Latest Intel HD drivers

I was wondering about this but is it always ok to download the latest video drivers from Intel site? I currenty have the Intel HD graphics and I noticed that Sony esupport website has an older version of the video driver for my notebook and I wanted to get the latest drivers from Intel website but want to make sure if that's ok. I usualy notice that Intel has more updated drivers for this video cards than Sony so I assume it's ok to use Intel website support driver for the Intel HD that I have.

 

What model Vaio do you have? If you got the Z series, no, you shouldn't. The hybrid drivers are proprietary. If any other non-hybrid graphics solution Vaios, then yes, go ahead.

 

I have the Sony VPC-EB3QFX

Now I did talk to Sony tech support and they said something about all Sony notebooks are OEM drivers and they said they recommend to only download them from esupport website.

Also when I used auto detect drivers on Intel website it said that my video driver is custom made or so. But do you think they using the drivers from Intel is still ok? I don't know but just want to make sure that everything will run right but of cource I do want the latest drivers too. Now if you did say that it will work then I guess I can go ahead and download the drivers but before I do I want to make sure if it's still ok after what I found out talking to Sony techs and going to Intels site.

 

You can most likely use the drivers from intel themself. I am running them here as well (on my Vaio Z). Just uninstall old ones and try one from intel (if it's newer ofcourse).

 

I used the Automatically identify and find drivers thing and ran it and it said.

Product Detected Intel® HD Graphics
Current Driver Installed 8.15.0010.2182
A customized computer manufacturer driver is installed on your computer. The Intel Driver Update Utility is not able to update the driver. Installing a generic Intel driver instead of the customized computer manufacturer driver may cause technical issues. Contact your computer manufacturer for the latest driver for your computer.


Should I just ignore this and go ahead and download the latest drivers from Intel?

 

It said this using sys lab detection program from Intel's website.

 

Intel Download Center - Intel HD Graphics

Click Sort By: DATE then
1st link on that page = 32bit
2nd link on that page = 64bit

They are 8.15.10.2226. You can bookmark that link to always have access to the latest downloads for Intel HD.

 

Well my question is that why does Intel say that they recommend using drivers from Sony and not use the drivers from Intel directly? Has Sony modified the drivers to work best for the Sony notebook I have? It it possible that Sony could change there drivers from the original to make it work better for certain notebooks?

 

I just want to make sure I won't have issues just because I used the latest drivers from Intel and didn't use the drivers that is posted on Sony.

 

So no one is sure why does Intel say that they recommend to get drivers from basicly Sony since my notebook is from Sony. I thought that Sony did some changes on the drivers for my notebook to make this model run better and that's why it says the current drivers I' am using is custom made.


But if you guys are sure that I won't have problems downloading drivers directly from Intel then I can do it but I just really need to make sure on this.

 

I still haven't downloaded it yet since you guys haven't found out why Intel says to download the drivers from the manufacture who made my notebook which is Sony. I just need to be very sure about this. I think I will ask this question on a different computer forums to make sure also and see what they say.

 

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

Seriously, for such a critical component I'd rather be safe than sorry. Installing a driver that is not tested on my particular model of laptop is just too dangerous with no clear benefit.

 

^ if you use a bad driver... just uninstall it/downgrade it... or press f8 before you boot into windows and choose last know good configuration or go back to a previous restore point in Windows.

And as for no clear benefit. For most(if not all GPU's) driver updates usually mean increase in performance or unlock some other benefit. IIRC most desktop GPUs see a ~5% boost in performance with initial driver releases.

As a response to the OP's question, there are no guarantees that the driver will work, however, seeing that you have a non-hybrid graphics solution Vaio, it should most likely work. The problems with PCs are that people do things with them that aren't necessarily good like install 999999 programs and if those programs are not properly written, it could cause a failure with other programs that are written properly. Hence, the "I want a MacBook" mentality. But you trade compatibility and control when you do that, but some people are willing to do that to have their machines function as a machine. However, having a PC let's you take the machine far beyond what it was meant to do, so it's up to you.

In any case, I say read the changelog, and decide if what they changed warrants an update of drivers.

 

The main reason why nVidia and ATI driver updates provide speed benefits, especially to games, is because the drivers have multiple code paths, tweaked for different situations. By sacrificing speed doing X, they can make Y go faster.
The updated drivers identify the application binaries and chooses the code paths that makes the most sense for those particular apps, instead of the default.

Intel, however, doesn't have multiple code paths and runtime app identification, so you don't get this benefit. Any improvements will be actual code improvements, and there isn't a lot to buy with that.

 

Well I do know that I had a desktop machine that had a Intel graphics and I did use the Intel detect tool and it didn't show anything about it's custom made drivers for that tower. I really think that means that Sony or other companies really might have modefied there drivers for somereason. But what's strange is that Sony says all drivers are OEM. Now OEM means they are original so that means they came right from Intel for example. If that's the case then Sony must use the drivers from Intel right? Since doesn't OEM mean it's original?

 

There maybe not much difference on the newer drivers that is on Intel but my point is that is it totaly ok to use drivers from directly from Intel who made Intel HD graphics.

