"Thanks! Turns out you don't need the manufacturer's programs for anything in modern Windows. Just uninstall Realtek's audio driver from Add or Remove Programs and everything works perfectly."
Yes, Microsoft has done an excellent job of making 8 work well on most machines. Unfortunately, Samsung (like HP) modifies the hardware it uses from vendors (like AMD & Intel). Because of these modifications, Samsung must supply drivers for this moded hardware. There are no Intel or AMD drivers that support switchable graphics, must use Samsung's proprietary CCC. Unlike HP, they (Samsung) do a terrible job of it. So much so, drivers from AMD will not install as AMD has blocked it due to the modifications. Samsung's ultimate answer to everything is, "do a factory recovery". In that state, yes it works, but that's only if you do no updates. I would agree with your statement on a Lenovo, Toshiba, and Dell. However, not for HP. AND, most certainly not for Samsung.