In my experience Realtek ones are always newer. However, some motherboard or computer vendors have customized drivers in such a way that Realtek HD Audio Manager utility only work from theirs, i.e., I've installed latest ones from Realtek but the utility won't run at all... sometimes not always. I've never researched in depth about this issue and its solution, if exists.
I worked as a computer technician store for many years, and except for a few notebooks that only worked with the version available from the manufacturer of the notebook, usually the best driver is the latest version provided by the card manufacturer. It is usually the most stable and with better performance. Lately, the drivers provided by Windows Update has been very good too. A few years ago most of them were completely unusable despite officially recommended. If the system is working, do not change. This is the golden rule. But if it is working with problems try in this order: latest official version of the card manufacturer, the latest version available on Windows Update, last version of the notebook manufacturer (usually a stable version, but not a version with good performance), and, finally, the version made available by third parties, in forums or unofficial sites. cheers
I agree, if you not having any issues with your audio then do not try to fix something that is not broken. Continue using your current driver.
This the best answer. 100% agree. Although you can try the latest which comes from the producers. If doesn't work, You can always go back. I haven't never had any problem with Realtek.
Hmm... In my opinion there's no best answer in this thread. All have commented their knowledge and experiences and very valuable I see they are. All experiences conform a solid knowledge base for OP to make a choice.
easy workaround is install OEM then in device manager use browse for new driver and that upgrades the .sys not the exe program.
I'm installing windows 10, so i'm preparing all the driver necessary beforehand. Thanks for the help. (i will try the realtek one, if it won't work i could always install the OEM one)
Even if you are installing Windows 10, you can get some very old drivers, but they do not need to upgrade, because they are the best for this configuration.
Yea, I remember getting a Dell laptop in the shop to fix a few years back, NVIDIA GPU, but drivers from the NVIDIA site wouldn't install, had to use the ancient modded ones from the Dell site
Ah yes I completely forgot the Frankenstein method in computers Thanks but I will pass this time. As a technician I don't want to and have the time to tinker with Frankendrivers lol
i just fixed one 4 days ago.. if it has nvidia LAN and older v 5 series use nforce 15.51 not the newer ones... and the nvidia shield if it got installed by accident.. find the .msi and right click uninstall works best.
Yeah the funny thing is, i used the audio driver from Realtek and not from my motherboard vendor (gigabyte), and it somehow installed as a gigabyte driver (with the gigabyte logo at the bottom) don't understand how.
Smartphones track more data and nobody seems to care. But back on topic, the Gigabyte driver might have come from Windows Update. The only times recently I've had to go get a driver for 10 was for video cards. Fresh installs (and Windows Update) seem to pick up on pretty much every device I've come across in the past 6 months.
absolutely correct ... I have an old usb/wireless Canon printer ... linked in ok with upgrade { not clean install ) W10 .. no probs ... is working good , so not going to upgrade drivers ... but of course will be some bad results for different devices ... so ,remember to create restore points ...