Am buying a GA-P55-US3L: which newest drivers and BIOS do I need?

[Dark Mantis]

I agree. There are very few progreams that won't run under Windows 7. I still use alll the same programs and games as I used to and most of them run even without XP mode compatibility. Actually I was suprised how many programs worked when I swapped over to 64 bit. I was expecting a lot more problems but the transition was very smooth.

[forumjoe]

I don't want to get into a spat about Windows 7 but I can assure you all that I've done my homework on compatibility. I have to tell you also that I'm not in the least bit interested in running games on my machine; instead, I run serious apps, mostly photo and video work. Just because an operating system is new doesn't make it automatically better than its predecessor. Just look at what Vista gave the world! My philosophy is "if it ain't broke, why fix it?", and thus far Windows XP has functioned pretty damned well for me. Of course, other people may well have had a different experience; a lot depends on exactly the use to which you put your computer and the age of the applications that are run. Perhaps, in time, I will transfer to 7, when more of the compatibility issues have been solved and the inevitable security cracks will have been stoppered, but I've no need - and more importantly, I've not the funds - to do it now. Meanwhile, choosing this particular mobo will give me that future option.

[Dark Mantis]

Oh, please don't misunderstand me I wasn't knocking your reasoning for keeping XP. I always found it an excellent OS and wouldn't move over to Vista for anything. I was merely saying that I was happy with Win7.

[forumjoe]

No offence taken whatever, old bean. Like I say, I have fully researched my apps and utilities (as well as hardware), and Windows 7 is simply not for me at this juncture. My reason for my major upgrade is first and foremost to get more speed, particularly so that I can process very large photo files faster. So, not only a faster CPU but also faster-running memory. A lot has changed in 10 years.

 

[forumjoe]

Wonderwrench,

Regarding my query over which drivers would be necessary to install on the GA-P55-US3L I'm getting (and used in the way I explained), I've found this, which I think you'll agree suggests that the Microsoft UAA driver still needs to be downloaded and installed, even if SP3 for WinXP has already been loaded:

http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/support-downloads/faq-page.aspx?fid=2501

Incidentally, I'll be loading SP3 separately; the version of XP that I have is XP SP2.

[Wonderwrench]

Wonderwrench,

Regarding my query over which drivers would be necessary to install on the GA-P55-US3L I'm getting (and used in the way I explained), I've found this, which I think you'll agree suggests that the Microsoft UAA driver still needs to be downloaded and installed, even if SP3 for WinXP has already been loaded:

http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/support-downloads/faq-page.aspx?fid=2501

Incidentally, I'll be loading SP3 separately; the version of XP that I have is XP SP2.

I did some digging and can't prove if the Microsoft UAA driver is included in SP3 or not. I know I never installed the Microsoft UAA driver on any system I had. Its possible the sound drivers had the Microsoft UAA driver included so I never had problems with it? If you want to play it safe install the Microsoft UAA driver before installing SP3 then you will have it for sure. Reason being I found many people claiming they could not install the Microsoft UAA driver after SP3 was installed without modifying the windows registry first.

Bill

[forumjoe]

I've been assuming all along that that Microsoft UAA driver is something particular to Gigabyte mobos. But perhaps that's not the case? On my current PC - a non-Gigabyte concoction of mine that I've added to and modified over the years - I use a PCI sound card and, when it comes to audio drivers, there's never been a need to separately install a 'Microsoft UAA' driver.  I've merely installed SP3 at the start and then later loaded the driver for that card. And  everything in the sound dept's just worked fine.

So, is this Microsoft UAA driver a special requirement for the Gigabyte board that I'm now getting, and for other Gigabyte mobos, or do literally all   Windows machines require it now? Does it seem, from my experience with my current, non-Gigabyte machine, that the Microsoft UAA driver is indeed automatically contained in SP3?

If the driver for my sound card contains this Microsoft UAA, then I've never been aware of it. The card is one in the Creative series of Soundblasters and dates back to about 2004, maybe earlier.

