Updating Drivers and All that Fun Stuff

Snagged · Feb 16, 2015

First time for me to be starting up a completely new system. I don't want to pick up any viruses or anything and want to make sure I'm doing it right. So what are the different drivers I need to install for the computer and where do I get them from? What are all the things I need to update?

Do I need to run the mother board CD that came with it in my computer or skip that process and just update the BIOS on the home site?

My build:
CPU: Intel Haswell i7 4790k*
PSU: EVGA G2 750w
Ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568 Ripjaws X G. Skill
GPU: MSi GTX970 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832&cm_re=GPU-_-14-127-832-_-Product
MOBO http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813132118 ASUS (Z97 A)* ***
SSD: Samsung 850 250GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147372
Optical drive: Basic Samsung http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151266&cm_re=samsung_dvd_drive-_-27-151-266-_-Product
Western Digital: Blue http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339
Windows 8.1: $99.99
Heat sink: Cooler Master Evo $34.99

mas7873 · Feb 16, 2015

I'd update windows first, to ensure you have the latest security measures. Then update your CPU/Motherboard/GPU drivers. All these drivers should be found at the manufacturer's website. I'd recommend getting the motherboard drivers from the manufacturer's website rather than the CD as the CD drivers are probably out of date.

Snagged · Feb 16, 2015

Gotcha. How does one go about updating windows that you just loaded? I'm very new at this and I'm still sitting here in disbelief that I put a computer together properly and the thing didn't blow up. lol

The only thing I really ever updated in the past were GPU drivers. I have not clue about updating the CPU and MOBO.

Yes, I am aware of how bad I am at this. ha

tiny voices · Feb 16, 2015

Windows will update itself once the internet is connected.

CPU doesn't have drivers.

Get the motherboard drivers from the website. They will be more recent than the CD.

Snagged · Feb 16, 2015

And what are some good programs to dl that keeps track of temps of the comp and what not. I recall "95" something being a good program for this.

tiny voices · Feb 16, 2015

Prime95 is a stress test, not a temp monitor.

Download MSI Afterburner for the GPU and HWMonitor for everything else

Snagged · Feb 17, 2015

tiny voices :

Oh I see. Where are good sites to download those from?

I having a bit of a problem with downloading the drivers for the MOBO. Downloading the drivers for the GPU was much easier.

tiny voices · Feb 17, 2015

http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z97A/HelpDesk_Download/

Easy.

Snagged · Feb 17, 2015

tiny voices :

Yeah, that was where I went exactly and it kept giving me the run around when I hit global and didn't know which, out of the 11 options to choose from to pick and didn't know which "global" to choose from.

mas7873 · Feb 17, 2015

When you go to the download page, look in the "BIOS" options. You will find the latest version at the top, and clicking global will download it (I just tested it). Here's a screenshot of what you should be looking for:
http://gyazo.com/1528e40ce24c03d4be4a8b7866e7fdde

tiny voices · Feb 17, 2015

I would not mess with the BIOS. Do not update it.

Just do the other stuff like internet/chipset/audio drivers.

AMDThunder · Feb 17, 2015

Just an FYI, but Win 8.1 had all the updated drivers I needed for my new rig. Only driver I had to install was for the GPU. Just out of habit I went to install drivers from the mobo CD. Everything installed was already a higher version.

tiny voices · Feb 17, 2015

Windows finds SOME drivers, but not all of them usually. It did not find me the chipset driver for my current board and I had all kinds of issues until I found it. It also installed a generic audio driver, not my specific one. You should always go to the motherboard website and make sure you get the most recent ones. Forget the CD that comes with the board.

Snagged · Feb 17, 2015

AMDThunder, thanks for the heads up with the 8.1 info.

Ahhhh, crap, Tiny voices, I loaded the CD up already (the MOBO one) to get connected to the internet. So I just go back to that site and hit "Global" for all the options except the "bios." I will try this when I get home, which I'm sure I will have other questions.

Mas7873, thanks for the screen shot. I got that far last night and hit global but I have no clue where the file was downloaded too. Almost seemed like I wasn't downloading anything at all. It's fuzzy of what exactly happened because I was setting up so many different things last night that everything is all bleeding together. I will know more in about 3 to 4 hours.

I really appreciate the help folks, I know I'm bad at this. I'm still in shock I put together a computer that started up. lol.

mas7873 · Feb 17, 2015

It should download to the default "Downloads" folder in your file explorer.

Snagged · Feb 17, 2015

tiny voices :

Ok, I've installed the chipset and audio drivers (what a PITA to install the audio drivers btw). What else do I need to install from the list?

What's left on the list is:
Qualified Vendor list
Hotfix
BIOS
BIOS-Utilities
VGA
LAN
Utilities
SATA

Snagged · Feb 17, 2015

mas7873 :

Ahhhh, that helped out greatly. Thanks!

Snagged · Feb 17, 2015

What's left on the list is:
Qualified Vendor list
Hotfix
BIOS
BIOS-Utilities
VGA
LAN
Utilities
SATA

tiny voices · Feb 18, 2015

Do the sata and LAN ones. That should be it.

AMDThunder · Feb 18, 2015

tiny voices :

Sorry for a slight thread hi-jack, but a question on this. Forgot about the chipset piece. Win 8 didn't find this one either for me. I left it alone as the CD listed it as a raid driver, which I'll never use. I've had my rig up and running for about 10 days now with absolutely zero issues.

I'm actually an IT admin and have several workstations at the office that have the chipset driver not installed. When I re image PC, I always install it, but it doesn't seem to have a negative effect when not installed. Is ti more than just the raid piece? What am I missing by not installing?

tiny voices · Feb 18, 2015

On some motherboards (sometimes MSI/gigabyte) they package the "system" drivers with the chipset drivers, you can lose support for certain CPUs without these installed. The Chipset drivers also control the northbridge and southbridge, which are related to the PCI slots controller. On some boards you can have PCI slot issues without the drivers. Without my chipset driver, I could not properly use my PCI wifi card. It would see it, but it would not actually work without the chipset/system driver package.

It really all depends on the motherboard and how good windows is at finding a generic one.

AMDThunder · Feb 18, 2015

tiny voices :

Thanks for the info. I do have a Gigabyte board. Certainly isn't going to hurt anything to install it, so guess I may as well.

Snagged · Feb 18, 2015

tiny voices :

AMDThunder :

No worries on any thread jack at all. I looking to learn as much as I can so no worries.

tiny voices :

Awesome! Thanks so much for the help!

Snagged · Feb 19, 2015

One more question. Do you download all of the versions of the updates or do you just download the latest one? FOr example, under SATA there are 4 separete updates to pick from. Do you just just update the most recent up date under SATA?

From this linkhttp://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z97A/HelpDesk_Download/ there are:

Version 5.0.10.2936

Version 13.1.0.1058

Version 5.0.10.2808

Version 4.0.0.1068

tiny voices · Feb 19, 2015

No, just the most recent one for every update.

Updating Drivers and All that Fun Stuff

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