Which Motherboard Drivers Are Worth Updating?

[KronicRageQuitr]

So which mother board drivers are important to update?
Which ones are pointless?

Here's a list of the available updates for my mobo

My motherboard is an ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0
heres a link to the downloads:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M5A97_LE_R20/HelpDesk_Download/

 

[Morbus]

None. If everything works correctly, don't upgrade. You'll likely cause only problems.

 

[JManInPhoenix]

None. If everything works correctly, don't upgrade. You'll likely cause only problems.

Pretty much my rule too. Unless something is a security patch, I generally don't update anything unless I am having issues.

 

[vailr]

which mother board drivers are important to update?
Which ones are pointless?

Bios updates can be worthwhile for: improved HD controller firmware, better memory compatibility, CPU microcode updates, etc.
All bios updates and driver updates have some kind of benefit: otherwise, they wouldn't have been produced.
I'd recommend using one of the free driver updater programs such as the free version of DriverMax for monitoring driver updates:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/drivermax.html
Other similar options:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/driver_updaters.html
The best place for actually obtaining (locating and downloading) the latest driver versions is:
http://www.station-drivers.com/
Manufacturer's official motherboard support sites are usually outdated.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Funny, I have to agree with both Morbus and Vailr.

"Don't fix it if it ain't broke."

and

"There may be better performance or stability in new BIOS revisions."

The drivers for SATA, Audio, Chipset and LAN should be updated with newer versions without question -- IF -- IF! -- you are troubleshooting some sort of instability or functionality problem.

BIOS update would be imperative if the update addresses a problem which you also experience. the down-side of that: You need to write down or take screenshots of your "overclock" profiles in case you need to re-create them. Of course you're going to update your BIOS by reverting the system to stock settings. It is also likely that you would lose those over-clock profiles if you created them, so you would want to take the screenshots or notes.

It is also possible - for instance, with the 1155-socket motherboards -- that either the later chipsets (z77 versus z68) or later BIOS revisions are "optimized" for the later generation processors (Ivy-Bridge, in that case). There may be reason therefore to be a bit reticent about updating the BIOS to the latest version, while an intermediate version might be your best bet.

As to the "updater" programs. I'm just sort of "old school:" If I don't need third party "intervention" software, I won't use it. I see a lot of these "Download Drivers" web-sites, and I'd rather get my drivers from the motherboard maker. But this is why we have these forums: Some brave soul my hang his A** over the edge of the envelope and do something with no adverse consequences, and those of us more timid folks may want to hear about it.

 

[Ketchup]

The only thing out of that list I wouldn't update are RAID drivers and some on the Utilities.

 

[inf1nity]

If you're reinstalling windows, get the latest drivers for your chipset, and install them the first thing after your Windows Install.

As far as BIOS is concerned, i have no experience with updating BIOS, so no help there.

 

[BadThad]

Funny, I have to agree with both Morbus and Vailr.

"Don't fix it if it ain't broke."

and

"There may be better performance or stability in new BIOS revisions."

The drivers for SATA, Audio, Chipset and LAN should be updated with newer versions without question -- IF -- IF! -- you are troubleshooting some sort of instability or functionality problem.

BIOS update would be imperative if the update addresses a problem which you also experience. the down-side of that: You need to write down or take screenshots of your "overclock" profiles in case you need to re-create them. Of course you're going to update your BIOS by reverting the system to stock settings. It is also likely that you would lose those over-clock profiles if you created them, so you would want to take the screenshots or notes.

It is also possible - for instance, with the 1155-socket motherboards -- that either the later chipsets (z77 versus z68) or later BIOS revisions are "optimized" for the later generation processors (Ivy-Bridge, in that case). There may be reason therefore to be a bit reticent about updating the BIOS to the latest version, while an intermediate version might be your best bet.

As to the "updater" programs. I'm just sort of "old school:" If I don't need third party "intervention" software, I won't use it. I see a lot of these "Download Drivers" web-sites, and I'd rather get my drivers from the motherboard maker. But this is why we have these forums: Some brave soul my hang his A** over the edge of the envelope and do something with no adverse consequences, and those of us more timid folks may want to hear about it.

Agree 100%!

Stay far away from "updater" type programs, most of them are nothing more than malware. Drivers shouldn't be updated anyway unless you're having a specific problem. Also, drivers should ONLY be downloaded from the hardware mfg, never from third-party websites.

Never update a BIOS unless you're having a problem too.