# Recommended minimum drivers for a Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite AX V2 and AMD Ryzen 5 3600?



## Brotham (Feb 11, 2021)

When I've built systems in the past,  it involved going to the manufacturer's site for the chipset and other drivers,  attempting to find links for the files,  download them,  manually extract them,  install them, hack the registry, swear when it doesn't work, start over,  etc.
Sometimes even using homebrew third party drivers.

More recently,  when I do a full wipe and rebuild of Windows now,  I typically skip installing any drivers and just let Windows Update take care of it. 
The only exception being the NVIDIA drivers for the GFX card. 

So these days, for a new build,  do people still manually install drivers,  or just let Windows handle it?

Naturally the first thing I'll do is flash the BIOS and update any firmware as required. 

If manual driver installation is still required,  what are the recommended minimum drivers for a Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite AX V2 and AMD Ryzen 5 3600?

I'm not interested in any monitoring, tweaking, or auto checker/update stuff - I prefer to keep things as minimal as possible.


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## Countryside (Feb 11, 2021)

Always manually and from manufacturer's site, windows update usually has outdated drivers and does not have some of the rquired dirvers at all. Stay away from driver dowload softwarer i have seen many screwed up operating systems thanks do driver update software.

As for your B550 all the required drivers are on Gigabytes website and i usually download the chipset drivers form AMD site.


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## Brotham (Feb 11, 2021)

Well it appears the only drivers available from AMD are bundled into a huge program -- Ryzen Master -- which seems to be for overclocking and tweaking.



			https://www.amd.com/en/support/cpu/amd-ryzen-processors/amd-ryzen-5-desktop-processors/amd-ryzen-5-3600
		


So I think I'll give that a miss.

Edit: It was actually here when you scroll down, which is odd: https://www.amd.com/en/support

Scratch that - it just keeps sending me back to the same page which has a single download for Ryzen Master.
So I guess AMD are forcing users into installing a load of bloat rather than just the specific drivers.


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## FireFox (Feb 11, 2021)

Brotham said:


> do people still manually install drivers, or just let Windows handle it?


I always do manually



Countryside said:


> Always manually and from manufacturer's site


Sometimes i download it from Station drivers


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## Brotham (Feb 11, 2021)

It looks like Gigabyte has the drivers available separately (although they are likely older than the latest versions): https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B550-AORUS-ELITE-AX-V2-rev-10/support#support-dl-driver

But AMD just has a single download For Ryzen Master which they specifically refer to as being for overclocking.
So it is it the core drivers or is it an overclocking and tweaking interface?

There's also Adrenalin software which auto detects the chipset and Radeon drivers required.

I see manufacturers haven't progressed at all in this area in the last 10 years.

So what are most people doing for Ryzen 5 3600 specific drivers?


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## Frick (Feb 11, 2021)

I just let Windows do its thing and it usually works out.



Countryside said:


> windows update usually has outdated drivers



The only time I have had problems related to drivers coming through Windows Update is when a new GPU driver for an AMD APU bricked a laptop (even safe mode stopped working). There are some problems with a specific ASUS wifi card as well, when the new drivers being pushed through Windows Update basically kills the NIC. In my experience the only drivers you actually might want to update are GPU drivers.


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## Countryside (Feb 12, 2021)

Frick said:


> I just let Windows do its thing and it usually works out.
> 
> 
> 
> The only time I have had problems related to drivers coming through Windows Update is when a new GPU driver for an AMD APU bricked a laptop (even safe mode stopped working). There are some problems with a specific ASUS wifi card as well, when the new drivers being pushed through Windows Update basically kills the NIC. In my experience the only drivers you actually might want to update are GPU drivers.



Yeah in my experience windows update drivers are not up to date but rarely i've had problems with them.

I prefer my drivers to be latest, and from manufacturer's site.



Brotham said:


> Well it appears the only drivers available from AMD are bundled into a huge program -- Ryzen Master -- which seems to be for overclocking and tweaking.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



https://www.amd.com/en/support there is a small menu box you can choose chipset drivers.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Feb 12, 2021)

no


Brotham said:


> Well it appears the only drivers available from AMD are bundled into a huge program -- Ryzen Master -- which seems to be for overclocking and tweaking.


your looking at the wrong thing the drivers are separate


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## Brotham (Feb 12, 2021)

Countryside said:


> I prefer my drivers to be latest, and from manufacturer's site.


