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Do I need *all* drivers or is it enough to just install the most essential ones?

You need all.

Your laptop needs drivers to work properly. While Windows is able to install and update some drivers automatically, it is not able to fully install your system without your help.

If you have bought your XMG laptop with Windows pre-installed, you already have all drivers installed and can pretty much start working immediately. But if you install Windows from scratch, you need to install all drivers. Related article: How to do a clean Windows reinstallation

Some drivers may seem obscure or unknown to you. That does not mean that they are not important. We strongly recommend installing all drivers, without any exception.

Exception: RAID and RST. You only need those if you use RAID to bundle multiple SSDs into one logical drive. If you don’t know what RAID or VMD is, then you are not using it. Skip RAID.

In what order should drivers be installed?

Install the drivers of the CPU manufacturer (Intel or AMD) first – starting with the chipset driver. Otherwise, the order of driver installation won’t too much matter.

Do I need to reboot after every driver install?

No. It may be customary to reboot after the chipset driver. Otherwise, reboot when everything is done.

How can I install drivers more efficiently?

You will have most drivers available as individual ZIP files. Install 7-Zip on WinRAR first. Then you can unzip all ZIP archives into individual folders with one single-click.
 

Right-click → Extract all files into individual folders.

Screenshot: Right-click → Extract all files into individual folders.

 

  • Select all ZIP files
  • Right-click
  • In Windows 11: select “Show more options”
  • In the 7-Zip sub-menu: select Extract to “*\”

The “*” in this option is a so-called wildcard that represents all the sub-folders that will be created. Each subfolder will bear the name of the originating ZIP file.

What is the purpose of some of the more obscure drivers?

Aside from the most obvious drivers (Graphics, Wi-Fi, LAN, Card Reader, Audio), this table will explain some of the more obscure or cryptic driver names.

 

Driver name Purpose
Chipset Covers most of the CPU platform’s basic features. Install this first.
Management Engine CPU Power Management and Performance.
Platform Innovation Framework CPU Power Management and Performance.
SpeedShift CPU Power Management and Performance.
HIDfilter HID = Human Interface Device, includes support for hotkeys and even for the power button on some systems.
Serial IO Input/Output, required for Touchpad Support.
VGA Graphics Card.
Soundblaster, Nahimic, THX, Senary Audio interface to improve speaker sound.
GNA Intel Gaussian & Neural Accelerator; used for AI-based noise-cancellation among others.
Hotkey Name for older versions of Control Center.
OEM_ORIGINAL Older driver that is offered as alternative to the latest official drivers from Intel, AMD or NVIDIA. Usually used for Graphics.
RAID / RST Only needed if you use RAID to bundle multiple SSDs into one logical drive.

 

Should I update drivers via Windows Update?

Generally, it is safe to install drivers via Windows Update. But it is also safe to not update drivers automatically. Security issues (exploits, gaps) usually don’t come from device drivers, but from the operating system or end-user software.

In some cases it can happen that Windows Update pushes drivers that are not fully compatible with your system yet. This can be prevented by disabling automatic driver updates. Related article: How can I prevent Windows Update from automatically updating my drivers?

Do I need GeForce Experience to keep my NVIDIA drivers updated?

No. GeForce Experience is a nice tool with lots of gaming-related features and it will notify you about NVIDIA GeForce driver updates. On the other hand, it is also marketing-platform for NVIDIA to show you more advertisements.

NVIDIA driver updates can be manually downloaded from NVIDIA’s homepage.

You can pick between “GameReady” and “Studio” drivers. Generally, “GameReady” drivers are the latest drivers. In case you ever have some graphics-related issues, you can try the “Studio” driver which is usually a little bit less bleeding-edge.

Other popular features of GeForce Experience can be substituted with other methods:

Should I even install GeForce Experience?

Based on our experience, yes, you absolutely should. If you don’t like using it, you can simply install it and leave it alone. It does not even automatically start with Windows. But it should be present, otherwise the NVIDIA driver may act strangely.

Further information on this advise is given in this article: Should I unselect GeForce Experience when I install or update the NVIDIA graphics driver?

How often do I need to update my NVIDIA driver?

Rule of thumb:

  • If your CPU and GPU generation is very new, seek regular updates in the first couple of months of ownership as there may be some late platform-related bugs that are ironed out after launch.
  • If you play the very latest (just released) triple-A or otherwise popular game, seek the latest NVIDIA updates before you start playing the game and for a few more weeks afterwards. Especially seek driver updates if you have performance problems with very new games.
  • If you recently installed a very major Windows Update (such as “22H2”), seek NVIDIA updates shortly after.

In any other case, you are likely to use (relatively) older hardware with (relatively) older software: there is no need to constantly update your drivers. Turn off notifications and just use your system.