Having read a little about it (and still not understanding) I've decided I won't fuck with what I don't understand. Seems to be more important for people with SSDs? I dunno.

Many thanks.
 
Might be difficult for me to explain correctly. The entire point of the driver is to be a low level go between the operating system kernal and the proprietary hardware.

Even though most of the hardware communicates over a standard interface and some of it is designed to conform to some basic standards. All the performance happens on a proprietary level.

While nvidia and amds graphics chips are designed to work with common APIs such as directx or opengl. The actual hardware often has no relationship between companies. They can perform the same task with the same input and expected output, in very different ways.

When it comes down to it sometimes they screw up. But it can also be other things. In mobile phones we often see a different problem in firmware and driver blobs. Mobile chip makers are attempting to balance performance with power consumption. I can make a phone modem have improved reception in trade for battery life. But that's less of a topic for desktops, maybe a topic for laptop GPUs. At the same time I can accidently set that phone modem to unnecessary poll network status wakelocking the phone and causing enormous battery drain. A fuck up. Anyways sorry for the comparisons as I can only speak what I am familiar with.
 
Actually I can add to that a little bit. The entire purpose of a video or even say an audio driver is this. It takes the standard commands from an API like DirectX or DirectSound and converts it to instructions the proprietary hardware understands. Even though on a basic level the video card for example can still do 2D graphics without the driver.
 
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