As do I but I am unable to locate the drivers.



Isaac` said:


> no
> 
> your looking at the wrong thing the drivers are separate


Care to share some links?

I've tried everything but simply cannot find the basic drivers.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Feb 12, 2021)

B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2 (rev. 1.0) Support | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global
					

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...




					www.gigabyte.com
				





Brotham said:


> I've tried everything but simply cannot find the basic drivers.


here is the link that just comes with drivers
AND if needbe the apu drivers assuming you have a apu


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## Countryside (Feb 12, 2021)

Latest chipset draviers for B550  https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/amd-socket-am4/b550


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Feb 12, 2021)

Countryside said:


> Latest chipset draviers fotr B550 https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/amd-socket-am4/b550


i find it helpful to go through the offical website in this case giabyte


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## Countryside (Feb 12, 2021)

Isaac` said:


> i find it helpful to go through the offical website in this case giabyte



So do i but the one on giabyte site is not up to date.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Feb 12, 2021)

rh


Countryside said:


> So do i but the one in gigabytse site is not up to date


that may be for a reason Ie It causes stablilty issues on their boards


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## Brotham (Feb 12, 2021)

Isaac` said:


> B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2 (rev. 1.0) Support | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global
> 
> 
> Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...
> ...


I want the drivers from AMD, not Gigabyte - third party site drivers are always out of date.
The official site for the CPU is AMD, not Gigabyte.



Countryside said:


> Latest chipset draviers for B550  https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/amd-socket-am4/b550


Thanks, I found that link earlier but it's just the chipset.
What about the APU?


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Feb 12, 2021)

t


Brotham said:


> I want the drivers from AMD, not Gigabyte - third party site drivers are always out of date.
> The official site for the CPU is AMD, not Gigabyte.
> 
> 
> ...


you dont even have a cpu with a apu???


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## Brotham (Feb 12, 2021)

Isaac` said:


> t
> 
> you dont even have a cpu with a apu???


So why is the driver listed here?









						B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2 (rev. 1.0) Support | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global
					

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...




					www.gigabyte.com


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## Countryside (Feb 12, 2021)

Brotham said:


> I want the drivers from AMD, not Gigabyte - third party site drivers are always out of date.
> The official site for the CPU is AMD, not Gigabyte.
> 
> 
> ...



What APU? you wrote ryzen 3600 thats not an apu, apu has integrated gpu therefore it needs amd gpu drivers.

Just download the draivers from gigabytes site you need Audio, Chipset, LAN, WLAN+bt thats it


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Feb 12, 2021)

Brotham said:


> So why is the driver listed here?


because that board supports apus
but it also supports non apus
just download standard 50mb driver


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## Brotham (Feb 12, 2021)

Isaac` said:


> just download standard 50mb


That's all I needed to know, thanks.

A little bit of explanatory text wouldn't go amiss on these manufacturer sites. 

Not everyone's a geek who spends their free time reading up on this stuff.
I don't have that much time left so have to pick and choose what I use it on. 

As for trying to download drivers directly from Realtek ... forget it.


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## Countryside (Feb 12, 2021)

Isaac` said:


> rh
> 
> that may be for a reason Ie It causes stablilty issues on their boards



Unlikely but possible, usually the manufacturer is too lazy to update the drivers on their website.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Feb 12, 2021)

Brotham said:


> Not everyone's a geek who spends their free time reading up on this stuff.


thats not complicated
if you do not have intergrated graphics you dont need it
if



Countryside said:


> Unlikely but possible, usually the manufacturer is too lazy to update the drivers on their website.


i thought the same thing until i exprienced the exact same thing i said on a a320m-h


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## Brotham (Feb 12, 2021)

Isaac` said:


> thats not complicated
> if you do not have intergrated graphics you dont need it


But I don't know if it does or not. 

I just know it's a Ryzen 5 3600.


