Do you keep your motherboard UEFI / BIOS up to date?

VortexA1 · 1 May 2019 at 22:00

I only update BIOS only if I need the features..otherwise no..

V F · 4 May 2019 at 21:02

MissChief said:
I don’t think I’ve ever updated a BIOS on any PC I’ve had since my 48DX2/66. So no, never.

Hmm, I cannot remember if the Abit NF7-S Rev2.0 required floppy disks or USB to flash its BIOS. I remember preparing a bootable floppy for it once. Those were the days.

chrcoluk · 4 May 2019 at 21:04

Simple rule for me.

Only ever update a bios if there is a specific reason to, never ever update just because a newer one is available.

Updates can break stuff via new bugs, in addition sometimes vendors will tune things like p states, which can break a previously stable overclock.

1.0 bios's tend to be the ones that have best testing as making post release bios's wont get the same attention as a bios for a brand new board.

DarrenM343 · 7 May 2019 at 09:11

chrcoluk said:
Simple rule for me.
Only ever update a bios if there is a specific reason to, never ever update just because a newer one is available.
Updates can break stuff via new bugs, in addition sometimes vendors will tune things like p states, which can break a previously stable overclock.
1.0 bios's tend to be the ones that have best testing as making post release bios's wont get the same attention as a bios for a brand new board.

Depends if much of the testing is automated in some way. Also I'd expect an impact analysis so the same level of testing shouldn't be required. One minor change should not really mean everything needs retesting unless they don't know their own code they've developed.

Anything to do with security improvements or performance I will update. Something like "Improved raid driver" only then I probably won't bother as I don't use raid.
Some say only upgrade if you need to because improved compatibility/reliability may decrease performance but performance loss not always the case and likely to be very minor. That could be crucial if benchmarking but for most of us gamers/workstation users, it doesn't matter.

Drumroll · 13 May 2019 at 18:03

I would just on the begging, or when the model/platform is new, as must updates will be worthy. After that, just if needed.

Ad_Augendae · 17 May 2019 at 15:35

I'll update for further CPU support.
It's a lot messing about if you overclock and want good stability, IE last time I updated a bios I lost performance after updating the AMD software.
about 30 points infact on cinebench!

Donnie Fisher · 17 May 2019 at 18:58

I'm a bit of a believer in if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I did update the bios a couple of times a while back as I was getting instabilities, but now it's been rock stable for months and months so unless I *need* to change, it can just stay as is.

adrichardson81 · 22 May 2019 at 12:48

Nope, but only because overclocking is fundamentally broken if I update to anything more recent on my x370 Taichi.

Eurofighter · 23 May 2019 at 20:47

Never updated a BIOS. Never had to. Don't know how to do it.

foster grant · 24 May 2019 at 10:32

If it aint broke , dont fix it

TangoEchoAlpha · 24 May 2019 at 16:04

Haven't bothered so much with previous Intel builds, but in the same boat as previous posters - with my current Ryzen build, I'm seeing more value in updating the BIOS/chipset drivers.

Andygully · 25 May 2019 at 10:34

I tend to only update when its a new build but for my msi b450 carbon i did it and the latest update is broken so i had to roll it back lol

Plec · 25 May 2019 at 10:51

Andygully said:
I tend to only update when its a new build but for my msi b450 carbon i did it and the latest update is broken so i had to roll it back lol

Yeah, the latest BIOS updates for the b450 range i wouldn't install until you're ready to upgrade to zen 2.

Upgrading CPU support can be a riskier update. MSI/users bricked a lot of 1155 motherboards with the Ivybridge support update on the P67 boards. The problem was that this upgrade also came with improved GPU support too, so was a needed upgrade for those getting latest card releases.

I never had a problem - but always used the BIOS environment and, tellingly, MSI (later) added a warning on the update and use of BIOS environment - unlike others releases. But, I knew of other experienced users who were left with a brick - but suspect the Windows BIOS update utility had a big part to play with a lot of the users dead sockets.

InfiniteNoise · 27 May 2019 at 20:27

Only if I'm having issues or using a CPU that requires later version.

hominid · 3 Jun 2019 at 15:29

I got bitten updating the bios on my GB X370 K5, it set vcore to 1.7V+ after the update, I caught it on first boot as the CPU fan went nuts. The update was removed the next day after I, and a fair few others probably, reported the oddity Gigabyte. I was lucky as my CPU seems fine, but I now only update if there is something I need that has been improved else I don't bother.

here is a story about it: https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/p...ate-for-ryzen-gigabyte-x370-motherboards.html

V F · 3 Jun 2019 at 15:54

hominid said:
I got bitten updating the bios on my GB X370 K5, it set vcore to 1.7V+ after the update, I caught it on first boot as the CPU fan went nuts. The update was removed the next day after I, and a fair few others probably, reported the oddity Gigabyte. I was lucky as my CPU seems fine, but I now only update if there is something I need that has been improved else I don't bother.

here is a story about it: https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/p...ate-for-ryzen-gigabyte-x370-motherboards.html

Hmm...

Gigabyte has been slipping in quality the last few years.
Bad/poor VRMs in comparison with the competition and buggy BIOSes.

True and this seems to be confirmed again and again lately. Too bad, I had loads of Gigabyte motherboards/gpus in the past. Hopefully they will get their stuff straight or else they might end up badly.

Is that true?... while the quote is a few years old.

hominid · 3 Jun 2019 at 16:39

To be fair I haven't had any other issues with this board, it was a rough start as with all other AMD boards with memory compatibility/speeds, but this bios was a big error that could have easily cost me(them) a CPU as well. It's not a super high end board, I wasn't expecting as much,

I switched from Asus because of a bad experience with those after 10 years buying Asus solely, poor quality issues, and Gigabyte were better in those regards - so I'm not crapping on Gigabyte at all.

The AMD boards have been getting better from X370-X470-X570, they are miles better now that what they started off as, so you can't judge by todays' standards.

V F · 4 Jun 2019 at 02:25

hominid said:
To be fair I haven't had any other issues with this board, it was a rough start as with all other AMD boards with memory compatibility/speeds, but this bios was a big error that could have easily cost me(them) a CPU as well. It's not a super high end board, I wasn't expecting as much,

I switched from Asus because of a bad experience with those after 10 years buying Asus solely, poor quality issues, and Gigabyte were better in those regards - so I'm not crapping on Gigabyte at all.

The AMD boards have been getting better from X370-X470-X570, they are miles better now that what they started off as, so you can't judge by todays' standards.

That's why I was asking. I've always heard good things about Gigabyte. It'll be my next board on Intel after the summer.

HRL · 6 Jun 2019 at 11:42

Having just updated my X470 Gigabyte mobo so that it could support the new Ryzen chips I’ve since rolled it back.

Damned thing completely broke the SOC voltage offsets. 4 hours of faffing trying to get it to work and gave up.

Looks like I’ll definitely have to pick up a X570 when I do upgrade.

opethdisciple · 18 Jun 2019 at 13:56

Each and every time.

We live in a post meltdown/spectre era after all.