3DP Chip 12.1

3DP Chip is a free tiny utility that lists all your system components and offers you the possibility of updating their drivers directly from the program’s interface. Its simple tabbed interface and the lack of extra features or complicated settings make it a tool that anyone can use to keep their hardware drivers updated.

This driver finder tool comes in a small one-window interface that lists all your system’s main components as soon as it opens. The colorful background, together with the low-contrast fonts used, do not help the readability of the various elements listed. Each item in the list is, actually, a category. These categories refer to the main groups of hardware components usually included on all our computers – CPU, motherboards, video cards, multimedia, Ethernet cards, and “ETC” for everything else (mouse, keyboard, USB controllers, etc.). When more than one device falls into one of these categories, the program will add a plus sign to that item in the list, which will allow you to display the relevant information regarding those extra devices.

The information provided for each device is very basic, actually. It tells you the name and model, and the version of the driver installed – a tiny fraction of the detailed information that Windows can provide for each of your system devices through the corresponding properties dialog. Clicking on one of the items in the list will take you to a web page with some extra information about the driver itself, and the possibility of updating it to the newest version available (when necessary). Again, nothing you cannot do via your operating system.

As compared to running 3DP Chip, it may take you a few extra clicks to reach your Windows device manager, but once you get there you may start asking yourself if you really need to have yet another software tool installed in your system. 3DP Chip relies on a large and growing database which aims to include all possible hardware devices out there, but that is simply not possible. Your Windows device manager knows exactly what your system is made of and where to find the necessary drivers to update it.