Is BIOS Update Necessary?

[Jackpine]

I am wondering about the need to update the BIOS for a new pc that I am building. I have an Asus P5LD2 Deluxe that has version 0206 BIOS installed on it. There are three subsequent BIOS updates available, the most current being version 0603.

I have read on various forums that some people only update the BIOS if the update is intended to "fix something;" otherwise it is left alone. Others say they update whenever a new version comes out.

Are there any guidelines to be followed as far as updating is concerned? (I can't comment on the performance of my machine since I don't have any hard disk or optical drives (and hence no operating system) installed on it yet.)

 

[wun911]

If your like"if it works dont touch it" then dont update bios

But some bios revisions are good... gives extra features etc etc

 

[bmouring]

Fine advice, kinda depends on whether you subscribe to the school of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" or "There's always room for improvement".

If you do decide to upgrade, be sure to read up as much as possible online to see what others have to say about the update to let others find any issues/benefits before you dive in.

My $.02

 

[Pain]

As said already, sometimes you don't need to fool with it, but sometimes you do. On brand new models the initial bios is sometimes buggy and I've had brand new boards out of the box that wouldn't run right until I updated the bios. Other times the bios just updates the board to recognize newer processors, as an example.

If I am messing with an older board, I always just flash to the last version. On a newer board I sometimes read the release notes to see if it corrects or adds anything I care about, and if not I may not mess with it.

 

[chunkymonster]

Do a quick read on the release notes of the previous BIOS updates, some of them offer increased cpu support. Check the CPU compatibility charts to verify if your specific cpu is only supported by a particular BIOS update. What proc do you have? Depending on you what proc you have it may or may not be supported with the older BIOS.

Generally speaking, not only do BIOS updates support newer procs, they can also fix start up/shut down issues, correct or add RAM timings, add/increase support for components, etc...Given the age of your exising BIOS and the updates offered in subsequent releases, IMO, it would be worth updating the BIOS.

As a practice, I don't apply every BIOS update, I usually skip one or two before updating unless it adds support I want, and I never use beta BIOS updates due to a bad experience which required replacing the ROM.

The best advice I can give, is read the release notes, be sure to dl the proper flash utility, and follow the flash procedure to the letter.

Good luck!

 

[raptor50]

I agree with the rest.

I used to be on VIA platforms and took for granted always flashing the latest bios and installing the latest drivers once they are out. And that could be done because VIA is reasonanbly stable then.

But all that changed when I move on the Nforce3 and 4 mobos. I take new bios releases with a pinch of salt. I have the A8N-E and this board is werid to begin with. I was able to OC my AMD 3000+ easily to 2.8 Ghz on other boards like DFI etc but it won;t go anywhere on this board. After playing with different bios, seems like the 1005 works best and allowed me to go up to 2.5 Ghz. Coincidentally, the 1005 bios also gave me the best stability and performance in most of my benchmarks. I had the X-Fi in it with no prob though it is an older bios.

So, it ain't broken and working fine, leave it Unless you have loads of time for troubleshooting if things go wrong.

 

[linux_0]

Fine advice, kinda depends on whether you subscribe to the school of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" or "There's always room for improvement".

If you do decide to upgrade, be sure to read up as much as possible online to see what others have to say about the update to let others find any issues/benefits before you dive in.

My $.02

I agree :-D

As with everything else, the MFG sometimes fixes stuff in the BIOS and sometimes they break stuff.

Updating your BIOS is usually a good thing but it's important to research it before you do it.

:-D

 

[Jackpine]

Anyways, I updated my bios.

There was a lot of good advice given in this forum, and others, about researching the reason for a bios update before making a decision whether to update or not. The trouble with that is, at least looking at the Asus download page, is that very little information is provided explaining what the bios update is for. (I don't know, maybe the little information that is provided is all you need?)

In my case following the update, the pc runs well. However, I don't notice anything different in its performance.

 

[bmouring]

Glad to hear. And you are quite right, as some manufacturers are pretty quiet about what exactly changes in BIOS updates (my ASUS laptop) while others give you a nice list of changes (my Tyan mainboard).

Usually it's to fix specific bugs or (sometimes) to add a little additional functionality (like RAID 5 to onboard controllers).

 

[captaincharisma]

I updated mine once. reason was that i wanted to make sure my motherboard supported a 300GB HDD. My motherboard is an MSI and boy was I ticked off. I use its live update feature because it said you can update the BIOS within windows but It wanted me to make a Bootdisk from a floppy to update it. thankfully there were no problems after it. well it couldn't find my HDD but that was because i Had to set the BIOS back up.

 

[Malik Jay D]

i updATED MY BIOS TO SEE THAT I CAN CHANGE SWITCHABLE GRAPHICS TO THE FIXED BUT I CANT MADE IT :d