How do driver updates work with custom built PC?

Discussion in 'Software' started by hawzif, Jan 26, 2010.

  1. hawzif

    hawzif Private E-2

    Hi, I'm talking to a living "major geek" :) and he's going to build me a custom PC, which he says and I believe is more flexible and will contain much of the same parts and pieces as a classic HP or Dell. HOWEVER, my question is about the drivers - are the drivers not the oil that keeps the systems actually running? How will a custom built PC download new drivers? My current HP does it automatically and "talks" to my HP printer which also downloads it's own drivers.

    Is this a good idea or should I stick with a name brand PC?

    thanks.
     
    hawzif, Jan 26, 2010
    #1
  2. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi

    Indeed with a custom PC you do get the flexability to install the hardware you want to do what you need the PC to do and as for drivers, well if he builds the PC with a good recognised motherboard make then you will be fine for drivers as you just get them off the makers site like ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock etc


    But if your PC is running fine the last thing to do is to update drivers, never update with out a cause, a caveate to this is to update the Graphic Card drivers when you can and depending on what he uses in say Nvidia or ATi hardwared card then drivers are updates frequently.

    Once hardare as in a printer say gets past 6 months to a year old the frequency of available drivers slows and dies as they are onto newer models, so once your hardware works, no real reason to update drivers, its a bit of a misnomer that you "have" to always keep them upto date as I mention once 6mths or so has past drivers apart from say Graphic and LAN tend to dry up.

    Dont rely on driver scanners etc is my honest advice as they tend in my honest opinion to cause more trouble than enough especially with Audio drivers.
     
    DavidGP, Jan 26, 2010
    #2
  3. augiedoggie

    augiedoggie The Canadian Loon - LocoAugie (R.I.P. 2012)

    I'm not sure what you mean by 'same parts' as it will be similar parts as in motherboard, hard drives etc. but one can choose better parts. I've built my last two machines and will never buy a pre-built again. However, it usually is more costly as I use higher quality and upgrade-ability parts.

    You don't have to worry about updating drivers as that's not usually necessary unless there's a specific issue you need to resolve. At any rate, you can always go to the manufacturer's site and download new drivers for free. As to your HP printer, those updates will still continue as it is now doing, even though I hate those HP updates as they're a pain IMHO and unnecessary.

    You will also have to buy an OS so that increases the price too. Up to you of course though I have hardly had any issues with my builds that I couldn't easily fix, and my machines are being used heavily 24/7 and can be easily upgraded if needed.
     
    augiedoggie, Jan 26, 2010
    #3
  4. hawzif

    hawzif Private E-2

    Thank you both. This is what I was hoping to hear. I'm not as concerned with price as long as I know I'm getting a good-quality, stable, and hassle-free solution.

    thanks again.
     
    hawzif, Jan 26, 2010
    #4
  5. augiedoggie

    augiedoggie The Canadian Loon - LocoAugie (R.I.P. 2012)

    OK, also be aware that you may have to change some of your peripherals and update your software if you're moving from XP to Windows 7. Seeing as you use some business terms, if you have software that only runs on XP and there's no updates available for a mission critical solution that you have, you can purchase a Business or Ultimate version of W7 which have a free downloadable virtual XP capability included but the graphics are of poorer quality though I haven't tried running something there yet. Someone else will have to answer that one.
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2010
    augiedoggie, Jan 26, 2010
    #5
  6. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hi

    To add to Augies post on XP Mode this is the page HERE you need, enter your version of Windows 7 and it will tell you if your version of Windows 7 can be used (Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise are only versions that this runs with) also run the Tool in Step 2 as not all CPUs can run virtualization and in that case and if you have a old not used copy of XP you can install in Virtual PC 2007 and run your legacy apps there.


    But depending on what apps you are running most currently developed ones have no issues in Windows 7.

    What HP Printer do you have? check for drivers for it in Windows 7, also check any other hardware you have for comptability and/or drivers to support them if they are needed, items like USB pens and HDDs should be fine as they run off the Mass Driver for storage devices and this is built into Windows.
     
    DavidGP, Jan 27, 2010
    #6

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