Windows drivers vs OEM drivers

[snowonweb]

I just did a clean install of windows 7 x64 and have a question about drivers. There are so many choices and its not always clear which drivers are the best.
Is it better to use Windows / Windows Update drivers, or perhaps drivers from ASUS website. My concerns are Nvidia and nforce drivers and which ones do you guys recomend.
Also as far as my TV Card and bluetooth dongle, should I stick with Windows update or should I go with each individual component driver. Also latest hauppage tv card driver on hauppage site says its WHQL but then windows update hauppage driver is one release behind?
All I want is for my computer to be stable at least for the summer.

 

[Product FRED]

It's best to use those from the ASUS website. And if you know which card you have, it's even better to get them from the Nvidia/ATi website. You grab the latest drivers and that's it.

As for other, non-essential peripherals, Windows Update drivers are fine.

 

[richc46]

It is the general opinion of the Forum members that it is best to go to the website of the manufacurer. In that way you will get the most current, and also not a generic one fits all. As long as you do not make a mistake on an essential driver, you can always set a sytem restore point, first, and rectify any mistakes that you have made.

 

[snowonweb]

I guess I will stick with Windows Update drivers except for Nvidia/nForce. Great. Thanks

 

[chrysalis]

first as a rule of thumb if it isnt broke then dont fix it. So unless you have a reason for upgrading such a as a bug or security hole then I suggest leave alone.

As an example I have decided to not install the latest intel chipset drivers on this system and leaving the defaults in place, however I did overide the atk0110 driver and will overide nvidia drivers with 182.50 version since all the wddm 1.1 nvidia drivers are poor. On my x-fi there is no choice as there is no windows drivers for it. Intel pro 1000 lan I will likely install oem drivers as there is extra features on them for the card. All the ide/ahci drivers I have learned that the windows drivers are the best 99% of the time. Intel's ahci drivers are very slow compared to the default msahci drivers. The jmicron drivers make you lose ability to use SMART on connected drives, whilst default drivers on jmicron dont.

These are just some examples from my own experience.