New PC Build Software Drivers

cloudy on 20/09/2016 - 15:05

Hey guys,

firstly thanks to everyone who has contributed to my PC build, heaps of peeps gave me great advice and I got it built this weekend.

My question now is, how do I know what software drivers I currently have (if I indeed have it)and if it's up to date.
So when I was preparing for my build, I heard a lot of advise not to bother with the CDs that come with my mobo and my GPU, and just to download it from the manufacturers website. But now I've built my PC, I go to the website its all a bit much. But my PC seems to be working, but I've never shoved a CD in my PC for drivers (mostly coz I went without a CD/DVD drive coz I thought i'd never use it now days.)

So how do I check my current mobo drivers? and presumably if they don't match the ones from the ASUS website Ill need an update.?

Computing

Comments

  • ozhunter on 20/09/2016 - 15:15
    +2

    Don't really need to update them if everything works, Windows does it automatically(not always the latest update).

    The one I would download would be the graphics card one.

    For the Asus R9 380, you can just use the auto-detect option http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

  • apple2016 on 20/09/2016 - 15:49

    I would only down load drivers if there is an issue with windows built in drivers.

  • scrimshaw on 20/09/2016 - 16:20

    Graphics card drivers are the most important and they can be set to automatically download through Windows Update (not recommend, because it may not install correctly all the time).

    Hence, it's best to install it yourself rather than letting Windows do a botched or incomplete install.

    Normally, you can just install the drivers by googling for Nvidia or Radeon drivers and then just hitting the first link you see. Beware of fake sites and only grab drivers from the real site.

    Do not use 3rd party driver updating utilities either!

    I recommend visiting and reading this
    http://www.howtogeek.com/233115/the-only-way-to-safely-updat…

    • cloudy on 21/09/2016 - 09:30

      Thanks scrimshaw for the link.

      I'll just leave it to windows 10 then.

  • dlf73 on 20/09/2016 - 17:59

    Have you gone into device manager to check if all devices have drivers loaded, I.e. no yellow icons for warnings?
    You can manually update any device driver there too by right clicking on them, this will also tell you what version of driver you have(asking to check for updates may suggest if you have latest or not)
    Also I take it you have the part numbers/models of all devices you installed, so should be not too much issues getting drivers directly from their websites I would think.

    • cloudy on 21/09/2016 - 09:20

      Ya I went into device manager and tried looking around, I wasn't exactly sure where the motherboard was listed though, but there was no yellow icons I could tell.
      I did notice the manual click to search and update drivers button (I wasn't sure if i should trust windows to know where to look).

      • dlf73 on 21/09/2016 - 15:55

        The mb itself(and relevant chipset drivers you may have to download direct form their website).
        As far as the manual search and update, I am not sure if windows checks the vendors website, but I have never ever had an issue. Granted occasionally driver updates have issues, but at least you have an option to revert back to previous driver shouodl this occur in the same right click section!
        I personally would do it every so often, as the whole point of driver updates is to be better than the previous version, be it faster, more reliable, new features or compatibility wise.

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