Question about G570 video drivers [ Edited ]

[Arukard]

Hello I have purchased a brand new Lenovo G570 laptop and while I wait it to be delivered I have been downloading its drivers from http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/uk/en/DriversDownloads/drivers.html (I think it is the correct and updated place to get the drivers, I didnt find any other though) just in case I decide to do a full wipe and install my own Windows 7 OS.

Now my question, when I reach the "Video Drivers" download section for the G570 I see 3 different options for Windows 7 32-64bit :

1) ATI Catalyst Display Driver 212MB

- Driver Version: 8.800.0.0

- Release Date: 2010-12-22

- Description: Installation for Muxless only

- Last modified date: 2011-03-24

2) ATI Discrete Graphics Driver 136MB

- Driver Version: 8.790.9.1000

- Release and Last modified Date: 2011-03-14

- Description: Installation for Discrete only

3) Intel Onboard Graphics Driver 58.8MB

- Driver Version: 8.15.10.2246

- Release Date: 2010-12-22

And Im a bit lost about what driver should I download and install exactly, Im a noob in this field but I think my laptop has a i5 Sandy Bridge processor which comes with its own Intel GPU, then the G570 also has a dedicated AMD Radeon HD 6370M GPU, so I have supposed I should install the Intel and ATI video drivers to do it correctly.

However there are 2 different ATI drivers and I dont know wich is the correct one for my laptop, also if I go to the AMD website I find they give to download its own video driver visiting for this dedicated card:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

and going to "Netbook Graphics > Radeon HD Series > Radeon HD 6xxxM series > Windows 7 32/64 bit" brings me to download Catalyst Control Center 11.3 dated 2011-03-29 and sized 81.4MB

So I have the doubt what video drivers should I download for my new Lenovo G570 and from where? the ones from Lenovo support site or the ones from AMD website?

Thanks for your help.

EDIT: Sorry 1st post here and I dont konw what exactly happened with the paragraphs, that wall of text wasnt on purpose

[Arukard]

Hello again so I have been investigating this at noob speed and have discovered there could also be new updated drivers for the sandy bridge Intel GMA, so correct me if I am wrong, to install the best and more updated gpu drivers on my Lenovo G570 for Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit I should download these:

1) AMD Catalyst Mobility Display Driver 11.3: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-64.aspx#2

and

2) Intel GMA Driver 15.21.13.64.2342: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3319&DwnldID=19981

Please excuse me if this is a very simple doubt but I am not used to laptop drivers nor multigpu systems.

Thanks.

EDIT: I dont know why the forum wont save the paragraphs in my posts =P and show everything as a huge wall of text mess, I think it doesnt like Firefox or some of its addons, good thing I have Chrome as plan b

[yigit]

use your serial number for the download page ( the link you posted above ). the page will re-direct you for the "correct" drivers.

[Serge1410]

Hey Arukard,

I hope the G570 is working perfectly for you.

Anyway, I would suggest going to the Device manager and check what Display Driver is installed on your G570.

Then in the support site, choose the correct driver.

[Arukard]

Hello again and thanks for all the feedback it is appreciated, today I got my new Lenovo G570 laptop (I had to wait all this time because I bought the laptop from an online shop among other components and some items were out of stock) and at first look I can not find any flaw or defect in this computer, Im very happy with it, everyting seems to be working fine and it looks a very solid hardware, I was expecting something more cheap for the price I paid, also Im amazed how silent it works.

So going back to the topic, now that I have the laptop I have inserted its serial number in Lenovo Donwload Page and it has redirected me to the same G570 download page I had found in the first post:

http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/uk/en/DriversDownloads/drivers_list.aspx?CategoryID=130485

There is no difference in the drivers shown before and now, its the same G570 download page, also if I try to insert my laptop "model number" then it doesnt works it gives me a page error, only the serial number and like I say its the same page.

I have looked in Windows Device Manager and in the Display Driver section it shows only 1 result:  AMD Radeon HD 6370M

with diver version 8.790.9.0 with no other driver at sight, so I suppose the Intel Sandy Bridge owns GPU driver is not installed or not needed, thats what I think at first hand at least.

I have noted there is also a partition named "D:\LENOVO" with 2 folders "Application" and "drivers", containing the basic installation programs and drivers for the G570. Now searching in the VGA subfolder of drivers I only find the AMD Catalyst setup program... so again I guess the Intel driver is not needed.

Well I keep investigating, I plan doing a complete format and reinstall from zero, with only 1 partition in the Hard Disk, but without hurries, I first want to be sure I have all the correct drivers.

So in conclusion my biggest doubt right now is: 

Are the drivers given in Lenovo download page better and more optimized than the more updated ones given by the component manufacturer? like for example in this case AMD Catalyst 11.4 ?

Thanks for your help!

[yigit]

it depends.lenovo drivers works better but not always.
so, my personal opinion, do not update drivers directly from component manufacturer's website.

[Arukard]

Ok thanks so that said I think I will stay with Lenovo official drivers since Im looking for system stability more than performance.

But there is one last question I forgot to ask back in first post, a question I have now remembered when the laptop is finally in my hands, in the Lenovo Download page for G570, in the Video section, there are 3 AMD drivers:

http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/uk/en/DriversDownloads/drivers_list.aspx?CategoryID=130485

1 - AMD Graphics Driver (453 MB) - Installation for Discrete only

2 - ATI Catalyst Display Driver (212 MB) - Installation for Muxless only

3 - ATI Discrete Graphics Driver (90 MB) - no description

What is the difference between installation for Discrete and Muxless only? I have searched references to understand that description but I dont find anything. I plan to connect my G570 to an external 24" monitor if that helps to chose.

This is the last question I promise =] thanks very much for the help its really appreciated.

[yigit]

first & third one is for "usual" ati graphic cards. ( xp - windows 7 )
second one is, i think, new generation graphic cards.

http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/AMD-s-Optimus-Killer-Technology-Gets-Detailed-3.jpg/

if you're not sure which graphic cards you have, you can try smartdownload.

http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/uk/en/SmartDownloading/index.html?Lang=en

[robboUK]

Hi all,

This has been brought up before but I couldn't find a difinitive answer:

I use my serial no. to find the new grpahics driver for my G570 (it has the radeon dedicated graphics card) and it gave me a choice of 3 drivers. I looked at my device manager which showed it as the AMD driver. I downloaded this but it made the screen flash a little when using the internet after | installed it.

Did I install the correct one?

Which one is correct?

G570, 6mb rma, windows 7 64bit

Cheers

[yigit]

@ robbouk
please, see the previous posts first and do not forget to post back.