Windows Update vs. drivers from manufacturers site

Hi! Which one is recommended for Windows 7: letting Windows Update install all drivers after fresh install or installing the drivers from the manufacturers site (mainboard, gpu etc.) ? In XP and Vista it seemed clearer to use the drivers from each manufacturers site, but after trying Windows 7 RC it seemed to find the drivers very well and the system was stable. I´m installing Windows 7 for my relatives computer and all he needs is a stable system, not cutting-edge performance and features. All he needs is that its stable and basic things like hibernation work.

My relatives system specs: P5Q motherboard, Intel C2D E8500, Ati Radeon HD4850, 2 GB RAM

Thanks for the replies!

I have a feeling that it is better to let Windows Update install them all in Windows 7, because the manufacturers drivers are not tested by Microsoft. Anyway it would make installing the OS a lot easier, I don't think it's that important to have the latest drivers unless there are big problems with the older ones.

And another question, have I understood correctly, that chipset drivers should be installed only after fresh install and are not recommended to be updated after that, unless it is a new fresh install?

With Vista, I actually had my system trashed because I let Windows Update install a HDD controller driver that was claimed to be newer than the one I had (which was installed from the CD that came with the motherboard) but actually was older.

However ...

I've been running Win7 for several months now on several machines and have not had a similar problem.

smarteyeball said:

Apart from the GPU drivers, it's usually fine to let Windows install them.

Yeah, GPU drivers from Windows Update usually work; but they aren't the best, as ATI and NVIDIA (two main GPU manufacturers) have their own control panels (ATI Catalyst Control Centre and NVIDIA Control Panel) which offer much more options.

ZeshanA