 

You got it the wrong way around.
OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer
Sony is an OEM. So an OEM driver for Sony would be a "Sony Special".

The main reason for OEM drivers is when the hardware is also custom, which could be anything from changed memory or core speeds (which would normally not affect the driver) to differences in number and types of displays supported, or special sleep states and wake-up procedures (both of which can warrant driver modifications).

Or the driver might have been dumbed down to make support easier. Sony often does this, by disabling any configuration options or tools that give the users enough rope to hang themselves with.

Or it might even be just branding -- not show an Intel/AMD/nVidia logo at any time.

So the question of whether the card manufacturer's native driver will work or not depends on a lot of things. It may, or it may not. But if you do it, don't count on Sony supporting it.

 

So does this mean that some computers like Dell or Sony don't use original hardware like from Intel? So did they modify the hardware to make it work the best for certain notebooks? Then no wonder on a different machine I had it didn't even let me install the drivers directly from Intel. I had a Dell tower and it had an Intel 82865G graphics and I remember I did had to format and install a fresh copy of Windows XP and when I tried installing the drivers like the video card using the original Intel drivers didn't even let me install it. I had to goto Dell website and install the driver from there for the machine I had before. So if that's the case using Intel drivers for my new Sony might not even let me install when i try to. I really think that means that Sony or Dell or other brands must made the hardware better than original Intel graphics like the Intel HD. Maybe that's why Doom 3 and Quake 4 ran on high settings having 40 FPS or higher since on some websites it said that the Intel HD wont even run well on low settings on games like Doom 3.

 

Oh, the hardware comes from the manufacturers like Intel, but usually in "special" versions. There are many reasons why hardware is modified for specific computers, including adding special features (like the speed/stamina switch on the Z) and being able to fit in a cramped space, but just as often to remove features and reduce costs. Why pay extra for an extra video output that the computer doesn't have? When you make a million computers, shaving off just a few pennies becomes significant.

 

So that Dell machine and my current Sony machine uses a special Intel card? So does that mean that I have to forsure only use drivers from Sony or Dell? Well I sold that Dell a year agao since it was old but right now I have is the Sony that is brand new still but do you guys think I should use the Intel drivers or should I just only install drivers that came from Sony?


Do most of you guys have been successful using drivers that are not from Sony, Dell, HP etc? Did they perform always better than drivers made from like Sony? I just don't know since if mine is better than the normal Intel HD then I might have no choice but to use drivers from Sony. But If the newer version of Intel HD from Intel will work and make it slightly better then my current version from Sony then I do want to install it.

 

I mean seriously if the Intel driver that is newer will work better though and forsure won't have problems then I should download it. But if Sony added some features on my current Intel card then that Intel driver from Intel might not have the added features to work that is on my Sony.


Basicly I want to know is do you guys think this Sony VPC-EB3QFX notebook will work better with the Intel drivers or Sony drivers? The specs for this machine are on google.com or on Sony esupport page if you type the model of my computer.

 

Try the newer Intel driver. If you don't like it, then you can roll it back.

 

Dustin - perhaps you could be overthinking this???? Give it a shot and if you don't like it go back....goodness.

 

Ok I did try for the first time to install the latest drivers from Intel and this is what I get.


"The driver been installed is not validated for this computer. Please obtain the appropriate driver from the computer manufacturer.

Setup will exit"


What does this mean?

 

Try this site.
intel drivers pour Raid/Sata/Ata/Ahci

It's a bit shady with pop ups, but the drivers are legit. It's where we've been getting our beta's.

 

Ok it did work and I didn install it and it works fine so far. But what is strange is that why does Sony make it so you can't use Intel's drivers if Intel's drivers work perfectly fine??? I did had to uninstall Sonys Intel HD drivers and then install Intel HD drivers from Intel.

 

I don't think that Sony prevents you from using Intel's drivers directly. Not sure if that's the same case for yours though, as we have different machines.

Glad you got it installed.

 

Latest drivers from Sony website

Version :
8.15.10.2182

Last Modified :
09/21/2010



This is the latest version from Intel.com website


Version:
15.21.2.64.2246

Date:
12/08/2010


As you see the Intels website is more current. But is it still best to use the older version Sonys custom made driver? I would assume soon Sony will update there drivers but I just wanted to know if it's ok to just uninstall the Sony drivers and install Intels drivers that is more updated.



But some people are saying to use Sonys since I might in the future run into some problems and also it will run smoother using Sonys drivers.

 

I say go with the Intel drivers.

Updating drivers does not require a lifelong committment. If it performs poorly, or does so over time, you can roll back to the previous version.

 

Some also have said this.


"I would say that while there may be no harm done by updating to the generic driver, the Sony driver will be more adapted to your hardware. So if I were you, I would keep it the same.

I also think that the large gap in version number is due to Sony using a different system to number their versions of the software, rather than yours being out of date."


So maybe my Sony has a different Intel HD hardware and maybe it has more features on mine than the original Intel HD graphics from Intel.

 

Regardless of what other people say, it's harmless to try the driver out and see how it works for you. You can either system restore or roll the driver back.