UEFI on x58 1366?

[Davendork]

Has anyone heard of a socket 1366 x58 chipset motherboard getting an UEFI firmware update. It's my understanding that Intel chipsets are compatible with UEFI firmware since the 945 chipset (this was a requirement before Apple would switch platforms).

 

[bankster55]

EFI has been avail on OEM PC like Dell as far back as 2005
But they used Intel branded mobo/bios
UEFI is an Intel spec
I suppose you could find and Intel X58 mobo and try its bios.
But all your I/O stuff would have to be the same.
Risky business and I wouldnt try it unless I was experienced in backing up and reinserting a failed bios flash. Then again current bios might not accept it at all.

MSI is the only one that I know of had separate bios flashes for EFI and MBR, and that was only one model P35 P45 with "click bios"

 

[Davendork]

I wanted to know if anyone had heard any news from a motherboard manufacturer that any models of 1366 x58 motherboards (existing or upcoming new releases) were going to have UEFI firmware and maybe a date on the release. I'm sorry my post was unclear and misunderstood.

 

[Ross Ridge]

I wanted to know if anyone had heard any news from a motherboard manufacturer that any models of 1366 x58 motherboards (existing or upcoming new releases) were going to have UEFI firmware and maybe a date on the release. I'm sorry my post was unclear and misunderstood.

I wouldn't hold my breath. Unless you need to boot Windows off a GPT disk (eg. one bigger that 2.2TB), then EFI firmware doesn't let you do anything that a traditional BIOS wouldn't. Unless there's a significant demand for this amongst buyers of X58 motherboards, no motherboard manufacure is going to go the expense of developing and testing new firmware for this chipset. Any existing motherboard would need to have included a large enough flash ROM to allow the upgrade as well.

On the other hand you should be able to find existing server and maybe Intel desktop X58 motherboards that include EFI support.

btw. EFI/UEFI can be implemented on any chipset. Chipset compatiblity is not an in issue.

 

[nenforcer]

Can anyone confirm, UEFI is clearly not specific to a motherboard chipset but is it specific to a firmware / BIOS maker? Are the new Sandy Bridge H67/P67 motherboards still running a Phoenix / Award / AMI BIOS or is UEFI made by a completely different manufacturer?

Are all of the old BIOS makers now making UEFI BIOS's that motherboard manufacturers can customize like ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte have done?

If they are then old motherboards will have to be reliant on both the BIOS maker then motherboard manufacturer to actually release a UEFI BIOS for it. This is unlikely to happen for old boards like X58 ones but we can hope.

Sorry if this appears to be unrelated to thread but it may help answer that question.

 

[bankster55]

uEFI is a big nothing as Ross Ridge said
just about partitioning and big partitions and drives bigger than 2.19TB
Absolutely no need if you dont start buying 2.5TB and 3TB drives
But IF you do, Win 7 install is fully capable of setting up your HDD in perfect GPT if it detects it in bios. If it doesnt you are SOL.
HOWEVER, EFI is absolutely necessary if you want fancy bios graphics and KB and mouse and screenshotds.
MSDOS MBR just cant do that. I saw a review where ASUS specifically mentioned the code for graphics and all the AI is in C++. Thats why the flash bios has to be 32MB

as a matter of fact, the extremely boring old school black with white text only Gigabyte P67 bios just recently had EFI added in a bios update
but remember - NO graphics

Basically, ASUS P67 bios are three headed............
MSDOS MBR,
EFI GPT,
C++ graphical intelligent interface

And the chance of some manuf coming out NOW with an EFI bios update on any mainstream mobo prior to P67 is zero and none

 

[Davendork]

3TB hard drives, faster boot, not feeling like my 1366 platform is all the way dead. I want all of it. GUI for my BIOS, not so much.

 

[Ross Ridge]

Can anyone confirm, UEFI is clearly not specific to a motherboard chipset but is it specific to a firmware / BIOS maker? Are the new Sandy Bridge H67/P67 motherboards still running a Phoenix / Award / AMI BIOS or is UEFI made by a completely different manufacturer?

I'm not sure why anyone would think that UEFI requires certain chipsets. It's just a boot environment. The only fundamental hardware requirement that I know of is that it needs at least 80386 processor. I can't see how there'd be any technical reason why, say, a classic 440BX motherboard couldn't support UEFI. Other than the fact it would be a tight fit in the flash ROM.

Phoenix and AMI both have UEFI firmware. Award was bought out by Phoenix years ago.
As far as I know motherboard manufactures are still using the base firmware supplied by these companies. Intel has it is own version of EFI firmware, though. The GUI components (if any) used by these motherboard companies seem to be developed in house, however.

 

[Insomniator]

my new asus p67 has uefi... and frankly i'd rather have the old bios back