Getting the latest drivers for a new Mobo

[PTNLemay]

I know everyone says that it's always best to get the latest drivers, and I have found where the ones I need are located http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68V_PROGEN3/#download, but I'm still not sure about some of the details.

■Do I need to put them on a CD, or will a USB stick do? I have an optical drive but I haven't had blank discs in ages (no need really with USB sticks).

■Will it be necessary to install them before the OS is setup, during, or after? And if it can be done after, do I even need to put the drivers onto an external storage device at all? Can I just install them from a browser after Windows 7 is up and running?

■In addition to the mobo mentioned above, I plan on getting a Crucial m4 128 GB SSD (it's on sale right now on NewEgg.ca), and I know people often suggest getting the latest drivers for it to get the best results. I also found this comment on a review of the m4, and to be perfectly honest, I don't fully understand it.

Be sure to to install your drive as AHCI (check your bios and configure SATA) and install the latest intel chipset drivers! Also be sure update to firmware to 0309 and do that first then install like normal. Remember google is your friend. These drives also seem to loose performance when you turn off enable windows cache buffering in the drive options. Leave those alone and same with intel drives.

So there are... chipset drivers, AND firmware updates? And if I plan on using this SSD as my boot drive, which needs to be updated first, the motherboard's BIOS, or the drive's stuff?

 

[CaedenV]

firmware runs at the hardware level, and needs to be installed to a CD or bootable flash to be installed (generally before loading the OS).

Drivers are at the software level, and are installed after the OS. Just download from the mfr website and then run them within windows.

 

[PTNLemay]

How do I know if the flash drives I have are boot-able or not?

And if I use CDs, I won't have to mess with ISO files will I...? I hate those things, I can never get them to work right.

 

[PTNLemay]

I ordered the m4 first, I should be getting it in a couple of days.

Can I update it to 0309 by plugging it into my old computer, before I put an operating system on it? Or do I have to have it all set up as the boot-drive in my next build?