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Using Intel's video drivers pros and cons

How many of you are using the Intel Video Drivers?

  • I am

    Votes: 19 57.6%
  • I'm not

    Votes: 14 42.4%

  • Total voters
    33

ctitanic

Well-Known Member
It's not a secret that Intel's video drivers always have been a head in many versions that those coming to our SP3 via Windows Update. So any one wants to comment in the pros and cons of installing the Intel Drivers?

Personally, the last time I checked the possibility I found that in Windows Updates were reverting those drivers to whatever was being pushed by Windows Update and being lazy by nature I decided not to install Intel's. So, is that still the case?
 
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Reactions: vxm

Ordnas

Member
I have installed the latest Intel drivers and it's like night and day. No more colour banding or posterisation problems in photos or videos. You also get the option to adjust performance levels amongst other settings. I haven't had any problems with Microsoft trying to revert the drivers in windows update either. Haven't noticed any detrimental effect on battery life either.
 

vxm

Active Member
I suppose Intel driver installed via Windows Update is sufficient for daily usage, but I always opted for the latest one for gaming. While I cannot show you any hard evidence, I noticed that those newer drivers help with performance more often than not, plus they come with more options to choose from and customize as you please. Each hardware update installed via Update service reverts driver to version from November 2014 for me, so it's bit pain in the neck. I will definitely check link, from looks of it, it seems it might just be the thing- excluding GPU driver from update search :)
 
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ctitanic

ctitanic

Well-Known Member
I suppose Intel driver installed via Windows Update is sufficient for daily usage, but I always opted for the latest one for gaming. While I cannot show you any hard evidence, I noticed that those newer drivers help with performance more often than not, plus they come with more options to choose from and customize as you please. Each hardware update installed via Update service reverts driver to version from November 2014 for me, so it's bit pain in the neck. I will definitely check link, from looks of it, it seems it might just be the thing- excluding GPU driver from update search :)
So you confirm that it reverts the drivers to November's version of them.
 

Ordnas

Member
I suppose Intel driver installed via Windows Update is sufficient for daily usage, but I always opted for the latest one for gaming. While I cannot show you any hard evidence, I noticed that those newer drivers help with performance more often than not, plus they come with more options to choose from and customize as you please. Each hardware update installed via Update service reverts driver to version from November 2014 for me, so it's bit pain in the neck. I will definitely check link, from looks of it, it seems it might just be the thing- excluding GPU driver from update search :)

The drivers do not revert for me. I installed mine manually from device manager.
 

vxm

Active Member
In my case Hardware Update reverts drivers to 11/14/2014 version. I too am installing them manually from device manager level
 

WAR

Member
The Intel Update Utility says the Surface Driver does not need to be updated. I was wondering how you manually selected the driver? Device Manager doesn't give much help . .
 

vxm

Active Member
I download driver directly from intel website- intel's download center should be in top results for search in google. Download .zip file and unpack it- remember where you put it. Now the fun part: uninstall Intel's graphics driver from Device Manager, reboot your tablet, navigate back to DM- you should see that windows installed it's own graphics driver. Head to properties and choose manual install- tap "have disk..." option and navigate to folder where you unpacked your zip- from there it should install.

Alternatively you could just install driver with .exe file, but for some people it doesn't work- in my case both solutions work the same.

After you install driver, best option would be to turn off automatic updates, to prevent them from overwriting your new driver. I turn them off, then check for updates manually and hide "hardware update" and turn automatic updates back on, so that I can get the newest fixes and patches but without the risk of getting my graphics driver reverted.
 

Ordnas

Member
I download driver directly from intel website- intel's download center should be in top results for search in google. Download .zip file and unpack it- remember where you put it. Now the fun part: uninstall Intel's graphics driver from Device Manager, reboot your tablet, navigate back to DM- you should see that windows installed it's own graphics driver. Head to properties and choose manual install- tap "have disk..." option and navigate to folder where you unpacked your zip- from there it should install.

Alternatively you could just install driver with .exe file, but for some people it doesn't work- in my case both solutions work the same.

After you install driver, best option would be to turn off automatic updates, to prevent them from overwriting your new driver. I turn them off, then check for updates manually and hide "hardware update" and turn automatic updates back on, so that I can get the newest fixes and patches but without the risk of getting my graphics driver reverted.
I did practically the same as you, but I didn't uninstall first, I just updated instead.
 
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