UEFI - does it really make a difference to boot times?

Alexrose1uk

Alexrose1uk

Alexrose1uk

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I've not built a desktop in a while, so haven't been paying the closest attention, but I'm in the process of overhauling my HTPC and thus I was originally going to buy the cheapest board I could find that natively supported WoL; I'd more or less ignored UEFI as just a flashy way to make BIOS easier or more approachable. That was until I read a comment saying that UEFI based boards boot faster than BIOS based boards. As I start my machine from scratch each time rather using sleep due to a few programme compatibility issues, that's suddenly more interesting.

Is this correct, does UEFI really knock time off boot? If so can anyone point me to the cheapest board at OcUK that uses this new UEFI, as it doesn't always seem to be clear based on listings :)

Cheers!
 
I'm already using SSD, and as it's a HTPC I run a pretty light, no-GUI boot, with my media centre set as shell instead of explorer to improve load times. My boot times are already sub 30 seconds to useable with the old setup, which the faster hardware will hopefully improve by a few seconds (x2 5200+ AM2, 2GB RAM up to an i3-2100, 4GB RAM so a bit of a jump :)), but I'm always interested in ways to speed up the process without having to hack the system to pieces.

I just figured if UEFI really does knock some time off, for a few extra quid on a board, as I'm already going to be spending I might as well go for it :)
 
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Well as long as it's not much longer, that's the main thing :) I've gone for the MSI H67-MA-E35 as MSI told me directly it'd support the Realtek onboard ethernet's WoL function. At current I use this to switch my PC back on with my current board, so it was kinda key for me the new board also supported WoL :)
 
I couldn't care less if it gives you the flashy GUI or not, just as long as the benefits from UEFI are there haha although MSI's site vs OcUKs entry seem to disagree on it having ClickBIOS now I put them side by side. Although if it arrives and it's not a UEFI BIOS, then I could send it back under DSR/incorrect description.

Nightmare, as you've built a few machines with this board, did you find the 'BIOS' period of boot any faster than traditional BIOS?
 
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We shall see I guess then. Ill check the manual it arrives and see if it mentions 3TB HDDs for example.
Hopefully Nightmare is correct and its using light UEFI, which'd be fine. It was never the flash of UEFI that interested me, just potential boot speed improvements.
 
Perfect :)
Sounds like the best of both worlds then! I'm hoping the GT430 I've got coming won't insist on showing me the VBIOS splash like my current 220 does either, hopefully this will knock boot times down by about 4-5 seconds.
 
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