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## tabascosauz (Feb 12, 2021)

It's a Gigabyte B550 and you really shouldn't need to download any drivers if you installed Windows while connected to the internet...?  

You have a 3600. Literally requires nothing extra from you in February 2021. Audio (ALC1220) will be fetched by Windows. AX200 Wifi should be fetched by Windows. If your BIOS AGESA is even remotely up to date (AGESA 1004, 1006, 1002v2, 1081, 1100B/C/D), then the CPU's not going to lose its mind because you didn't install the Ryzen power plans. NVMes shouldn't require any extra drivers.

All that's left is getting drivers for your graphics card, which you'll get directly from AMD or Nvidia.

You can go get the chipset drivers from AMD if it makes you feel better, but we're a year and a half in - there's no performance difference to be had between Windows plans and Ryzen plans. Windows is still gonna get the chipset drivers, it just won't fetch the power plans for you.

The only thing that wasn't quite plug and play on my 4650G with the B550I Aorus AX was the iGPU drivers because Vega 7 leaves Windows a bit confused. But it's an APU. Everything else Windows update was smart enough to do by itself.

If you happen to run into specific issues with AX200 Wifi or BT, or the audio, then go to GB's website and fetch a different driver. Otherwise, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, unless you go around looking for trouble.


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## Hachi_Roku256563 (Feb 12, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> The only thing that wasn't quite plug and play on my 4650G with the B550I Aorus AX was the iGPU drivers because Vega 7 leaves Windows a bit confused. But it's an APU. Everything else Windows update was smart enough to do by itself.


When i had to reuse my pc for online learning windows (so a fresh install with no guff and the drivers windows grabed as to avoid guf) was able to find vega 8 drivers on a 3200g thats really od


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## Zach_01 (Feb 12, 2021)

Brotham said:


> When I've built systems in the past,  it involved going to the manufacturer's site for the chipset and other drivers,  attempting to find links for the files,  download them,  manually extract them,  install them, hack the registry, swear when it doesn't work, start over,  etc.
> Sometimes even using homebrew third party drivers.
> 
> More recently,  when I do a full wipe and rebuild of Windows now,  I typically skip installing any drivers and just let Windows Update take care of it.
> ...


You definately need chipset drivers from AMD download site and not from the board vendor site. And of course GPU drivers.
And thats about it for a typical installment. RAID drivers are separate.


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## Gmr_Chick (Feb 12, 2021)

Brotham said:


> But I don't know if it does or not.
> 
> I just know it's a *Ryzen 5 3600.*



That CPU DOES NOT come with integrated graphics -- even says so on the seal on top of the box, "DISCRETE GRAPHICS CARD REQUIRED"

In concerns to drivers, I would take @tabascosauz  advice and download ONLY what you need. Hell, in my case (as I run a 3600) I didn't even update the BIOS for my board -- I bought it used, and the BIOS on it is from the end of last year -- because everything is working just fine (don't fix what ain't broken!) and as a 3600 owner with no foreseeable plans to upgrade to Ryzen 5000, updating to the latest BIOS would give me virtually no benefit whatsoever.

It's pretty simple, really, for new BIOS, the board manufacturer's site is where you'll find them. For chipset drivers, the CPU manufacturer's site is what you want. For new GPU drivers, again, AMD or Nvidia have them on their sites. In the case of BIOS, do exercise caution when it comes to ones marked "beta" unless you know what you're doing.


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## Brotham (Feb 12, 2021)

Yes, I always get GFX drivers from NVIDIA.

There used to be a time I could download the lan and audio drivers directly from Realtek, but that no longer seems possible.

I only used RAID once and didn't get on with it so don't bother these days.

Thanks again everyone for the input.

Edit - update below (this auto post merge function really is crap)

All sorted now.

Got the Chipset driver from AMD, the Realtek audio and LAN drivers from Gigabyte, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers from Intel, the GFX driver from NVIDIA, and the (optional) NVMe SSD driver from Samsung (not sure if that's required yet).

I tried to find the the Audio and LAN drivers directly from Realtek but their site is as ba bad it's always been.
It's like it was coded by an 8 year old kid who just learned how to use Scratch.

Now I just need the parts to turn up.


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