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Help with Asus Software: Install it or No?

bamajon1974
Level 7
I need some advice on whether to install Asus AISuite 3, EZUpdate, and Armory Crate/Aura software or remove them from my system. What do these programs really do, are they necessary, and what are the benefits/problems? It seems that many users on the Asus forms and reddit hate the Asus software (but otherwise are generally happy with the hardware). In particular, I would like opinions of AISuite -- do I really need it? and Armory Crate vs. Aura -- which should I use, or ditch both and not use the LED lighting? I have read numerous posts about how much of a POS Armory Crate is, all of the services it installs, how buggy it is, etc.

Opinions? Thanks!

Releveant specs:
Win10 Pro X64 v1909
Intel Core i9-9900K Coffee Lake 8-Core, 16-Thread, 3.6 GHz
Asus ROG Strix Z390E Motherboard
G.SKILL TridentZ RGB Series 64GB (4 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600)
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe PH-ES614LTG_BK Black Aluminum Faceplates Tempered Glass Panel Steel Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case with RGB Illumination

I am not a gamer and don't use my rig to play games but more as a workstation so overclocking is not a big deal.
9,189 Views
6 REPLIES 6

MoKiChU
Level 40
Hi,

I already gave my opinion on this subject here, in my case, generally in order to favor the stability of my system, I do not install the ASUS extra softwares supplied with the motherboard which duplicate the BIOS/UEFI settings or which allow me to do what I can do myself safely (like updating the drivers), the only thing that cannot be simply replaced by a manual and safe action is the RGB management (for that I use ASUS AURA (Win32, not UWP) version 1.06.17 that I intentionally do not update because the following versions are really messy with multiple modules installed). Apart from that, ASUS hardwares are among the best not to say the best.

MoKiChU wrote:
Hi,

I already gave my opinion on this subject here, in my case, generally in order to favor the stability of my system, I do not install the ASUS extra softwares supplied with the motherboard which duplicate the BIOS/UEFI settings or which allow me to do what I can do myself safely (like updating the drivers), the only thing that cannot be simply replaced by a manual and safe action is the RGB management (for that I use ASUS AURA (Win32, not UWP) version 1.06.17 that I intentionally do not update because the following versions are really messy with multiple modules installed). Apart from that, ASUS hardwares are among the best not to say the best.


Thank you. Regarding AISuite...If I understand correctly, I don't need AISuite because I can use a better program like HWInfo to monitor hardware, access all of the UEFI settings in the BIOS and update manually, right? Does AISuite do anything that cannot be replicated by other better software? It seems like AISuite is bloated and unnecessary.

I do like the LED lights and understand that Aura older versions are more stable than Armory Crate.....should I just forget about the lighting and ignore the Aura and Armory Crate software altogether?

Thanks!

Hi,

in my opinion or let me say i set it up like this:

I use Armoury Crate mainly to have control over my RGB stuffs. This makes the older aura standalone thing orphaned. Also i think the two interfere with each other. So use either the one or the other.

About the AI suite. Well it is a suite, so it will install all the things that are within the suite. I think it is heavy loaded with also unneccessary things. But i mainly want to have it to be able to set my own custom fan curves because i have a loaded cooling solution that requires some manual control. Ok i could do this also in the BIOS/Firmware -- but:
+ I can set profiles for the fans
+ i have easy access without having to reboot the machine
+ if theres a firmware update i can just reapply stored settings while the firmware would reset to default.
+ I can push a bios update easyly from within the ai suite
+ Via armoury crate you can access the support and warranty stuffs

But what i do is. I disable the tasks for ezupdate in the taskmanager and i disable all required autostartup stuffs. Btw this tool ezupdate does not offer any recent updates. If it offered updates, then it was already by that time outdated firmwares. In my opinion you are totally better off currently if you go and grab the recent drivers on your own.

Seems these tools are not maintained at all sadly. To me it is like i have it installed but unnecessary stuff disabled, just for the option to use it.

I mean like when you enter winkey + r ""compmgmt.msc" under scheduled tasks in that structure theres a folder named ASUS. If you have a look at this you find a lot of stuff i am not able to tell you what all this is. But i know for sure you can for example disable the "Ez Update" trigger and task itselves to prevent it of being started up every logon. The same i did for "Ai Suite III". I start that manually when i want to.

Hope this helps.

PS.: About Armoury crate i have a bit a split opinion but i wrote some + to you above. It has some little nifty extras i use. While if you do not need any of that you probably want to rather use the older aura sync software as long as it works. They did not update this thing a longer while now also. And to me this is not always a sign of a reliable software. Rather it looks to me like it could also be that it breaks functioning the one or the other day. "MAYBE". Ah yea and the armoury crate does indeed show you some offers that you could get certain games cheaper and so. If you do not like or encourage such at all then i would say -- skip armoury crate.

