Drivers driving me crazy! Some advice please.

[Econdoc]

I have my "rig" up and running...finally. However, I am uncertain about installing certain drivers. I have installed the LAN, SATA3, USB3, VGA, INF, Audio drivers.
The list below includes drivers that I have NOT installed. I need advice on whether I need or want these drivers.

Intel Management Engine driver ver:7.0.4.1197
Intel Rapid Start driver ver:1.0.0.1014
Intel Smart Connect driver ver:2.0.1083.0
Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver ver:1.0.1.0.1008_PV

Also, any any take on whether I should install any of the "ASROCK XFast" utilities or Instant Boot ver:1.26?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Acebmxer]

Re: Drivers driving me crazy! Some advice please.

Yes you do need the drive Intel Management Engine, and the Intel rapid storage drive which is Intel's Raid/AHCI driver. Only install this if you are using raid. The version you have listed which I think is a typo, I think you meant to type 10.1.0.1008 which is a very old driver. The most recent driver is 11.1.0.1006.

[Econdoc]

Re: Drivers driving me crazy! Some advice please.

Thanks for the quick reply. The drivers are taken from ASROCK's driver list for my mobo. ASRock > Products > Motherboard > H61iCafe > Download
If they are out of date, then ASROCK is out of date.

I am not using RAID, but I did install this: ASMedia SATA3 Driver ver:1.1.7.110G after setting the BIOS for ACHI. So do I need the Intel Rapid Store/ Intel Management drivers?

What about the ASROCK XFast utilities? Are they any good or just trouble waiting to happen?

[Acebmxer]

Re: Drivers driving me crazy! Some advice please.

Yes most motherboard MFR's are out dated on their drivers. Mostly because they may not have tested them in house and consider them stable, where as the MFR of the drivers have test and verified they are stable. So its suggest you go to the source for newer drivers.

I am not 100% familur with ASrock motherboards so the ASMedia Sata3 drive might be ok. You may want to check the Device manager and look towards the bottom of the list for "storage controller" or something simular to that. Right click and choose properties, Click the driver tab and it should show you the driver being used. If you dont see the storage controller listed you could try and look at the properties of your SSD and verify. If you see that its using the ASMedia drive or if its using the MSAHCI driver. You then can do a benchmark on your SSD before and or after installing the other drivers and see which one offers the best speed/reliability and choose that way.

As for the Xfast that is ok to install that will help with USB speeds.