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Best upgrade policy for an AMD system for office use
I'm trying to build a healthy base just after reinstall, for the AMD PC described in my system specs. Integrated graphics, no games, office-type use with much Internet.
1. Would you advise installing the most recent drivers, on the basis that "newer is more compatible" ? Those that were current at the time of my original 2010 build, on the basis that "it worked then" ? Something in between ?
2. Regarding the bunch of software that comes under the guise of "chipset drivers" or "display driver", and is installed by ATI Catalyst Install Manager,
- I tried the display driver that was delivered by my motherboard manufacturer at the time of my build in 2010, the "legacy" version for my now-discontinued graphic chip which is the most up-to-date available, and (I think) something in-between. They all work (apparently). Any preferences ?
- Depending on the driver package version, Catalyst Install Manager offers to install Visual C++ in various versions (I think I have come across 2008, 2010 and 2012 -- but Microsoft has 2015 on its site). All these versions install side by side, instead of replacing each other. Is Visual C++ needed ? Is it important to have the latest version ? To keep them all together ?
- Catalyst Install Manager offers to install various pieces of software whose aim is obscure to me, but seem related to gaming and powerful add-on graphic cards, all of which are not in my league : AMD App SDK Runtime, AMD Accelerated Video Transcoding, AMD Drag and Drop Transcoding, AMD Foundation Decoders.... Can I dispense with them ? Or are they better installed "just in case" ?
- Any views on AHCI drivers ? I have different ones, of different age, from different sources. I'm a bit pissed off because my external hard disks, which I hot-swap into a rack, are (I think) less responsive than before (when I first click into them in Windows Explorer, I have to wait a while before the file structure is displayed ; I don't know if it might be related to drivers ; then again, it might be a misconception on my part and this delay may have existed before).
3. I don't like at all what I have been drawn to do up to now, which is multiple installs / reinstalls over existing drivers / uninstalls, variously installing in recommended default locations / changing the location. Ideally, I would restore an image from an early stage and start all over again. However, Windows Updates is so slow these days that I'm weary to erase them all and start from an un-patched Windows.
- Is this track record detrimental to building a clean image I can go back to in the future if anything goes wrong ?
- Should drivers be un-installed before being re-installed ? What is the best way to do this : Catalyst Install Manager ? Windows Device Manager ?
Many thanks in advance.