Btw what i am using also normally if it was not broken currently. Im in contact with support about it at the moment is the Sonic Studio 3 Software. While i personally find the Sonic Radar unneccessary.

Yah and i am not overclocking for now, since i see no need in that yet. Maybe the TPU and Dgi stuffs is more interesting for people that overclock their computers. I have no need doing this yet. It performs fine.

I see you are also owner of a phanteks case... i have the enthoo evolv X. So you probably also want to set fancurves for the fans 😄 You can achieve a lot silenter expirience by tweaking that with fanexpert. Btw i noticed something nice. The rear exhaust fan.... you can place it a bit off center with the longer mounting holes so that the inner turbulencies of the exhausting fan supply the passive cooler of the mainboard in that location with some better airflow.

Oh and i used Ram Cache also... actually i notice a measurable difference for some things. I would give it a chance, but also in a way of starting it manually when wanted. Because when you have set it to autostart it doesn't engage your settings automatically you always have to start the functions manually. Btw you BOUGHT something with your computer that.... let me say if you wanted to get a certain third party tool that does the same, you would have to pay for if you wanted to get rid of the contained bloat.

Depending on your usecase. Recently i was in discord with a guy that was annoyed by his fannoise. I found out he has a TUF z390 board. And he did not ever hear of fanexpert.... hmm underline i think you should maybe at least give that things a try and see what you like or not on your own. But i highly appereciate that you are asking for opinions. I find this quite interesting.

I am somewhere in between the to me useless things and the things i find useful.

Thank you for your reply. Some follow-up questions and comments....

In the very near future, I want to wipe my boot drive clean, re-install Win10 and start with a fresh, clean system. Before this happens, I am evaluating all of current configuration to weed out buggy, unnecessary and/or bloated software to have as smooth running system as possible. I am not a gamer but use my computer as a workstation; I have gaming-oriented hardware in my rig because these components are high quality. I don't have any plans to overclock processor, memory, etc. either.

Reading the ASUS forums, I gather that the ASUS software is buggy, bloated and often unnecessary or redundant. It seems like I can live without all of the Asus software.

I have not installed Armory Crate. What else does it do besides offer good prices on games and controls RGB lighting?

It seems that so many people have issues with Armory Crate compared to Aura Sync that I would rather use an older program to control the RGB lighting. However, Aura Sync has not been updated in a while either so there may be issues. I am almost tempted to just shut off the RGB lighting altogether and not install either Armory Crate nor Aura.

What is Aura Creator? Is it the component of Armory Crate that controls the RBG lighting?

I certainly don't need EZ update because I can update my drivers manually. However, I do like the convenience of AISuite. I do have it installed currently and it doesn't give me too many problems. The fan control options are a nice option, although I my fans are not loud at all. I would like to make this software as unintrusive and light as possible. Can you please provide a littel more detail how you disable EZ update and AI Suite Autostart? Particularly those in scheduled tasks.

What third party tool are you referring to to get rid of bloat that you mention after RamCache?

I don't use the SonicStudio software nor the RealTek soundchip as I have a SoundBlaster Card. However, I want to install Linux and SoundBlaster cards don't work under Linux, at least not very well. I think that RealTek chips support Linux better, so I may have to use the onboard sound in Linux. What are your opinions of the RealTek soundchip in the motherboard?

Thank you!

revealed wrote:
Hi,

in my opinion or let me say i set it up like this:

I use Armoury Crate mainly to have control over my RGB stuffs. This makes the older aura standalone thing orphaned. Also i think the two interfere with each other. So use either the one or the other.

About the AI suite. Well it is a suite, so it will install all the things that are within the suite. I think it is heavy loaded with also unneccessary things. But i mainly want to have it to be able to set my own custom fan curves because i have a loaded cooling solution that requires some manual control. Ok i could do this also in the BIOS/Firmware -- but:
+ I can set profiles for the fans
+ i have easy access without having to reboot the machine
+ if theres a firmware update i can just reapply stored settings while the firmware would reset to default.
+ I can push a bios update easyly from within the ai suite
+ Via armoury crate you can access the support and warranty stuffs

But what i do is. I disable the tasks for ezupdate in the taskmanager and i disable all required autostartup stuffs. Btw this tool ezupdate does not offer any recent updates. If it offered updates, then it was already by that time outdated firmwares. In my opinion you are totally better off currently if you go and grab the recent drivers on your own.

