new build, driver and bios help

[ramrod918]

Im a bit rusty, havent built a new pc in about 3-4 years. I have been lurking on the forums here for a few months now and would appreciate some help.

My PC will be for HomeTheatre and gaming so any un-needed utilities I would prefer not to install. My new pc hardware should be listed in my Sig I believe also.

looking for some advice before I get started please bare with me if I'm not making sense :)

1) Should I flash to a newer bios before I load win7 for the first time?

2) I would really prefer not to load drivers from the CD that came with the board.
On the gigabyte page: GA-X58A-UD7 (rev. 1.0) - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Driver
it lists all the updated drivers for the x58a-ud7 board I have my own soundcard and network card, Do I have to install drivers for these or is there an option to disable them in the bios? ie : disable realtek LAN and Sound?

3) with the SATA drivers, which ones do I have to load off the gigabyte page? I will Not be going RAID and have only a SSD and Blu-Ray to connect to the SATA ports. Should I use the ICH10R or GSATA2 or Marvell for my SSD? and which for my Blu-Ray?
The page lists the following drivers:
-GIGABYTE SATA2 Driver
-GIGABYTE SATA2 Preinstall driver (For AHCI / RAID Mode)
Note: Press F6 during Windows setup to read from floppy.
-Marvell Console Driver (SATA3)
-Marvell RAID Utility (SATA3)
(Please install Marvell Console Driver before install Marvell RAID Utility)
-Intel SATA RAID Driver


4) Finally is there any specific order I should Load these in? Chipset then SATA then USB etc??


Thanks very much ;)

[warren300]

Re: new build, driver and bios help

Im a bit rusty, havent built a new pc in about 3-4 years. I have been lurking on the forums here for a few months now and would appreciate some help.

My PC will be for HomeTheatre and gaming so any un-needed utilities I would prefer not to install. My new pc hardware should be listed in my Sig I believe also.

looking for some advice before I get started please bare with me if I'm not making sense :)

1) Should I flash to a newer bios before I load win7 for the first time?

2) I would really prefer not to load drivers from the CD that came with the board.
On the gigabyte page: GA-X58A-UD7 (rev. 1.0) - GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Driver
it lists all the updated drivers for the x58a-ud7 board I have my own soundcard and network card, Do I have to install drivers for these or is there an option to disable them in the bios? ie : disable realtek LAN and Sound?

3) with the SATA drivers, which ones do I have to load off the gigabyte page? I will Not be going RAID and have only a SSD and Blu-Ray to connect to the SATA ports. Should I use the ICH10R or GSATA2 or Marvell for my SSD? and which for my Blu-Ray?
The page lists the following drivers:
-GIGABYTE SATA2 Driver
-GIGABYTE SATA2 Preinstall driver (For AHCI / RAID Mode)
Note: Press F6 during Windows setup to read from floppy.
-Marvell Console Driver (SATA3)
-Marvell RAID Utility (SATA3)
(Please install Marvell Console Driver before install Marvell RAID Utility)
-Intel SATA RAID Driver


4) Finally is there any specific order I should Load these in? Chipset then SATA then USB etc??


Thanks very much ;)

if your not going raid you shouldnt need the raid drivers? as for soundcard load your drivers for soundcard and disable azalia codec in bios,win7 will automatically search and install your drivers for your board,dont use gigabyte disc for drivers as they will probably be outdated,use the factory bios and if any problems arise then i would flash to latest bios using qflash

[profJim]

Re: new build, driver and bios help

I always avoid the GB mobo disc as much as possible.
I've always downloaded the most recent Intel Inf_Install files and applied these immediately after I've installed the most recent Chipset drivers (only the ones I need).
I'm assuming that win7 is no different in this regard compared with earlier windows versions.

**edit**
If you do use the GB mobo disc, avoid "Express Install" as this installs almost everything on the disk.
You can pick and choose individual items to install.

[ramrod918]

Re: new build, driver and bios help

do I need to DL and install the Intel Inf_Install files after I load win7 + chipset from gigabyte website?

[warren300]

Re: new build, driver and bios help

do I need to DL and install the Intel Inf_Install files after I load win7 + chipset from gigabyte website?

you can if you want to but win7 will allready install them for you

[ramrod918]

Re: new build, driver and bios help

Thnx warren