What motherboard hardware driver's should I install?

Indigo04 · February 18

Hey Guys,

I'm currently watching this LTT video in preparation for building my new PC next week. At 15:44 he mentions downloading your motherboards hardware drivers. I've had a look at the list of drivers for my motherboard and it seems like there is a lot of bloatware. So I'm wondering what drivers I should install from the list to ensure everything functions correctly but without downloading any excess bloatware.

The LTT Video (timestamp 15:44):

List of drivers for my motherboard (ASRock x870 Pro RS Wifi): https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X870 Pro RS WiFi/index.asp#Download

Thanks in advanced!

SorryBella · February 18

3 minutes ago, Indigo04 said:

I'm currently watching this LTT video in preparation for building my new PC next week. At 15:44 he mentions downloading your motherboards hardware drivers. I've had a look at the list of drivers for my motherboard and it seems like there is a lot of bloatware. So I'm wondering what drivers I should install from the list to ensure everything functions correctly but without downloading any excess bloatware.

The essentials you need to install manually is 3, chipset driver, GPU, and networking. Everything else you most likely wont see issues with if you let windows update handle it. Only manually install the others if you have issues with your particular scenario.

AMD Chipset Driver

AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition or GeForce Game Ready Driver 572.42

Realtek PCIe FE / GBE / 2.5G / 5G Ethernet Family Controller Software

Supersonicwolfe · February 18

Here you go.

And if you don't mind update drivers manually, you can also skip Motherboard Utility and Appshop (I would start with Motherboard Utility and see if that already able to let you check drivers automatically.)

Also you don't need Polychrome RGB if SignalRGB can control the lights, if SignalRGB can't see your motherboard RGB or it's header then you might still need to install Polychrome. Usually you pick between one of these.

Dragon Utility is for manage 2.5G wired network traffic so if you are wireless or don't want customize your network priority, then skip that too.

nahimic is your audio setting that can be helpful if you are using 3.5mm jack headphones.

Indigo04 · February 21

On 2/18/2025 at 3:51 PM, SorryBella said:

The essentials you need to install manually is 3, chipset driver, GPU, and networking. Everything else you most likely wont see issues with if you let windows update handle it. Only manually install the others if you have issues with your particular scenario.

AMD Chipset Driver

AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition or GeForce Game Ready Driver 572.42

Realtek PCIe FE / GBE / 2.5G / 5G Ethernet Family Controller Software

On 2/18/2025 at 3:54 PM, Supersonicwolfe said:

Here you go.

And if you don't mind update drivers manually, you can also skip Motherboard Utility and Appshop (I would start with Motherboard Utility and see if that already able to let you check drivers automatically.)

Also you don't need Polychrome RGB if SignalRGB can control the lights, if SignalRGB can't see your motherboard RGB or it's header then you might still need to install Polychrome. Usually you pick between one of these.

Dragon Utility is for manage 2.5G wired network traffic so if you are wireless or don't want customize your network priority, then skip that too.

nahimic is your audio setting that can be helpful if you are using 3.5mm jack headphones.

Thanks for the advice guys. Just another question.
I was looking through some more documentation and in this document for all AMD 800 series motherboards it mentions that some drivers are pre-installed and that it also has a pre-installed Auto Driver Installer. Would you recommend just using the Auto Driver Installer or should I just manually install all the drivers?

The info is on Page 6 https://download.asrock.com/Manual/Software/AMD X870/Software_BIOS Setup Guide_English.pdf

Thanks again!

Supersonicwolfe · February 21

On 2/21/2025 at 11:08 AM, Indigo04 said:

Thanks for the advice guys. Just another question.
I was looking through some more documentation and in this document for all AMD 800 series motherboards it mentions that some drivers are pre-installed and that it also has a pre-installed Auto Driver Installer. Would you recommend just using the Auto Driver Installer or should I just manually install all the drivers?

The info is on Page 6 https://download.asrock.com/Manual/Software/AMD X870/Software_BIOS Setup Guide_English.pdf

Yes, if you don't want to brother update/install drivers manually

Matter of fact you can try install that first.

*But do keep in mind that after a few years the updates will be discontinued. If you still experienckng issues. You can still rely on Windows Update or go to hardware maker's site (e.g. AMD for CPU/Chipset, Realtek for Lan etc.) and look for driver update there.

(Like I mentioned, I don't have experience with ASRock motherboard, so not sure if driver update is part of "motherboard utility" or "App shop". I would try the aforementioned motherboard utility first.)

Also, there is some argument on how often should you update your drivers. I update drivers after they come out a month or so just to make sure they are stable (if they are not, they are often pulled from the sites), some enterprise level wait 3 month.

But things like Graphics Cards' driver often include performance optimization on latest games... So yeah it's your decision to make.