Yeah agreed. There are a lot of options in bios that are so obcure and having an info box to the right that explains what it does and how to tweak it would be great. Also you could have a web browser snap in too so you could quickly look up stuff you needed extra help on maybe even run skype too. A fully customisable EFI theme would be good aswell if you had an affinity for certain colours and styles.
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Prefer EFI or text based bios?
- Thread starter core2core
- Start date
Yeah agreed. There are a lot of options in bios that are so obcure and having an info box to the right that explains what it does and how to tweak it would be great. Also you could have a web browser snap in too so you could quickly look up stuff you needed extra help on maybe even run skype too. A fully customisable EFI theme would be good aswell if you had an affinity for certain colours and styles.
Even current BIOS's give a quick explanation of what the BIOS acronyms etc. are - A quick google will give the results required if you want to learn more.
Adding in things like a browser etc is just going to complicate things further and bloat the BIOS's to the point they're trying to compete with OS's (A bit like Asus's current expressgate rubbish!)
Only tangible benefit I can see is mouse control but more importantly 'instant on' scenario's - Press the power button and instantly (not 15-30 seconds later) - The OS starts loading.
To be honest - those users who don't know what the options are in BIOS - should stay out of it - as it can have a huge impact on the PC itself (average users I'm talking about, not geeks like us
)
Adding in things like a browser etc is just going to complicate things further and bloat the BIOS's to the point they're trying to compete with OS's (A bit like Asus's current expressgate rubbish!)
Only tangible benefit I can see is mouse control but more importantly 'instant on' scenario's - Press the power button and instantly (not 15-30 seconds later) - The OS starts loading.
To be honest - those users who don't know what the options are in BIOS - should stay out of it - as it can have a huge impact on the PC itself (average users I'm talking about, not geeks like us
)
Soldato
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Yeah this is the main benefit I can see of, but since its not been coinfirmed really by Sandybridge EFi bio owners if it does boot up faster, maybe were still far away from stable/fast eFI bios !
Well, it's feels faster to me but hard to judge as I know have an SSD. If it helps I've timmed my cold boot:-
From switch on it takes:-
3 Seconds for Asus Splash screen to show
6 Seconds for Windows Loading to show
14 Seconds to have Windows loaded and fully usable.
Well happy with it.
Soldato
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- 13 Sep 2010
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tbh I really like the new BIOS/UEFI (got an asus pro here), but I may change my mind when I get round to trying to clock 
boot times are masses better than my old P35 board, although not the 2 seconds we were promised. I haven't bothered disabling all the unused controllers (Marvell etc) so thats adding a few seconds as well
and for the record, since clearing the CMOS, I have not had a SINGLE ISSUE!
love how fast sandy bridge is
boot times are masses better than my old P35 board, although not the 2 seconds we were promised. I haven't bothered disabling all the unused controllers (Marvell etc) so thats adding a few seconds as well
and for the record, since clearing the CMOS, I have not had a SINGLE ISSUE!
love how fast sandy bridge is
Soldato
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I really like the idea of Gigabyte's setup with UEFI with old school BIOS UI. That said I have only briefly seen the Asus UEFI in action but it wasn't really for me.
Soldato
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^
This is what motherboard manufacturers should concentrate on ...
Faster post, initialisation and boot rather than some mickey mouse GUI.
Still don't understand how a bios from 2001 can post and get to the boot header way faster than the motherboards today.
Took to the EFI bios like a duck to water. Looks slick, easy to navigate and does the job just like the old style. I was expecting it to be slightly slow and clunky, but I've been proved wrong. Also the post time is ridiculously quick compared to my x58 ud3r.
From my experience the UD4's UEFI is a fade slow to navigate but boot times, when all un-used controllers are turned of, are rasonable. Not super quick but quicker then my old 680i system.
We have to remember that these bios's are new and will need plenty of feedback to the manufactures for them to perfect. Still a good effort though.
We have to remember that these bios's are new and will need plenty of feedback to the manufactures for them to perfect. Still a good effort though.
Hah yeah I have that ud3r board it's so slow to post! My next board will have EFI and from what I can tell it's awesome. I was hoping it completely changed the way the bios works though, guess it hasn't.
I'd go further Award bios OK, Ami bios sucks. For my own computers, I have always had Abit and then Gigabyte, mainly due to the award bios as well as other features.
If Gigabyte are doing their Hybrid EFI based on their very good text bios interface I will be well pleased.
If Gigabyte are doing their Hybrid EFI based on their very good text bios interface I will be well pleased.