Bios updates - how often do you do it?

[tribeca600]

Do you guys always update to the latest BIOS after a build? What about regular updates, do you always update to the latest when it comes out or do you wait until it's vetted by others or do you not update at all if your system is stable?

The reason I ask is that the ASUS motherboard manual says updating BIOS is risky and avoid doing it if your system is not experiencing any problems LOL!

 

[rchunter]

If it's a new board yeah, I will usually always update asap.

 

[whm1974]

If you are doing a new Ryzen build then yes I would update the BIOS often as that increases performance and stability.

 

[RLGL]

With Win 10 it's best to update

 

[EXCellR8]

Ryzen was sort of an exception where I was constantly looking for revised BIOS' because of memory issues but with most new boards I only flash until I'm stable. For example, the Skylake board supports Kaby chips but I never bothered updating it since the 6600k is perfectly happy and the mem is running full speed basically out of the box.

 

[francisw19]

I almost always update to the latest BIOS. Drivers/BIOS/firmware/whatever, I always update...it's probably a form of OCD or something LOL! Normally I wait a week or so for some feedback to make sure there aren't any major issues.

Sure, it's a 'risky' process, but I've never had a BIOS update go south on me (done hundreds over the years). The worst case is I've had a couple of updates that brought out a few bugs, but the board was still functional.

 

[UsandThem]

Only if the BIOS updates adds a feature I need, or fixes a problem I have.

Outside of that, if it ain't broken..............

 

[ch33zw1z]

I keep mine up to date.

I never do it from inside windows

 

[Indus]

I lost a MSI board to a bios update and they never replaced it even when it was under warranty. That's why I will never buy MSI again. I shoulda known not to do it when they didn't give the rebate.

That said I've updated my bios on 4 different boards after that and its been good and smooth on the Gigabyte and ASRock boards.

Also when a new chipset comes out, the bios updates add more features that may have been forgotten or stuff that's added later to make it more current.

Personally I would never do a in windows bios update again. That's what fucked my board up. Just use a USB stick and flash it or nowadays there is internet flash via bios. That's safer.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I was burned once long ago by windows bios update. It wasn't a MSI.

MSI did burn me on a rebate once, and I have never bought their stuff since...not even used lol

 

[UsandThem]

I was burned once long ago by windows bios update. It wasn't a MSI.

MSI did burn me on a rebate once, and I have never bought their stuff since...not even used lol

I'm the same way with getting screwed on a MIR. Fuji screwed me on a rebate on a 50 pack of floppy discs in 1997. I still refuse to buy or use any of their products.

 

[homebrew2ny]

I never update the BIOS unless it adds or fixes a needed function.

 

[Ketchup]

I am good with a Windows app for bios updates. Never had a problem with them yet. Most of the times that I have done an update, there were even more fixes or additions than the manufacturer decided to mention, so I have gotten into the habit of installing a BIOS update whenever I see one.

 

[bbhaag]

I'm pretty religious about updating my BIOS. Even when the last update for my z170 board was just adding support for Kaby Lake and improving dram compatibility. I went ahead and did it even though I know I'll never have a KL cpu and the ram I have is the only set I will put in this board.

 

[bigboxes]

Only if absolutely necessary.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I guess, I'm mostly of the "patch early, patch often" crowd, but for system BIOS / UEFI on mobos, well, it depends. Some boards, like my ASRock B150 Fatality board with Hyper BCLK OC capability, I haven't updated the BIOS, because I've heard that later versions disable the OC capability (to pacify Intel). Likewise, I have some Biostar H81 boards, that I actually had to flash back to their first BIOS / UEFI release, in order to enable overclocking on the G3258 CPU.

But my DeskMini rigs, I had to update to 1.50 or 7.00, in order to properly use and be able to boot Kaby Lake CPUs in those mobos.

And my Z170 Pro4S ATX boards, I did flash to the newest 7.xx UEFI, to support Kaby Lake. Thankfully, those boards retained the ability to BCLK OC Skylake CPUs after the flash, but not KBL CPUs.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I used to update religiously. Nowadays, I can't be arsed especially since it usually means I have to double-check all my finetuned overclock settings and/or revalidate them after the update.

 

[sandorski]

Used to do it all the time, but the Mobo in my sig has never been updated. I tried through the Asus software couple times, but it always gave me some error, so I gave up.

 

[tcsenter]

If there is a newer non-beta BIOS available, I always update BEFORE a build, or before any complete/clean reinstall of the OS. No reason not to have the latest firmware from the outset if you're going to be installing the OS. Otherwise, I only update if the release notes indicate something that might affect or benefit me. And then, only after that BIOS has been posted for a full month. e.g. I recently acquired a mSATA SSD that was two firmware releases behind that latest. I updated it to latest before putting into service (as an upgrade in laptop).

It's not nearly as risky as it used to be, though, the problem often exists BKAC.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Often PEBKAC does get in the way.

It's important to note that firmware coders don't release a complete list of fixes to the public...as far as I can tell.