Flashing the BIOS

[BlueAcolyte]

I have the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L and there is a BIOS rev 2.0 out for it. Bios flashing is risky from what little I have read, and there are some problems with this series of boards as well. Do I need to flash the BIOS? I plan to overclock to 11x266MHZ = 2.93GHZ with a C2D 4500 and 8800GT. Do I need to flash the BIOS if I merely download the drivers?

 

[Executioner]

If you are not having problem with the board, I would advise against it.

 

[Regalk]

You only flash to the latest bios when there are issues with the current bios or you need to upgrade the cpu to a newer model e.g. wolfdale. If your system is working fine and overclocks Ok then leave it be. Always check the commentary on the new bios and see what it says in terms of fixes.
Also if you have to always flash in DOS mode (bootdisk or similar) as opposed to Windows flashing - many have confirmed that this is best
Me personally I flash all the time to see what features the new bioses have. I have the F6 bios and didn't do a thing in terms of performance other than supporting newer cpus.
The executioner beat me to it

 

[programmer]

No need to flash the BIOS typically, but if you are going to do it, definitely flash from a clean DOS environment. I always use the "Driver Free Disk For BIOS Flashing" disk available from bootdisk.com and never had a flash failure -- just in case, always save your current BIOS before you flash the new one.

I just flashed my Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R (rev 1.0) from the F6 to F9 BIOS without issue.

BTW, for your motherboard, the rev. 2.0 is NOT a BIOS but a new motherboard revision. The BIOS revisions are labeled F1, F2, F3, F5, F6, and the latest is F7 released Nov 29, 07. See http://www.gigabyte-usa.com/Su...el.aspx?ProductID=2560. For my board, the BIOS are the same for both rev 1.0 and 2.0 of the motherboard but no guarantee the same applies to yours, so make sure you know if you have a 1.0 or 2.0 board first.