Intel INF Update Utility (formerly Intel Chipset Driver Update) A lot has gone on since Ross last posted about the Intel Chipset Drivers, now commonly referred to by their easy-to-remember name "INF Update Utility". Download your INFs, Intel users!
Intel 6,5,4,3 and 900 Series Chipset owners (mostly everyone with a desktop thats not AMD-based and came out this last decade), should take a look at
INF Update 9.2.0.1021, released on January 4th, 2011.
Link Removed due to 404 Error I'm confused. Do I need this?
Just in case you're not sure which Intel Chipset you have, check out the
Intel Chipset Identification Utility. This was updated on February 7th, 2011 (yes, that was yesterday at the time of this post). This is a milestone for the Intel Chipset Identification Utility, since it has reached version 6. This software identifies your chipset, for easy download of the appropriate chipset drivers.
What are these exactly? Chipset drivers from Intel increase performance of everything from USB to overall hardware response time. Motherboards are created and sold by individual manufacturers, and some even by Intel themselves (mostly for Dell), but all Intel-based motherboards require these drivers for optimal performance. This intensive development in these drivers is what many experts have concluded put Intel over the top a long time ago in their board designs and processors.