HDA Drivers are the old driver model that we all know that supports every microsoft os and has the old realtek control panel (Old as always the same but still updated to the latest version).
UAD is the new driver model (only supports windows 10 from RS4 and up and new motherboards only) and uses the new UWP control panel from the store.
For the trust part : Those guys download these new drivers from the ftp realtek link directly(which gets updated frequently). Still as you say you cant be completely sure they are legit).
Personal experience: I use them successfully (both UAD and HDA) on z77 and z68 chip-sets (To use UAD with older motherboards you have to use the realtek UAD generic INF and for me it works fine).
I cant help you more ,you are better off asking this thread at station drivers where there are people with more expertise about these drivers. : https://www.station-drivers.com/index.ph…mid=858&lang=en
Is there something special in the way to install the UAD drivers for a Rltk 887 on a Z77 board ? As i said , the UAD setup says no device found, but it’s in the generic inf’s. Manual driver install works but then there is no realtek software components (like the audioservice) installed to get access to the store app. Do i need to install some other components manually ? Anyway, there was a newer HDA driver (6.0.8720.1) which i now tried with win 10 1903 and Realtek control panel can work again, older driver versions got their realtek control panel blocked by windows somehow.
edit: i have asked my question over at the station-drivers thread aswell.
@Gnarz77 Install Driver store explorer and check if you have hdxrt.inf and hdx_generic_rtk.inf installed. The second inf is the one responsible for the software components to appear. I have attached a photo from my driver store explorer. If you dont have the generic inf then uninstall all realtek audio drivers and before windows can automatically install even the default one insert the generic inf with the Driver Store Explorer(add package and find the .inf file). After that install the drivers through device manager and check if the software components appeared. Update the components and open microsoft store and check for updates so the realtek control panel will start to download.
Just want to report can’t get any success on my laptop (Acer E5-571) with UAD (not if I want to ever use the loudspeakers anyway) using the FF00 build 8720.1 I am running Acer HDA 8555 without issue.
On my desktop’s motherboard (Gigabyte Z97P-D3) I can run the UAD without issues (sound through front audio jack headphones or monitor loudspeaker connected via RX580 Display Port), so I do.
Ok now, i got it working with the UAD driver, i just needed to install the drivers for the 3 additional software components manually aswell. Windows then downloaded the Realtek Audio Control app by itself and everything works perfect now on the official WHQL UAD generic 8721.1.
For installing the latest UAD driver, I suggest using this resource. The UAD drivers might not work that well on older devices though.
actually ektorasdj the Realtek UAD drivers can be used on a minimum of Windows 10 build 15063 (RS2 or 1703) as I have confirmed this myself and tested them out on a PC running Win10 v1703 months ago. if you look at the HDXRT.INF file of the realtek generic uad driver like 8721.1, it mentions these sections in the INF file:
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[Manufacturer]
%MfgName% = AzaliaManufacturerID, NTamd64.10.0…15063
[AzaliaManufacturerID.NTamd64.10.0…15063]
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"NTamd64.10.0…15063" means that the driver install will work with at least build 15063 or greater.
Also note that the UAD drivers come in 64bit only while the traditional or legacy HDA (or non-UAD) drivers come in both 32bit & 64bit