[Dark Mantis]

As far as I know the Micro$oft UAA driver is for general aduio use not just Gigabyte devices. I am not sure if it is part of SP3, sorry.

[Wonderwrench]

I did some more digging and I'm more confused than ever. Does XP sp3 include the UAA driver or not? Not that I 100% believe wikipedia's info but some good info anyway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Audio_Architecture
I think the only way you are going to find out if you need the UAA driver is doing your own testing. Any time you build a new system there always seems to be some unknowns. Because of this I always do a test install and once I'm happy do a final install. Actually I use TrueImage to image the OS drive right after the install so it only takes a few minutes to get back to a clean state if needed.

Bill

[forumjoe]

Wonderwrench et al,

Yes, the Wiki bunch are pretty adamant, aren't they, that the UAA driver is contained within SP3 for XP? Here's the bit from Wiki:-

In 2004, Microsoft provided the first version of UAA as an update to Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003, but is only available by contacting Microsoft support directly.[2] However, almost all manufacturer supplied drivers contain the UAA class driver. Windows XP Service Pack 3 also includes the updated driver.

I've done several reinstalls of my current system in the last few years, adding SP3 each time, and I've never encountered this UAA requirement before or during that process. For this new Gigabyte board I'm getting, it looks like it's not needed if SP3 is going to be installed. Perhaps the situation is slightly different if, for some reason, you're using XP SP2 only, or Vista or Windows 7? The only caveat would perhaps be if the version in SP3 was now out of date.

Yes, Wonderwrench, I'll have to suck it and see. With the new board, I'll not attempt to install it, and then see how the sound card and audio streaming fair. I too use an imaging backup system, which I use as I build up the software, so I can certainly test in the manner you've described. I strongly suspect I'll not need to do so, though. That said, the implication is that the UAA driver has ideally to be loaded early on in the installation of the system's software, ie. directly after the OS has been installed. So, if it isn't in SP3 and I miss that slot, ie. not separately add it at around the time of installing SP3, I may have a long way to go back, in terms of images. Perhaps I'll just have to install the Creative driver earlier than I normally do.

Actually, I've been wondering whether, for this particular Gigabyte board, the Realtek PCIe LAN driver v.5.7.64 is even required. The GA-P55-US3L has a built-in wired Ethernet port and so unless you want extra Ethernet porting on it, there's no need for a separate PCI or PCIe network interface card. In my current machine, which doesn't have built-in Ethernetting, I've been using a PCI nic, and that certainly didn't require a special driver for me to install. So, I suspect that any driver it needed was already there, in WinXP or in SP3. Logic would therefore now lead me to the assumption that the Gigabyte board will also not require an Ethernet driver to be added, ie. that Realtek PCIe LAN driver will not be required. What d'ya reckon?

[Wonderwrench]

Wonderwrench et al,

Actually, I've been wondering whether, for this particular Gigabyte board, the Realtek PCIe LAN driver v.5.7.64 is even required. The GA-P55-US3L has a built-in wired Ethernet port and so unless you want extra Ethernet porting on it, there's no need for a separate PCI or PCIe network interface card. In my current machine, which doesn't have built-in Ethernetting, I've been using a PCI nic, and that certainly didn't require a special driver for me to install. So, I suspect that any driver it needed was already there, in WinXP or in SP3. Logic would therefore now lead me to the assumption that the Gigabyte board will also not require an Ethernet driver to be added, ie. that Realtek PCIe LAN driver will not be required. What d'ya reckon?

Windows 7 does not include drivers for the Realtek RTL8111E LAN on my GA-X58A-UD3R or the Realtek RTL8111B LAN on my old MSI P35 Neo2-FR.
I can't see XP having them but I guess you will find out. It pisses me off because the first thing I want do after a clean install is validate windows. I manually install the LAN driver to get validated then I make my first image. Using a driver from Realtek BTW.

Bill