Chipset drivers are one of the most crucial components of any computer system that play an important role in the compatibility and functionality of the components.
Sometimes you need to know what version drivers you have to make sure your system is okay.
While many chipset manufacturers, such as Intel, show their driver versions easily in the specified folders, AMD chipsets aren’t that easy to locate.
This article explores different methods you can use to identify your AMD chipset driver versions.
How To Check AMD Chipset Driver Version
1. Device Manager
The simplest method is to look for the chipset version through the device manager.
It works for any chipset type that you have installed on your computer.
To get there:
Go to the Start menu on the bottom left corner of the screen and right-click on the “My Computer” icon.
Select “Properties.”
Click on “Hardware” and choose “Device Manager.”
Locate the option “IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers” under Device Manager.
You’ll see the list of chipset brands in which you should find the word AMD.
If you can’t find the chipset version under the said option, you could also search for it under “System Devices.”
Find the name of your chipset brand, right-click on it, select “Properties,” and look for “Version.”
This method is one of the first things you should try to find your AMD chipset version.
However, sometimes AMD chipset drivers are not included in the list of chipset brands, and you need to try other methods.
2. Install A New Version Of AMD Chipset Driver Package
One of the most effective methods suggested by users is to update your chipset drivers.
That’s because the AMD support has the latest updates for drivers.
AMD’s auto-detect tool will pick up your chipset drivers and check for the latest updates.
To do so, head to the AMD support page, enter your chipset model and subset, find the latest update for the chipset driver, and download and install it.
Make sure to search for the exact chipset model and download the drivers for your Windows version.
That’s because each chipset model needs its own drivers that aren’t necessarily the same for other models.
After downloading the latest drivers, follow the prompts to install them.
You can see the chipset driver’s version on the website and while your system is installing them.
You could also update your chipset driver through Windows update.
Click on the “My Computer” icon on the bottom left corner of the screen and find “Device Manager.”
Select “System Devices” and find AMD in the list.
Right-click on it and select “Update.”
When the system is updating the driver, it shows you the version name and number.
3. Apps And Features
This method is one of the easiest ways to find your AMD chipset driver’s version.
Right-click on the “My Computer” icon and find “Apps and Features.”
Open the folder and locate “AMD Chipset Software.”
You can see a number below “AMD Chipset Software” and the AMD logo when you click on it.
That’s the chipset version.
If you can’t access the AMD Chipset Software through Apps and Features, go to the Control Panel, and look for “Programs and Features.”
You can find the AMD Chipset Software in this folder.
The AMD chipset version is on the right side of the panel next to AMD Chipset Software.
4. Use Third-Party Apps
If none of the above-mentioned methods works, you could use third-party apps to check your AMD chipset driver version and learn many other things about your system.
1. SIW
SIW (System Information for Windows) is one of the best apps available that gives you super-detailed information about your computer by analyzing it and straightforwardly presenting the details.
This app gives you information about several major categories:
- Software: The information regarding software properties includes the operating system, installed software and software licenses, server configuration, system uptime, and many other features.
- Hardware: This is where you can use SIW to find details about your AMD chipset version. In addition, it gives you details about your system’s motherboard, BIOS, CPU, disk drives, printers, ports, USB devices, and lots of other things.
- Network: You can find information about network cards and connections, network shares, and open ports.
The software also monitors CPU and memory usage and network traffic in real-time.
Some other third-party apps help you make sure the drivers installed on your computer are the same as those on the AMD website.
2. SDI
SDI (Snappy Driver Installer) makes sure you have the latest chipset drivers and any hardware drivers installed on your computer.
If you can’t find the chipset driver on the AMD website, it helps you find and install it.
3. SnailDriver
Another useful tool is SnailDriver, designed for those who aren’t technology savvy, making everything straightforward.
It downloads all the necessary updates, shows you the driver version, and tells you if a new update is available.
