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Do CPU Chipset Drivers need to be reinstalled after a clean Windows install?

Flipviduani
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Go to solution Solved by mariushm,

Windows may install WHQL versions of the drivers but those can be outdated by several months, and in some cases miss some features that improve performance.

So installing the latest version of the chipset drivers (from AMD or Intel site, not the motherboard maker's website, because the motherboard maker may be lazy and not update the downloads page to put the latest chipset drivers as AMD or Intel releases them) makes sense.

 

One observation Avoid "alpha" versions or "experimental" versions for drivers unless the description says it update may fix some problems similar to yours - often such versions exist for video cards to provide temporary or fairly untested fixes for newly released games, but can break or give you lower performance in other games or applications.

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I know this may sound like a stupid question but my current build is still an 8-year old 4790K so I haven't been personally up to the way driver installation has been going on. I've bought a R9 7950X3D and I've seen that one of the most important things it needs is the newest Chipset Drivers so that it works as intended. What I'm going to do after I build my new system with it is to install all drivers and utilities that come along with the CPU and Motherboard so I can test every feature it has to be sure that both CPU and MOBO are working as they should. After making sure everything is good to go, I'll reformat my PC and only install what is really necessary, making sure no annoying bloatware is present. After installing everything I want back, Do I need to reinstall those Chipset Drivers and other Drivers that are CPU/MOBO specific or they'll be in like firmware updates? Also is it still better to install the drivers from the MOBO website or should I just let Windows do its thing and it'll get the latest drivers I need?

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8 minutes ago, Flipviduani said:

Do I need to reinstall those Chipset Drivers and other Drivers that are CPU/MOBO specific

Yes.

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Windows may install WHQL versions of the drivers but those can be outdated by several months, and in some cases miss some features that improve performance.

So installing the latest version of the chipset drivers (from AMD or Intel site, not the motherboard maker's website, because the motherboard maker may be lazy and not update the downloads page to put the latest chipset drivers as AMD or Intel releases them) makes sense.

 

One observation Avoid "alpha" versions or "experimental" versions for drivers unless the description says it update may fix some problems similar to yours - often such versions exist for video cards to provide temporary or fairly untested fixes for newly released games, but can break or give you lower performance in other games or applications.

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1 hour ago, Flipviduani said:

 After installing everything I want back, Do I need to reinstall those Chipset Drivers and other Drivers that are CPU/MOBO specific or they'll be in like firmware updates? Also is it still better to install the drivers from the MOBO website or should I just let Windows do its thing and it'll get the latest drivers I need?

Always install the chipset driver if you are installing an OS on a CPU that came out after the OS. You should always install it anyways, but there are very specific reasons why it matters.

 

The "chipset" drivers are often four things:

- Southbridge connected hardware drivers (eg Audio drivers, Network drivers, iGPU drivers, USB Ports)

- Power management drivers

- SATA/RAID and PCIe SSD drivers

- Specialized I2S/GPIO connected hardware (eg thermal diodes and such)

 

Sometimes the RAID/PCIe NVMe drivers are a separate package. Audio and Network drivers are sometimes separate packages and the OS will only ever install the basic version of these drivers, so you are missing control panels for them. iGPU drivers are often a stand-alone package.

 

Sometimes, even Intel driver packages are incomplete. For example 11th gen Intel CPU's have a "GNA" device that the drivers are missing from the chipset driver package. Does anything use the GNA device? Probably not, but when you have a device with no driver installed, it interferes with the power management of the entire computer.

 

And that is the reason why you always want the chipset drivers installed, because even if the computer looks likes it's working, there's a good chance that you are leaving performance on the table and letting the BIOS control the power management default state.

 

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13 hours ago, mariushm said:

Windows may install WHQL versions of the drivers but those can be outdated by several months, and in some cases miss some features that improve performance.

So installing the latest version of the chipset drivers (from AMD or Intel site, not the motherboard maker's website, because the motherboard maker may be lazy and not update the downloads page to put the latest chipset drivers as AMD or Intel releases them) makes sense.

 

One observation Avoid "alpha" versions or "experimental" versions for drivers unless the description says it update may fix some problems similar to yours - often such versions exist for video cards to provide temporary or fairly untested fixes for newly released games, but can break or give you lower performance in other games or applications.

Alright, thanks!

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13 hours ago, Kisai said:

Always install the chipset driver if you are installing an OS on a CPU that came out after the OS. You should always install it anyways, but there are very specific reasons why it matters.

 

The "chipset" drivers are often four things:

- Southbridge connected hardware drivers (eg Audio drivers, Network drivers, iGPU drivers, USB Ports)

- Power management drivers

- SATA/RAID and PCIe SSD drivers

- Specialized I2S/GPIO connected hardware (eg thermal diodes and such)

 

Sometimes the RAID/PCIe NVMe drivers are a separate package. Audio and Network drivers are sometimes separate packages and the OS will only ever install the basic version of these drivers, so you are missing control panels for them. iGPU drivers are often a stand-alone package.

 

Sometimes, even Intel driver packages are incomplete. For example 11th gen Intel CPU's have a "GNA" device that the drivers are missing from the chipset driver package. Does anything use the GNA device? Probably not, but when you have a device with no driver installed, it interferes with the power management of the entire computer.

 

And that is the reason why you always want the chipset drivers installed, because even if the computer looks likes it's working, there's a good chance that you are leaving performance on the table and letting the BIOS control the power management default state.

 

I see. Thanks!

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