Ivy Bridge Support on Z77 without BIOS update?

[megabnx]

I, like many people, am taking the opportunity of Ivy Bridge to finally upgrade my ancient rig (First gen Phenom, oh the horror) and was planning on picking up a 3570k to bring me into the modern age. The particular motherboard I'm thinking of is the GA-Z77MX-D3H . My only concern is that I looked at its CPU comparability list, and it only supports Ivy Bridge after a BIOS update. If I get an old version of the board before the update, will I be able to run it at all with an Ivy processor and flash with that, or would I need to get a temporary old processor to flash it with?

 

[chesteracorgi]

The mobo should be able to run the processor without a BIOS update, but it will not be able to give you all the functionality of the IB platform (PCI 3.0, native USB 3.0).

The IB CPU is compatible on all SB mobos: it's that they can't take advantage of its unique features.

 

[aicom]

The mobo should be able to run the processor without a BIOS update, but it will not be able to give you all the functionality of the IB platform (PCI 3.0, native USB 3.0).

The IB CPU is compatible on all SB mobos: it's that they can't take advantage of its unique features.

That's not completely true. All of those Sandy Bridge motherboards need a BIOS update to support Ivy Bridge at all. Unless it comes with the update, you'll a Sandy Bridge CPU to flash it. Based on the OP, it seems even some Z77 boards don't have the update pre-installed. I can't believe Intel made the same mistake as AMD with Bulldozer and the 900 chipsets, having to using a prior-gen CPU to flash some of them instead of just guaranteeing a Z77 board will support IB out of the box.

 

[chesteracorgi]

That's not completely true. All of those Sandy Bridge motherboards need a BIOS update to support Ivy Bridge at all. Unless it comes with the update, you'll a Sandy Bridge CPU to flash it. Based on the OP, it seems even some Z77 boards don't have the update pre-installed. I can't believe Intel made the same mistake as AMD with Bulldozer and the 900 chipsets, having to using a prior-gen CPU to flash some of them instead of just guaranteeing a Z77 board will support IB out of the box.

Aircom,

Not that I doubt the truth of your statement, but do you have a source for this? I was under the impression that IB is not only pin compatible, but also backward compatible on the instruction set. Do you know of any paticular 1155 Z series (or P or H series for that matter) mobos that need the BIOS update for IB compatibility? I was not aware that this is an issue.

 

[aicom]

Aircom,

Not that I doubt the truth of your statement, but do you have a source for this? I was under the impression that IB is not only pin compatible, but also backward compatible on the instruction set. Do you know of any paticular 1155 Z series (or P or H series for that matter) mobos that need the BIOS update for IB compatibility? I was not aware that this is an issue.

There's plenty of sources that indicated that. According to my Tom's hardware source below, most vendors didn't have an Ivy Bridge compatible firmware ready yet. Just because a processor implements the same instructions, doesn't mean the BIOS work needed to bring it up and run it is the same. All H61, H67, P67, and Z68 boards (some Z68 boards might come with updated firmware) need an updated firmware to support Ivy Bridge. In addition, the OP's Z77 board also seems to need a BIOS update for Ivy Bridge, especially since Gigabyte itself says so.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181-8.html

"Support gets more conditional when you start talking about dropping third-gen Core chips on older boards with 6-series core logic. Each platform vendor is responsible for updating its H61-, H67-, P67-, and Z68-based motherboards with new Management Engine firmware, a BIOS, and graphics driver updates. Ivy Bridge CPUs are not supported on Q65-, Q67-, and B65-based boards."

 

[chesteracorgi]

There's plenty of sources that indicated that. According to my Tom's hardware source below, most vendors didn't have an Ivy Bridge compatible firmware ready yet. Just because a processor implements the same instructions, doesn't mean the BIOS work needed to bring it up and run it is the same. All H61, H67, P67, and Z68 boards (some Z68 boards might come with updated firmware) need an updated firmware to support Ivy Bridge. In addition, the OP's Z77 board also seems to need a BIOS update for Ivy Bridge, especially since Gigabyte itself says so.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181-8.html

"Support gets more conditional when you start talking about dropping third-gen Core chips on older boards with 6-series core logic. Each platform vendor is responsible for updating its H61-, H67-, P67-, and Z68-based motherboards with new Management Engine firmware, a BIOS, and graphics driver updates. Ivy Bridge CPUs are not supported on Q65-, Q67-, and B65-based boards."

Thanks for the info.