The age-old question: OEM vs Generic drivers?

[SenMithrarin85]

Specifically for desktops. Since I built the pc, I have been using the drivers from asus's website for chipset, mei (management engine), irst (rapid storage), audio and Lan. Only the gpu driver has been from nvidia's own site.

Upon some advice from anotehr user, i went digging for newer drivers but had mixed results. Specifically, only the audio and lan seemed to be newer from realtek themselves. The chipset driver from intel pre-dated the one from asus and I couldn't find any mei drivers though a rapid storage one did exist.

So I only updated the lan and audio ones. The installs went through, but the frontend gui that asus provided for the audio driver has disappeared. Since there are links for both mei and irst in the bios I was under the impression that they may be customised? And that they should be left alone?

The chipset driver from intel stated that it was older than asus' during install too, so I left that alone. Any help'll be appreciated.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

I usually get the chipset drivers, audio, LAN and other such stuff from motherboard manufacturer's website and only graphics card drivers as generic from geforce or amd.

[Kaihekoa]

I prefer to get all my drivers directly from the manufacturer of the individual component because the motherboard manufacturers may not update their vetted drivers very often. It's worked out fine for me, but I know for some specialized ICs and chipsets, it's best for compatibility to get drivers from the motherboard vendor.

[Revelene]

If Intel's driver is older than the one on Asus's web page, that simply means that Asus has modified the driver for their hardware. This is very common practice.

Usually, the modification is nothing major, usually only custom elements, like UI, so it really doesn't matter which you install.

[Astraea Kisaragi]

Chipset always from AMD/Intel. LAN drivers always update from Realtek itself (what 99% of mobos have). By audio, try the newer, however the one from the mobo makers might have some extra features (which on other hand you might not even use)