Bios update

[Jacob Rotkowitz]

I have heard mixed opinions about updating bios, I have people telling me to update it with my new build and people who say if it works it’s fine. I am worried of the risks involved In updating, should I be worrried? I am building a new pc in 2 weeks and don’t know whether to update the bios or not.

[Hinjima]

Just now, Jacob Rotkowitz said:

I have heard mixed opinions about updating bios, I have people telling me to update it with my new build and people who say if it works it’s fine. I am worried of the risks involved In updating, should I be worrried? I am building a new pc in 2 weeks and don’t know whether to update the bios or not.

What are the components that will be used?

[Middcore]

Update the BIOS if it's needed for compatibility with your parts, or if there is some other specific new feature or bugfix that you need.

 

 

[RONOTHAN##]

There are only 4 reasons to update the BIOS:

1. You are planning to use a CPU that isn't supported by the current revision
2. There is a bug that is affecting you
3. There is a new feature you need from the newer BIOS update (I.E. Resizable BAR)
4. There is a security exploit being patched. 

If you aren't in one of the aforementioned categories, a BIOS update is at most going to do nothing to help, and at worst make the system less stable. 

[Jacob Rotkowitz]

18 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

What are the components that will be used?

Asrock b650 pro rs, Ryzen 7 7800x3d teamgroup t force ddr5 32gb 6000mhz and a 4070 and a 980 pro

[abcdefghivjklmnop]

if the mobo works with the current bios, then dont bother, 

[Jacob Rotkowitz]

I am building a new pc in two weeks and have a Asrock b650 pro rs, 7800x3d and a 4070. Along with teamgroup t force 32gb 6000mhz and people are telling me to update bios but I am nervous because of the risks involved. Should I update the bios or leave it?

[GuiltySpark_]

Personally, given its an AM5 system I'd absolutely update it but I've also done it 1000 times and am perfectly comfortable with it.

 

From your manual:

[RONOTHAN##]

3 minutes ago, Jacob Rotkowitz said:

Should I update the bios or leave it?

It will depend on what revision the board is currently running, but generally yes, you should. The board has BIOS flashback, so it should usually be able to recover from a bad flash if something goes wrong, so there's not many risks to it. The main problem is that the early BIOS revisions had a tendency to kill CPUs, especially X3D chips, so for the health of your CPU you really should be on one of the more later revisions. There's more risk in leaving it on one of the early revisions than in updating. If you're on one of the fixed revisions, there's not too much point in updating, though realistically if my luck with buying boards is anything to go by, it'll be one of the broken updates. 

[stuckonthis]

You will be surprised how many morons on pcpp that will tell people to update the bios chip when there is no need to, this is a very good situation of "if it's not broke don't fix it!"

[Lurking]

On 12/12/2023 at 5:32 PM, Jacob Rotkowitz said:

I am building a new pc in two weeks and have a Asrock b650 pro rs, 7800x3d and a 4070. Along with teamgroup t force 32gb 6000mhz and people are telling me to update bios but I am nervous because of the risks involved. Should I update the bios or leave it?

It generally is good to update BIOS when you get the MB before setting it up. If something goes wrong, you still can return it. If you have any issues, you at least can exclude the BIOS in trouble shooting.

 

After you set up the PC and all works, I wouldn't bother unless there are issues being fixed by new BIOS (this is likely with brand new platforms), security patched, or you install new CPU etc 

 

I Personally update BIOS (along with drivers) if there is some really hard to pinpoint issue. Usually doesn't help, but at least excludes those as causes 

 

Never touch a running system. 

 

Think of it, 99% if users don't even know what BIOS is and never update. And if they have computer issues, 99.99999% of those are not resolved by new BIOS.