In the next day or two, I will be building a Sandy Bridge PC with the GA-H67A-UD3H motherboard--my first Gigabyte board.
I'm somewhat confused on which drivers I must install and which are optional or completely unnecessary.
I will use integrated video and integrated audio.
I hope to implement AHCI in the BIOS before installing Windows.
I want full SATA support/compatibility, but RAID is not needed.
Here are a few things I'm pretty sure I need:
Intel H67 chipset INF update utility, dated Jan 4, 2011, downloaded from Intel directly
Intel Management Engine interface for H67, dated Jan 19, 2011, downloaded from Intel directly
Realtek ALC892 audio driver, Windows 7 64 bit; downloaded today from Gigabyte
Realtek LAN driver, Windows 7 64 bit; downloaded today from Gigabyte
But I'm not sure about these, although they supposedly are compatible with my motherboard:
Intel SATA RAID Driver, Windows 7 64 bit; downloaded today from Gigabyte.com
Intel VGA Driver, Windows 7 64 bit 12611, downloaded today from Gigabtyte.com
Marvell SATA3 Console Driver 1.0.0.1014, downloaded today from Softpedia; not seen at Gigabyte.com
Marvell SATA3 RAID Utility 4.1.0.1905, downloaded from Softpedia today; not seen at Gigabyte.com
NEC USB 3.0 Driver, Windows 7 64 bit; downloaded today from Gigabyte.com
I'm guessing the Windows 7 64-bit installation disc will have versions of some or all of these as well.
Note that I did not see some of these at the Gigabyte website.
I'd appreciate any comments on which drivers are mandatory, marginal, pointless, worthless, etc----and whether versions on the Windows disc may be preferable. I'm much more interested in reliability and freedom from issues, rather than the latest doo-dad or last bit of speed.
Thanks.