Unsure from where to download chipset drivers

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I am about to do a fresh install of Windows 7 and I have identified almost all drivers I'm going to need. The only driver I'm unsure about is the chipset driver.

My motherboard: GA-MA78G-DS3H (rev. 1.0) http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2800#sp

Both the North Bridge and the South Bridge are made by AMD (their model names are 780G and SB700 respectively) which simplifies the matter as I only need one driver however I am unsure as to whether I should download the necessary driver from Gigabyte's webiste or AMD's website. Among the drivers for my motherboard on Gigabyte's website there is a driver labeled as "AMD Chipset Driver (include chipset\sata raid\vga driver)". I was going to just install this one but I noticed that it is rather old. After some digging I found the chipset drivers on AMD's website: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/chipset?os=Windows+7+-+32 There I found a driver from last September. According to the description it is for motherboards with 700 series or newer AMD chipsets which seems to apply to my motherboard. It also says that it includes the AMD AHCI Driver, however it also includes AMD USB 3.0 Driver which doesn't apply to me as my motherboard only has USB 2.0 and 1.1 ports.

Given all of that, which driver should I get? The "AMD Chipset Driver (include chipset\sata raid\vga driver)" from Gigabyte's website or the AMD Chipset Driver 13.12 from AMD's website?

user314945

Posted 2014-04-19T16:59:40.293

Reputation:

Answers

1

While the driver provided by AMD is the most updated one, it's a generic version and might not be fully compatible with your motherboard. What can you do is:

  1. Download both chipset drivers.
  2. Install Windows 7.
  3. Install the chipset driver provided by Gigabyte.
  4. Install everything else, and create a restore point when you're done.
  5. Update the chipset driver to the generic AMD version.
  6. Make sure everything still works. If not, restore the driver to its previous version.

and31415

Posted 2014-04-19T16:59:40.293

Reputation: 13 382

By "Update the chipset driver to the generic AMD version" you mean uninstall the Gigabyte-provided driver and install the generic one? Or should I install the generic one "over" the Gigabyte one? – None – 2014-04-19T17:25:52.030

@ST17 Simply installing the generic driver package would do. You shouldn't need to uninstall the Gigabyte one. – and31415 – 2014-04-19T17:30:02.693

Any ideas what would constitute "not everything working" short of obvious signs like BSODs and crashes? – None – 2014-04-19T17:33:21.183

@ST17 The installer could also give you an error stating that the hardware is not compatible. Aside from crashes, Windows might not boot properly, the performance might get worser, and/or the system event log might record some warning/errors.

– and31415 – 2014-04-19T17:54:53.887

@ST17 - Where do you see "not everything working" exactly? I am not exactly sure the reason there is even a question. Gigabyte will offer ALL chipset driver updates on this website. The AMD drivers are only for your GPU. The driver being "sort of old" is not important it works unless it doesn't support the OS your using there is no reason to use the AMD version. – Ramhound – 2014-04-19T17:55:31.107

"The AMD drivers are only for your GPU." Did you even see the AMD site I added a link to in my question? It clearly says it is for the chipset that I know is made by AMD (I double checked with CPU-Z). The reason why I thought I should check if newer drivers aren't available is because I already knew that other drivers on Gigabyte's website (sound card and network card drivers in particular) are outdated compared to the same drivers available on websites of the manufacturers of the components. – None – 2014-04-19T18:03:34.733

Asked: 2014-04-19T16:59:40.293

Viewed: 898 times

Active: 2014-04-19T17:32:07.943