However, you need to pay attention to what you click on because these apps tend to update everything, even those you don’t want.
If you only want to check your chipset driver’s version, just make sure it does what you want by pressing the right button.
4. AMD Radeon
If you’re into gaming and have installed AMD’s Radeon software package, you can check your chipset’s version via this app, too.
This software package is particularly helpful in some new systems featuring a single driver package that contains CPUs, chipset, and graphics.
There’s a single version number in the package in these cases, but when you look at each device in the device manager, they show you different driver versions.
That’s why you can’t find the chipset’s package version currently installed on your system.
You can use the AMD Radeon Settings app to determine your chipset’s package version.
When you open the app, go to the Software tab, and locate the Driver Package Version.
The number appearing under this entry is what you are looking for.
How To Check Chipset Driver Versions On Linux
Finding your chipset driver version on Linux is even more challenging than Windows 10.
However, it’s not impossible since you have a couple of options.
The first option is to install the AMD Radeon Software for Linux from the AMD website.
After downloading the software, you can have the same features described above for the Windows version.
You can find your chipset driver version there.
Since AMD has no separate chipset drivers for Linux, you can switch to Windows 10 (if you have it installed on your computer) and look for the driver version via the methods discussed above.
Why Do You Need To Know The Chipset Driver’s Version?
Your system’s chipset drivers manage and facilitate the communication between different parts of your system, including the video card, the processor, the hard drives, and system memory.
Since it’s a crucial component of any computer system, the chipset is essential in maintaining its performance.
Here are some of the most important things that a chipset determines:
1. Expansion Options
The chipset’s hardware features affect your options for future expansion to get improved graphics, more memory, and faster connectivity.
The chipset has two-way connections through wires called “lanes” which enable communication between the chipset and things like peripherals and graphics.
If your chipset has enough spare lanes, you can upgrade your system and get the expansion you want.
Sometimes the driver updates you get can facilitate these expansions taking advantage of the added features.
2. Overclocking
A chipset can allow you to overclock your system, which means raising the clock rate of your computer to increase the speed of the whole system or specific components.
Although it can void the manufacturer’s guarantee, many users decide to overclock to expand their system performance.
Not all chipsets give you the ability to overclock, but those with this capacity may increase their overclocking ability when upgraded.
3. Compatibility
Hardware and software are constantly growing and advancing to respond to the ever-growing technological capabilities.
As a crucial system component that facilitates communication, your chipset and motherboard should also keep pace with these advances.
Knowing the version of these drivers helps you make sure all system components are up-to-date, and your system is working to the best of its capacity.
Motherboard manufacturers regularly release updates to their chipset drivers to improve and maintain system stability.
These regular updates also make sure your system remains compatible with new features and software and add more features that it didn’t have at the original launch.
If you see your system is sluggish or you want to take full advantage of new features and capabilities, you can check the chipset’s driver version and update it if necessary.
However, some users believe that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
If you see your system is working the way you want, why tweak things until they break?
Plus, the Windows Operating System does a great job of keeping everything updated and fixes possible issues automatically.
However, if you’re sure your system can benefit from a chipset driver update, make sure you know the exact specs of your chipset and your Windows (whether it’s 64-bit or 32-bit).
How To Uninstall Chipset Drivers
You don’t need to uninstall your chipset drivers under normal conditions.
The upgrade or installation processes will be completed automatically or manually without any issues.
However, if you have recently changed the configuration of your system hardware or the chipset drivers currently installed on your computer are very old, it’s better first to uninstall your old chipset drivers and then install the new ones.
This way, you can make sure everything is clean before installing the new drivers, thus minimizing any possible issues.
You can uninstall your old chipset driver packages in different ways, such as via Device Manager or software packages specifically designed to uninstall apps.
That said, the best way to uninstall your chipset drivers is through Windows Programs and Features.
That’s because Windows Programs and Features accomplish the uninstall process in a controlled way, only removing the drivers that don’t harm the system when gone.
