How often to update BIOS?

Mike_J_Smith

Mike_J_Smith

Mike_J_Smith

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I bought my motherboard (MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk) back in Jan '21. At the time I had to update the BIOS before using it (I think it was something to do with the CPU, a 5800x).

Anyway, since then I havent touched it as it works so didnt want to mess anything up.

I'm looking now and there have been lots of updates to the BIOS since then; should I be routinely updating to the latest version?
 
I personally do it every time a new one comes out.

Especially when I was on AMD as you'd get the latest agesa version and benefits that come with them.
 
AMD's BIOS updates can sometimes be substantial in terms of what improvements they offer and there have been one or two security updates recently, so in this case, I'd consider an update.

I wouldn't do it every time though, no.

On an Intel system, maybe every 6-12 months if there's something worthwhile.
 
If it's been some time, or if the computer is having issues then I update.

I do like the BIOS to be release at least month prior to updating, this way if the BIOS is bad it should have been pulled or superseded by another BIOS.

There is something to be said about a motherboard that's a few years old, and it's stable enough it requires no more BIOS updates.
 
I did the update as it introduced some new features like resizable bar and some security fixes.

It did however give me some grief as it wouldn’t boot and then wouldn’t even post. Eventually worked out it was a gpu issue with me having the 7900xt on a riser cable. I had to put my 5700xt back in and set the PCI to 3.0 manually in the bios. It did go to bios the first time after flashing, so I guess I need to remember that in the future. Kind of sucks though tbh as I plan to watercool the 7900xt and then I wouldn’t have an easy time swapping the card.

I prefer CPUs with built in graphics!

Does the 5800x3d have built in graphics?
 
Mike_J_Smith said:
I did the update as it introduced some new features like resizable bar and some security fixes.

It did however give me some grief as it wouldn’t boot and then wouldn’t even post. Eventually worked out it was a gpu issue with me having the 7900xt on a riser cable. I had to put my 5700xt back in and set the PCI to 3.0 manually in the bios. It did go to bios the first time after flashing, so I guess I need to remember that in the future. Kind of sucks though tbh as I plan to watercool the 7900xt and then I wouldn’t have an easy time swapping the card.

I prefer CPUs with built in graphics!

Does the 5800x3d have built in graphics?
Click to expand...


It does not.
 
Mike_J_Smith said:
Thanks all. I'll do one now as it's been so long.
Click to expand...
Just know that a new BIOS doesn’t always mean good, so upgrade and see if you have any problems and move to an older BIOS if needs be.

I’d always update the BIOS that the motherboard comes with as that’s usually the first version of the BIOS and often the most buggy/least optimised.
 
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I think MSI are brilliant, I’ve had my b450 tomahawk max for years now. And they still provide regular updates, unlike most companies that discontinue support once their new range of stuff comes out.
To answer the question I update every time a stable non beta release has come out
 
Typically only update bios on a brand new board as it might well be several iterations out of date, or for a pertinent security /feature enhancement.

I don't bother otherwise.
 
I usually only update when it's necessary (to fix exploits), I'm upgrading to a CPU that's not supported by current version, or I'm running into issues (like when I got my MSI B650i Edge board, I would occasionally get missing graphics in BIOS, making it hard to navigate, which was solved when I updated BIOS).
 
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