Which lan driver do i need?

[Selynelar]

Good Day All! 

I am just curious that which driver do i need for my motherboard? (z790-f gaming wifi)

This

Intel I226 LAN NDIS driver V1.1.4.38 for Windows 10 64-bit and Windows 11 64-bit. - LAST UPLOADED ON THE SUPPORT PAGE

or 

this

Intel I225 / I226 LAN Driver V1.1.4.38 For Windows 10 64-bit.
Intel I225 / I226 LAN Driver V2.1.3.3 For Windows 11 64-bit.
NDIS Driver V1.1.3.34  - PREVIOSLY UPLOADED ON THE SUPPORT PAGE

Thanks for your replies.

[undeadbanana · Accepted solution]

If you're trying to avoid Armory Crate, I've found an open source alternative called Snappy Drivers that searches for updated drivers based on Hardware IDs. Always a risk to being lazy though. 😂 Intel also offers software to auto-update drivers for their components on your computer, but it almost feels like adware and forces you to update through a browser which just feels like an entire Intel advertisement, there's always the "Your system is ready for Arc" notification and it gets my attention deficit tingling when it's always notifying me.

I went ahead and checked your boards tech specs and there seems to be only one Ethernet controller onboard which is most likely the I226 being offered, the previous software versions that included I225/I226 bundled were probably just Intel releasing drivers that were compatible with both controllers and they've seemed to veered from that.

You should only need the I226 (current available from your Board's support page), you can check Device Manager --> go to Network Adapters and it should specify your ethernet controller there.

If you'd prefer to just stick with officially released Asus firmware that should be the best for your current setup, an Asus Armory install would be the best way to get those drivers. It's a little buggy and very sluggish for me, so I usually only install it to see if there's any drivers I missed or other programs missed and then immediately uninstall it.

[Selynelar]

Thank you for your response. So i have checked the controller in the device manager and it says i226-v so most probably i need the driver only for that. Thanks for the explanation like this it is crystal clear. What was confused for me that one software version was totally different from the other one like V1.1.4.38 and V2.1.3.3.

[MrAgapiGC]

Hello. We do use or asus oem drivers or the mokichu drivers.  In fact most use what the oem supply but never use malware programs or never will recomend programs to do so 

For the i225/i226 on windows 11 you can use this ones PERFECT well. 

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/downloads-for-motherboards/drivers-intel-ethernet-wifi-bluetooth/td-p/...

Drivers - I225/I226 - Windows 11 : 2.1.3.15 WHQL [29/06/2023] Download - I225/I226 - Windows 11  once download and extract , enter device manager look for network, select the ethernet, update driver, find the driver folder you extract and next and done. that is it. 

I did see the one fthat asus provice for us. I am happy to see that for the first time after 9yrs we have asus drivers updates.  The 2.1.3.3 is a old driver that update the firsmware. the new drivers already have that patch, at least the forums. you can use the 2023/03/21 FIRST if you have the old one BUT i am sure you have have it alreday. 

Up to you. 

RULE: for a malwarre app use the asus forums drivers NEVER FAIL. 

[Vatergascoigne]

Hello everyone,
same board but I have to say the question isn't really answered for me.
But maybe I'm missing something...
So is the newly released driver V1.1.4.38 the one I should use?
Even if Armory Crate tells me my LAN driver is out of date?
Do I understand correctly that one is a driver provided by Intel and the other is customized by ASUS?

[hamber0030]

Hi,

No you don't need NDIS variant drivers, please refer to this post : 

https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/intel-700-600-series/intel-ethernet-drivers-question/m-p/902807/highli...

[Selynelar]

Thanks for your reply. Honestly I have tried both already. And so far works both. But the 2.1.3.3 is looks more stable. No lags no drops.

Thanks again.