However, in the Device Manager, you could remove these crucial drivers and harm your system’s performance.
To do so, go to the Control Panel and locate and click on “Programs and Features.”
Scroll down to find AMD Chipset Software and double click on it, opening the AMD Chipset Software Installer.
After launch, it shows you a list of drivers that you can uninstall.
Uninstall the options checked by default by the software.
They include AMD PCI Device Driver, AMD PSP Driver, AMD Ryzen Power Plan, and AMD SMBus Driver.
However, some components, like the AMD GPIO driver, are crucial in the system’s operation, and you should never uninstall these.
That’s why you can’t see it among the default drivers to be uninstalled.
The drivers take a few minutes to uninstall completely, and then, you can click “Finish” and go back to Desktop.
How To Install New Chipset Driver Packages
If you decide to uninstall your old chipset drivers, you need to reinstall them to ensure your system’s functionality.
You can download the chipset drivers from AMD’s support page.
However, not every system can use these chipset drivers.
According to AMD, only systems with AMD Radeon Graphics, AMD Ryzen Chipsets, AMD Processors with Radeon Graphics, and AMD Radeon Pro Graphics, can install these drivers.
There’s a product selector on the download page that allows you to determine your AMD chipset.
When you choose the chipset, you can download it on the download page.
After choosing the Windows version, you can see the drivers, system requirements, and known and fixed issues by clicking the “Click here for release notes.”
After clicking “Download,” you can get the AMD Ryzen Chipset driver package and store it on your computer or a USB drive.
Installing the AMD chipset drivers is straightforward and only needs following the on-screen prompts.
However, it’s better to disable your antivirus and close all your open applications to avoid losing them or any other possible issues.
Find the downloaded chipset driver in the “Download” files and double-click on its executable file.
When the executable extracts setup files, you can see the AMD Chipset Software Installer displays a list of supported drivers you can install (the same as those you saw in the previous section).
The checked drivers are AMD recommended, and you should install them.
After agreeing to terms and conditions, the installation process begins, which takes a few minutes.
After installation completes, reboot your system, and finish the setup.
Note: While you’re installing the chipset drivers, some peripherals, such as a laptop’s trackpad, may stop working. That’s okay, and the problem goes away after the installation completes.
While you’re installing the chipset drivers, you may see an error named “Error 1316.”
That’s because your antivirus is running in the background.
The solution is to disable your antivirus and Windows Defender.
You could also delete temporary files before installing the new drivers.
Type “Disk Cleanup” in the search box next to the Windows icon on the taskbar and click on it.
Select the Temp folder and click “OK.”
Select the files you want to clean up and click “OK.”
Another problem you may encounter while installing the new chipset drivers is that Windows cannot open the installation log file.
That’s a common problem caused by the Windows Operating System and occurs when Windows doesn’t know where to save the log file.
The correct log file location is:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\MSIxxxxxx.log
Windows writes it to C:\Windows\System32
As a workaround, open the task manager and stop the Explorer.exe process and start it again.
Motherboard Drivers VS. Chipset Drivers
Drivers are the software programs that allow the hardware components to communicate and facilitate the whole system’s operation.
Motherboards and chipsets are both hardware components, and many people use motherboard drivers and chipset drivers interchangeably.
Are these two the same?
Also called a system board, a motherboard is the main board of the system that has many electronics circuits and components attached to or built into it.
Different slots on the motherboard house certain circuits and chips, such as memory chips and processor chips.
On the other hand, chipsets are a series of microchips designed to work together and other components.
Chipsets are parts of the motherboard that determine how compatible other components are with the motherboard.
They work like traffic controllers that control the communications between the processors, the memory, and peripherals (keyboards, mice, touchpads, etc.).
However, while motherboards and chipsets are two different components, chipset drivers and motherboard drivers are sometimes used interchangeably.
Leave a Reply