Question Should I flash my BIOS now or wait until I upgrade my CPU?

[jamesdsimone]

I will probably upgrade my CPU at some point but I don't have any immediate plans. Is there any down side to waiting to flash my BIOS? My board will support up to a Ryzen 3000 series but needs a BIOS update to support a 5000 series.

 

[Brainonska511]

Unless you're experiencing a problem, it seems like one of those things that you can probably put off until you're closer to your upgrade.

At the same time, it probably wouldn't be a big deal to run the BIOS update now.

 

[jamesdsimone]

Unless you're experiencing a problem, it seems like one of those things that you can probably put off until you're closer to your upgrade.

At the same time, it probably wouldn't be a big deal to run the BIOS update now.

I'm just worried about breaking something.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Then break it now to stop worrying. If a BIOS update breaks your mobo, you deserve a better one.

 

[mindless1]

I'd go ahead and get it out of the way, while it's on your mind and you know the particulars... might save a little time.

 

[jamesdsimone]

Driver installation has no relationship right?

 

[mindless1]

Normally no, but I wouldn't go as far as to state it's impossible. I don't recall ever having to fiddle with drivers after one.

 

[jamesdsimone]

Normally no, but I wouldn't go as far as to state it's impossible. I don't recall ever having to fiddle with drivers after one.

I don't have any drivers installed yet but was going to install the chipset drivers first.

 

[mindless1]

Oh, no you shouldn't need drivers but could go ahead and install them.

 

[jamesdsimone]

Oh, no you shouldn't need drivers but could go ahead and install them.

No reason not to use the lastest BIOS?

 

[mindless1]

You might do some web searches to see if any fellow owners of same model motherboard had any issues with it, but otherwise yes, I'd go with the latest... though I like to wait a few weeks after its release in case there is some bug to be reported and fixed, let other people be the beta testers.

 

[jamesdsimone]

The lastest BIOS is 2 months old. The reason I ask is that different CPU's have different BIOS listed and I don't know exactly which CPU I might upgrade to.

 

[Brainonska511]

The lastest BIOS is 2 months old. The reason I ask is that different CPU's have different BIOS listed and I don't know exactly which CPU I might upgrade to.

Just update to the latest bios. It will be able to cover all the earlier CPUs. The listed CPUs in the compatibility chart are just first BIOS in which they were supported.

 

[mindless1]

I feel like it's better to dodge the bullet now, go ahead and upgrade the bios instead of waiting till you depend on use of the system.

 

[jamesdsimone]

Just have to resolve a hot fix issue and then I'll update the BIOS. When I upgrade it will probable go with either a 5800X3D or a 5900X. The 5800X3D is a little faster in games but leaning toward the 5900X with the extra 4 cores.

 

[Iron Woode]

Just have to resolve a hot fix issue and then I'll update the BIOS. When I upgrade it will probable go with either a 5800X3D or a 5900X. The 5800X3D is a little faster in games but leaning toward the 5900X with the extra 4 cores.

What board is it?

I have an older B450 board that I upgraded to a 5600G and flashed to the newest BIOS for it first. I bought that board back in 2019.

 

[jamesdsimone]

What board is it?

I have an older B450 board that I upgraded to a 5600G and flashed to the newest BIOS for it first. I bought that board back in 2019.

It's an MSI X470 Gaming Plus Max. This build actually started 2 years ago. I wanted a board that supported Win 7 so got it for that reason. What I didn't know at the time because I hadn't really kept up with things was that because of mining idiots you couldn't touch a video card for anything thing close to reasonable. ebay had broken cards going for 150+. I got a 2700X at the same time to go with it which isn't a horrible CPU but a little dated 2 years later. I noticed video card prices are practically in a free fall, at least AMD cards seem to be. I picked up an RX 6950XT for 599.00 so the 2700X will bottle neck that card some. When I bought the MB/CPU, RX 6900XT's were almost 3000.00, no thanks. So will be looking at a new CPU at some point.

 

[tcsenter]

I flash it. You do you.

 

[Iron Woode]

It's an MSI X470 Gaming Plus Max. This build actually started 2 years ago. I wanted a board that supported Win 7 so got it for that reason. What I didn't know at the time because I hadn't really kept up with things was that because of mining idiots you couldn't touch a video card for anything thing close to reasonable. ebay had broken cards going for 150+. I got a 2700X at the same time to go with it which isn't a horrible CPU but a little dated 2 years later. I noticed video card prices are practically in a free fall, at least AMD cards seem to be. I picked up an RX 6950XT for 599.00 so the 2700X will bottle neck that card some. When I bought the MB/CPU, RX 6900XT's were almost 3000.00, no thanks. So will be looking at a new CPU at some point.

I would most definitely flash to the newest BIOS as they contain updates and fixes for various things like ram compatibility, cpu updates, PCIe issues and related things.

Installing chipset drivers is always a good idea.

 

[jamesdsimone]

BIOS is flashed. It took a lot longer than I expected and there were a lot more reboots.

 

[jamesdsimone]

Picked up at 5900x.