Update bios or not?

[HopelessGPU]

My pc is up and ready but been hearing a lot of conflicting information on whether I should update mobo bios or not. The mobo in question is the B660 gaming x ax ddr4 and its bios version is F1 which was in 2021. Someone on reddit said that the b660 mobos should work with the 12th gen cpus out the box but i'm unsure. Was thinking about updating it to F22 since its the latest one from gigabyte as of 2023. 

 

FYI: I now understand that I must format my usb to fat32 before installing os and updating bios.

[Eigenvektor]

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B660-GAMING-X-AX-DDR4-rev-10/support#support-cpu

 

As far as I can see 12th and 13th gen works since F21. But if that is a new machine, it shouldn't hurt to go to the latest BIOS before doing anything else

[RONOTHAN##]

4 minutes ago, HopelessGPU said:

Someone on reddit said that the b660 mobos should work with the 12th gen cpus out the box but i'm unsure.

They are. 

 

The general rule of thumb is this, you should not update your BIOS unless you fall into one of the following camps:

1. There's a major security flaw found in the current BIOS revision (Spectre/Meltdown for instance)
2. There's an issue with your system related to the BIOS (XMP not enabling, not restarting properly, too much voltage at stock leading to dying CPUs, etc.). 
3. There's a feature you need in the newer BIOS (I.E. Resizeable BAR on older boards). 
4. Your current revision does not support the newer CPU you're planning on putting in it. 

If you don't fall into any of those four camps, updating the BIOS is nothing but a risk. 

[HopelessGPU]

6 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

They are. 

 

The general rule of thumb is this, you should not update your BIOS unless you fall into one of the following camps:

1. There's a major security flaw found in the current BIOS revision (Spectre/Meltdown for instance)
2. There's an issue with your system related to the BIOS (XMP not enabling, not restarting properly, too much voltage at stock leading to dying CPUs, etc.). 
3. There's a feature you need in the newer BIOS (I.E. Resizeable BAR on older boards). 
4. Your current revision does not support the newer CPU you're planning on putting in it. 

If you don't fall into any of those four camps, updating the BIOS is nothing but a risk. 

1. How do I find out if F1 has any security flaws in its current BIOS revision?

2. How do I go about testing these things to make sure everything is working fine on my system in bios?

3. I probably don't have to worry about this one I think since the last update on the bios was from 2021.

4. My bios version should be fine with my i7-12th gen cpu out tha box from what your suggesting, correct?

 

I'm new to pc building so sorry for the dumb questions, I only have some knowledge of some things but not this in particular.

[Eigenvektor]

6 minutes ago, HopelessGPU said:

1. How do I find out if F1 has any security flaws in its current BIOS revision?

Read the description of the BIOS download page, it should generally mention if a BIOS update addresses security issues

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B660-GAMING-X-AX-DDR4-rev-10/support#support-dl-bios

 

Of course some manufacturers are better than others when it comes to disclosing what exactly the BIOS update does.

 

6 minutes ago, HopelessGPU said:

2. How do I go about testing these things to make sure everything is working fine on my system in bios?

If your computer runs as it should and you notice no weird behavior in the OS and there's no mention of a bug fix on the BIOS download page, everything should be fine. As you can see on the link above F22 addresses one specific issue

 

>> Address blank display while system powers up with RTX3060 series graphics cards

[dilpickle]

Always keep your hardware and software up to date. All this fear mongering on bios updates is ridiculous.