Asrock Extreme4 p67 bios

dudeofdur

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Sep 29, 2008
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Hi guys, I just noticed that the latest bios on Asrock's website was 1.5 and mine is on 1.1 (never updated). Everything is running fine on 1.1 but I haven't done any oc yet. Is there any advantage to updating to 1.5? all I see on the website is

1. Add Memory channel info in BIOS.
2. Add print BIOS screen function.
3. Update "ME" and MRC code.

But that doesn't mean anything to me. Anybody that has same mobo or insight want to inform me of what I'm missing out?
 

Hogan773

Senior member
Nov 2, 2010
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I'd go ahead and update. If you look on the "beta zone" there is a 1.43 that apparently had some additional gradations in a voltage option in BIOS. Note the 1.43 also allowed VCore to go much higher but they took that back out in the 1.50. 1.50 apparently kept the voltage gradations described in 1.43.

Note that my board was shipped with 1.3 installed....I must have gotten the second container ship from China and you got the first.

I did the update thru the BIOS flash and a thumbdrive and it worked fine.

NOTE HOWEVER that I thought I screwed it up bigtime after the flash because Windows now wouldn't boot. Problem was that the BIOS defaults for whatever reason to "IDE Mode" under the SATA drive settings. On the initial install I had changed to AHCI mode before loading Win7. After tweaking the BIOS settings to AHCI in that submenu, it loaded up just fine. For 5 minutes before I figured it out, I was cursing and starting to think I was gonna need to re-load Win7 and all my programs.
 

Diogenes2

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
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If it ain't broke don't fix it.

There is always the chance that something could get screwed up ..


I never flash a BIOS unless it claims to correct an issue, I know for sure I have..
 

dudeofdur

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Sep 29, 2008
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If it ain't broke don't fix it.

There is always the chance that something could get screwed up ..


I never flash a BIOS unless it claims to correct an issue, I know for sure I have..

my thoughts exactly when seeing it on the website. I was just wondering about the benefits of upgrading though.
 

Hogan773

Senior member
Nov 2, 2010
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Yeah but how often does a BIOS reflash truly screw up something so badly that it bricks the board?

I'm not saying you need to upgrade, but given that they've come out with several revisions I figure why not? Plus, you're likely going to be EXCHANGING the board anyway in a month or two so if something goes awry, you can just return it now.
 

Diogenes2

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
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Yeah but how often does a BIOS reflash truly screw up something so badly that it bricks the board?
Once is enough.
On any forum you can usually see some thread where someone flashed their BIOS, just because there was a newer version, and now they have problems they didn't have before, if it's not completely dead.
Then you find the new BIOS was to support some CPU or memory that you don't even have, or some setting you couldn't care less about.
Why risk it if it's not necessary ?

I'm not saying you need to upgrade, but given that they've come out with several revisions I figure why not? Plus, you're likely going to be EXCHANGING the board anyway in a month or two so if something goes awry, you can just return it now.
Returning it now might not be a viable option for some..
 
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Hogan773

Senior member
Nov 2, 2010
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Once is enough.
On any forum you can usually see some thread where someone flashed their BIOS, just because there was a newer version, and now they have problems they didn't have before, if it's not completely dead.
Then you find the new BIOS was to support some CPU or memory that you don't even have, or some setting you couldn't care less about.
Why risk it if it's not necessary ?

Returning it now might not be a viable option for some..

With the brand new-ness of Sandybridge plus people figuring out proper OC settings, I would tend to think that improvements in voltage options, etc would be useful. I believe the new BIOS adds an "Internal CPU PLL overvoltage" option for "better overclocking performance"

That said, I don't turn on that feature.

BTW the website shows 1.30 as the "First Released" version (its what mine came with out of the box) so if you're on 1.1, then you've got the really early version. I also believe that the newer BIOS runs BCLK at exactly 100.0, whereas the older ones ran it at 100.4 to get a SLIGHT speed advantage (maybe to bias the reviews). I believe its best to run it at exactly 100.0 and then just change the multiplier.
 

dudeofdur

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Sep 29, 2008
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ok thanks for the info. I updated :/ I couldn't find a flash drive so I updated from windows. Everything seemed to go smoothly (I didn't get any errors). I haven't noticed anything different in terms of performance (and wasn't expecting any) but I guess I'll be glad when I get to OC this build.