Seems these tools are not maintained at all sadly. To me it is like i have it installed but unnecessary stuff disabled, just for the option to use it.

I mean like when you enter winkey + r ""compmgmt.msc" under scheduled tasks in that structure theres a folder named ASUS. If you have a look at this you find a lot of stuff i am not able to tell you what all this is. But i know for sure you can for example disable the "Ez Update" trigger and task itselves to prevent it of being started up every logon. The same i did for "Ai Suite III". I start that manually when i want to.

Hope this helps.

PS.: About Armoury crate i have a bit a split opinion but i wrote some + to you above. It has some little nifty extras i use. While if you do not need any of that you probably want to rather use the older aura sync software as long as it works. They did not update this thing a longer while now also. And to me this is not always a sign of a reliable software. Rather it looks to me like it could also be that it breaks functioning the one or the other day. "MAYBE". Ah yea and the armoury crate does indeed show you some offers that you could get certain games cheaper and so. If you do not like or encourage such at all then i would say -- skip armoury crate.

Btw what i am using also normally if it was not broken currently. Im in contact with support about it at the moment is the Sonic Studio 3 Software. While i personally find the Sonic Radar unneccessary.

Yah and i am not overclocking for now, since i see no need in that yet. Maybe the TPU and Dgi stuffs is more interesting for people that overclock their computers. I have no need doing this yet. It performs fine.

I see you are also owner of a phanteks case... i have the enthoo evolv X. So you probably also want to set fancurves for the fans 😄 You can achieve a lot silenter expirience by tweaking that with fanexpert. Btw i noticed something nice. The rear exhaust fan.... you can place it a bit off center with the longer mounting holes so that the inner turbulencies of the exhausting fan supply the passive cooler of the mainboard in that location with some better airflow.

Oh and i used Ram Cache also... actually i notice a measurable difference for some things. I would give it a chance, but also in a way of starting it manually when wanted. Because when you have set it to autostart it doesn't engage your settings automatically you always have to start the functions manually. Btw you BOUGHT something with your computer that.... let me say if you wanted to get a certain third party tool that does the same, you would have to pay for if you wanted to get rid of the contained bloat.

Depending on your usecase. Recently i was in discord with a guy that was annoyed by his fannoise. I found out he has a TUF z390 board. And he did not ever hear of fanexpert.... hmm underline i think you should maybe at least give that things a try and see what you like or not on your own. But i highly appereciate that you are asking for opinions. I find this quite interesting.

I am somewhere in between the to me useless things and the things i find useful.

Super_Gnome
Level 11
This may or may not be of help. My first build was in 2011 with an ROG Rampage III Black Edition motherboard and I installed all of the Asus software. For years the system had all kinds of trouble with Windows and software updates etc, and honestly I have no idea why. It got to the point that on startup the thing literally needed to be left alone for ten minutes to work with any degree of reliability and functionality. I relied on Asus software and Windows to get me the latest updates etc.

Fast forward seven or eight years. With the installation of Windows 10 and no Asus software, and controlling the fans from the BIOS, the thing finally started working properly, and quite frankly works like a charm now.

With a newer couple of Asus builds, it's a lot like the above motherboard--in the sense that there are problems with software. Hence, in my humble opinion, if you can manage without it, mainly by knowing how to get your updates yourself and manage your fans and cooling, then forgo the Asus software--as it generally has loads of problems, and can really mess up your registry and also give you a false sense that you are on top of things. Just my two cents.

Is it possible to manage the fan curves in bios and make them save?
That is the only reason to use AI Suite I think.
Last time I uninstalled AI Suite though all my fans ran full speed until I installed it back.

Super Gnome wrote:
This may or may not be of help. My first build was in 2011 with an ROG Rampage III Black Edition motherboard and I installed all of the Asus software. For years the system had all kinds of trouble with Windows and software updates etc, and honestly I have no idea why. It got to the point that on startup the thing literally needed to be left alone for ten minutes to work with any degree of reliability and functionality. I relied on Asus software and Windows to get me the latest updates etc.

Fast forward seven or eight years. With the installation of Windows 10 and no Asus software, and controlling the fans from the BIOS, the thing finally started working properly, and quite frankly works like a charm now.

With a newer couple of Asus builds, it's a lot like the above motherboard--in the sense that there are problems with software. Hence, in my humble opinion, if you can manage without it, mainly by knowing how to get your updates yourself and manage your fans and cooling, then forgo the Asus software--as it generally has loads of problems, and can really mess up your registry and also give you a false sense that you are on top of things. Just my two cents.