Prefer EFI or text based bios?

deadite66 · 22 Jan 2011 at 11:04

do EFI motherboards boot faster? i read that the trouble with bios is that it sorts out all the hardware only for the OS to do it a second time and that EFI would do away with this step.
true?

Efour · 22 Jan 2011 at 12:10

Some of the features are very useful. Some of it is just a PITA and pointless.

Vimes · 22 Jan 2011 at 12:36

Without a doubt the new EFI. But more specifically the sexy ASUS EFI on the new Intel boards. Saw the EFI on the MSI boards and it looked a little trashy.

you really need to get out more

HighlandeR · 22 Jan 2011 at 15:12

deadite66 said:
do EFI motherboards boot faster? i read that the trouble with bios is that it sorts out all the hardware only for the OS to do it a second time and that EFI would do away with this step.
true?

This is the what ive heard also that EFI bioses provide a much faster boot time during startup then the old conventional bioses...

Ive asked the same question you have but its not been answered, so would be nice if an Asus/MSI owner could confirm if they get faster boot times or do you still see old style bios showing cdrom/hdds and cpu etc etc ?

I think if the answers yes it has faster boot times then its a no brainer EFI bios are better regardless

wannabedamned · 22 Jan 2011 at 16:47

The MSI one looks like the Xbox Dashboard haha. Yeah, Im not a fan of these new look bios's. DONT LIKE CHANGE.

zoomee · 22 Jan 2011 at 16:49

deadite66 said:
do EFI motherboards boot faster? i read that the trouble with bios is that it sorts out all the hardware only for the OS to do it a second time and that EFI would do away with this step.
true?

I couldn't care less what the BIOS looked like as once its setup you don't go in there everyday.

Whats more important is what all the media have been reporting - That it improves boot times like loads!. I sometimes switch my PC off and on like 5 times per day and note that the current bios on all the Asus boards I have take bloomin ages to get to the point the OS starts loading - SO the real question should be - IS IT FASTER AT BOOTING?

thanks

PermaBanned · 22 Jan 2011 at 16:58

What about Gigabyte? Haven't they started using EFI but stuck with a 16 bit interface?

aytacaksel · 22 Jan 2011 at 17:03

efi bios great and better than older one for sure.
there are a lot important things you have to look when you choice a mainboard. but efi not in that list. gigabyte is great.

PermaBanned · 22 Jan 2011 at 17:13

My point was that, from what i can find, they do use EFI in their newer boards, just not with a GUI.

littlepuppy · 22 Jan 2011 at 17:18

I cant say im excited about the thought of the new BIOS... I wasnt unhappy with how they are currently...

HighlandeR · 22 Jan 2011 at 17:24

zoomee said:
IS IT FASTER AT BOOTING?

thanks

lol simply madness... ive been asking this same question for past 2 weeks but no one apparantly owns an EFI bios Sandybridge mobo on this forum...

I feel If I start a thread saying EFI bios is 5x faster then older bioses I may get corrected or told off but it maybe the only way to get an answer....

zoomee · 22 Jan 2011 at 17:36

hey m8 :>

lol, once they get over the - ooooh its soo shiny part, maybe they'll start looking into the practical advantages.

Come on you EFI bios owners - spill the beans

Balb0wa · 22 Jan 2011 at 18:03

ive got the asus p67 pro and a gigabyte ud4 , prefer the gigabyte bios, the asus took time to alter things, and scroll down, old style bios easier to navigate.

Also the asus would sometimes have things disapear from the screen when it should be there, maybe early days though.

like this:

core2core · 22 Jan 2011 at 18:38

HighlandeR said:
lol simply madness... ive been asking this same question for past 2 weeks but no one apparantly owns an EFI bios Sandybridge mobo on this forum...

I feel If I start a thread saying EFI bios is 5x faster then older bioses I may get corrected or told off but it maybe the only way to get an answer....

Thats a bit silly. Most members on here own a sandybridge and a motherboard with a EFI bios. Did you read the other posts in this thread?

I own one and i said, i don't believe it is faster. If it is, it's not worth worrying about.
I would rather have a functional non buggy text bios anyday, over a glorified graphics based bios.

Some like it and some don't. I don't.

jamesfreddie · 22 Jan 2011 at 19:54

Text Based BIOS All the way.

PhillyDee · 22 Jan 2011 at 19:57

I have always liked the Ceefax/Oracle look myself!

I can see speed advantages, but we now have the issue of non standard BIOS, completely different layouts, all I can see is a PITA for system builders!

HighlandeR · 22 Jan 2011 at 20:31

core2core said:
Thats a bit silly. Most members on here own a sandybridge and a motherboard with a EFI bios. Did you read the other posts in this thread?

thx I did read your original answer and thx for doing that, its just I wanted a wider yes or no to my question if EFI bioses allow faster boot times then the older bioses....

After seeing the old bios showing hdd/cdroms and more lines of pointless text that ive seen for what 15 years it would be nice if EFI bios simply just went to windows

But I do agree with what you said stability over fancy graphics is the main thing, its good to know gigabyte is not rushing it.... they may wait for a stable release.

pingu666 · 22 Jan 2011 at 20:43

the msi one is pretty much bios with pics and mouse support. the mouse support isnt that great, on scrolling lists its easy for the curser to slip off the slider, at which point something happens that u dont want :|

pc doesnt have a speaker, so it doesnt make a noise for me

jakspyder · 23 Jan 2011 at 00:38

I was under the impression that the EFI bios thingy was supposed to give a lot of under the hood benefits. top ones being boot times and mouse input. Im guessing that this would be the case except for the fact that there is loads of visual bloat being added to make them look appealing and thus negating the speed increases. Hopefully we will see "enthusiast" EFIs that are plain simple, no bloat. Just give us the info we want with the added functionality and accessibility. For example I would be happy to buy an EFI mobo that comes with the default standard EFI but then i could go to ASUS website (or gigabyte etc etc) And download a streamlined enthusiast version. that is essentially the same just with the bloated visuals and other such crap removed.

Its early days though. I think (and hope) we will see some real improvements and refinements over the next few years as we leave the old BIOS behind and the EFI takes over.

pingu666 · 23 Jan 2011 at 01:20

the msi one has only 1 bloat gfx item, flashes up msi screen for a couple of seconds when you boot up. instant when swapping screens.

tbh id like a bios which gave me info on what each setting does, and calculates the change in fsb/multiplier to show you what your gonna get