BIOS - update or leave be?

2ndcoming

I built a Z170 based Skylake PC in 2016 with help off the forum here,

I would have flashed the BIOS to upgrade the CPU to 7600k in 2017. Is there any need to update the BIOS again, or is it recommended to do so?

The computer had been lying more or less dormant for the past few months for various reasons and on Saturday I had to spend hours doing a major driver clean-up to get out of a Reference By Pointer BSOD loop and I just want to make sure I have everything correct now to keep her right.

Dcully

I updated my bios over the weekend there just out of curiosity.
I was afraid as i had a lot of trial and error to get my setup the way it was but im delighted i did.
Same overclock on my 8600K yet temps are down 5 degrees and im on silent profile with my fans.
Win win for me atleast.

TheSegal

I updated the bios on my ASUS Z170i motherboard and now it's completely unresponsive so i'd advise against updating your motherboard unless it's really necessary. Also be sure to back up your current bios to a USB key in case it all goes tits up like mine, really wish i'd taken the time to back it all up!

tuxy

Dcully wrote: »

I updated my bios over the weekend there just out of curiosity.
I was afraid as i had a lot of trial and error to get my setup the way it was but im delighted i did.
Same overclock on my 8600K yet temps are down 5 degrees and im on silent profile with my fans.
Win win for me atleast.

Is the voltage much lower or is the sensor just reading 5 degrees lower?

TheSegal wrote: »

I updated the bios on my ASUS Z170i motherboard and now it's completely unresponsive so i'd advise against updating your motherboard unless it's really necessary. Also be sure to back up your current bios to a USB key in case it all goes tits up like mine, really wish i'd taken the time to back it all up!

No need to backup old version of the BIOS, Asus has all the releases for that board on their site but are you sure you can flash a completely dead board?

scamalert

it depends upgrades never hurt, but depending if something goes wrong can it recover, ive old MSI MB and never had issues updating via windows app- which used to be not recommended, as actually didnt have luck doing it via bios itself .


anyway the MB i have does have switch for dual bios so that alone saves one, where i know most MBs can be difficult without such backup in place to recover.

Dcully

@ Tuxy the voltage is lower now which is odd because previously i couldnt get it that low.
With bios update I just ran the OC tuner 1 in bios and hey presto 4.5ghz 5 degrees lower on average and fan profile is silent,temps rarely go above 70C and usually sit about 60-65 , all air cooling btw.
I havent tried the OC tuner 2 feature yet but 4.5ghz offers amazing performance in all my games.

TheSegal

tuxy wrote: »

Is the voltage much lower or is the sensor just reading 5 degrees lower?



No need to backup old version of the BIOS, Asus has all the releases for that board on their site but are you sure you can flash a completely dead board?

They have backups but unfortunately those versions don't have your MAC address, UUID, and serial number included in them which are a pain to get back

tuxy

TheSegal wrote: »

They have backups but unfortunately those versions don't have your MAC address, UUID, and serial number included in them which are a pain to get back

You need all that info to flash the bios with an EEPROM Flasher, it's not held in protected memory?
I'm lucky enough to never have a BIOS flash go wrong so never had to do it.

tuxy

Just read up on this and I see all that info is needed and is a pain in the ass to get as you said.
Hope you get it sorted, good luck.