Asrock Z77 Extreme4 drivers

[imapaladin]

I've ordered all my parts for the new computer, so I was looking through the list of drivers I'll be installing for the MOBO here.
http/www.asrock.com/MB/download. [...] eme4&o=All

I can figure out what to install for the Chipset, Audio, and LAN drviers(since there are only 1 for each lol), but I'm not sure about the USB driver. Why are there 1 for Asmedia and 1 for Intel? Since I have an Intel processor, should I install the Intel one?
Also, do I need to install the SATA3 drivers(Intel equivalent is called "Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver" I believe) if I want the SATA3 ports to be working? or is this for something else?

Lastly, any other mandatory drivers I should be installing for the MOBO?

 

[pdxalex]

From the specs, the Extreme4 has four USB3 ports in the rear - two are driven by Intel, two by ASmedia. That said, you should be installing both drivers.

Yeah, you'll want to install the ASmedia SATA3 drivers as well.

As for the rest, they list quite a few on the website and I'm not sure what a couple of the smaller ones are for without googling... like the CIR receiver? I take it some kind of infrared receiver... but what for? Not sure what the AppCharger is for either.

 

[imapaladin]

Best answer selected by imapaladin.

 

[imapaladin]

Thank you for the reply.

I see. I have no idea why 2 are Intel and 2 are Asmedia but...guess I'll install both of them lol.

I think AppCharger is needed to be able to charge devides like Ipad when connected to the computer.

Hopefully, it specifies what those other drivers do in the manual... I'm only looking to install the mandatory ones though.

BTW, do you know if the SATA3 driver is mandatory for SATA3 ports to work?

 

[pdxalex]

My Asus board has two pairs of USB3 and SATA3 controllers as well, Intel and Asmedia. Perhaps they utilize both to prevent potential incompatibility issues, to provide options as their speeds slightly vary or maybe one or the other doesn't support the appcharger feature, etc... I have no idea, to be honest. I used to think USB was USB... now one has different USB controllers and different SATA controllers, HD Audio and Legacy AC '97 Audio... let's just make things more complex. Now I have two volume icons in the tasbar, it's ridiculous... I'm probably going to dump the fatty Realtek HD one. I don't want to make my music sound like I'm in a church or concert hall. Just give me some quality, clean, basic audio without the fat.

I prefer to skip the unneeded drivers as well but when it doubt - install. CIR is Consumer Infrared, ie if you're planning to utilize an infrared controller as depicted in your manual p. 34
ftp/174.142.97.10/manual/Z77%20Extreme4.pdf

Some basic info on Intel's Rapid Start and Smart Connect:
http/www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ultrabook/ultrabook-device-technologies.html
I'm quite sure I skipped the Rapid Start driver on my Asus, I read it isn't as beneficial when you're running an SSD - and my system is very responsive when awakened. Smart Connect seems more geared towards laptops as well but I suppose one could benefit from it based on one's needs.

Here's some info on the Lucid driver:
http/www.lucidlogix.com/product-virtu-mvp.html
That's not one to skip.

I'd install the rest though, including the SATA3 driver you mentioned. It's either in there because it's required to function, or it's updated.

On another note, I skipped a serial port driver on my Asus because I don't need it. But now it's being flagged in my device manager, lol... which is bloody annoying too. So I'm going to go ahead and add it. I'm no expert, mind you... I don't know if skipping drivers has any potential negative side-effects affecting other systems. This particularly applies to the VGA driver. As you're probably using a dedicated GPU, you may not need asrock's VGA driver. Heck, it's huge... 150MB! But does that in any way affect the performance of your GPU or Lucid? No clue!