I'm in the process of building my PC and I've started with the motherboard, although I've paused on installing other components like the GPU. While preparing my bootable Windows media, I started wondering about the necessity of hardware drivers. I've read that drivers for things like the motherboard's network adapter and storage should be on the boot drive. Are these drivers really necessary? My motherboard's BIOS is supposed to be updated, so does that make the drivers unnecessary, or are they just a convenience? Is it a situation where having them is good if I end up needing them, or are they something I should prioritize?
5 Answers
If you're using a newer Intel CPU, check that your BIOS is updated because there were some known issues. Also, downloading chipset drivers for your AMD MOBO from the manufacturer's site is wise.
Drivers aren’t strictly necessary if you can tether your phone via USB-C. But it’s definitely more convenient to have Wi-Fi drivers available, just to make things easier.
Wow, I didn’t even think about using my phone to tether! Good call!
Having your motherboard drivers for Wi-Fi or the network card on a USB drive is a good idea. Windows may recognize them automatically, but it’s safer to have them ready. Once you get Windows up and running with a network connection, you can download any other drivers you need.
Sounds good; I’ll make sure to do that!
Just a heads up: if you're using an iPhone, tethering still requires iTunes unless you get their new app—it's a little quirky but mostly plug-and-play. You don’t need to log in, just connect it.
I have an iPhone. Is it really a problem? If I don’t have to open iTunes, it should work, right?
Yeah, iTunes isn’t really necessary anymore, but it would help to download the new app from the Microsoft Store.
Modern versions of Windows come with basic drivers for almost every network adapter. So, while it’s not something to stress about, having extra drivers from your motherboard is a smart move, especially if you have any special setups. It’s a bit of a throwback concern, to be honest!
Got it! I’ll grab the main ones but won’t go overboard.
Exactly! The key ones are usually the network and RAID drivers. You really want those handy since without them, you might struggle to download other necessary drivers.
Nah, I’ve got an AMD CPU. It's a 7000 series 5800x3D, new but not used. I'll definitely check that out!