When do *you* update BIOS?

[Alir]

When *you* buy a new mobo, do you bother updating the BIOS?

 

Or in the past, when have you decided to update your BIOS?

 

Got a new mobo. I am deciding if it is worth me updating my BIOS or if it would unnecessarily cause problems to a new mobo.

 

Note: There is nothing wrong with my mobo. I am just looking for performance or feature improvements.

[Fulgrim]

Once in a blue moon.

[AlwaysFSX]

I do it as soon as I get the board.

[aisle9]

When I get the board and before changing CPUs.

Otherwise, if it ain't broke, I won't try to fix it.

[IPickle]

Like, Never.

[QueenDemetria]

1 minute ago, Alir said:

When *you* buy a new mobo, do you bother updating the BIOS?

Or in the past, when have you decided to update your BIOS?

Got a new mobo. I am deciding if it is worth me updating my BIOS or if it would unnecessarily cause problems to a new mobo.

Note: There is nothing wrong with my mobo. I am just looking for performance or feature improvements.

I update my bios when I am having issues with my current bios, or I need a specific feature from a newer bios(for instance, updated CPU support list). If there is nothing wrong, then I don't even touch it.

[ThinkWithPortals]

2 minutes ago, Alir said:

 

I only do it either when I get the board and it's not up to date already or when I'm changing CPUs. AFAIK it doesn't really provide any performance improvements worth mentioning, just compatibility.

[TheRandomness]

Never.

[Alir]

Interesting.

Is updating your BIOS easy or is it worth too much effort?

I once had to update my laptops' BIOS and it was a tedious process.

I don't understand why people would update it unless they needed a new feature.

[Alir]

2 minutes ago, ThinkWithPortals said:

I only do it either when I get the board and it's not up to date already or when I'm changing CPUs. AFAIK it doesn't really provide any performance improvements worth mentioning, just compatibility.

 

So as long as everything works fine, updating it is not necessary?

[ThinkWithPortals]

Just now, Alir said:

 

So as long as everything works fine, updating it is not necessary?

There's really no point unless a feature or fix comes out that you absolutely need, or you need to do it for a new CPU you're installing (eg. for a Haswell Refresh CPU like a 4690K or 4790K to work in a Z87 board a BIOS update was needed.)

[Samishere]

I always update to the latest BIOS as soon as I can because a lot of BIOS updates add memory or CPU compatibility and I would rather have the compatibility already baked in then pop a new component in and deal with weird issues until I figure out I need a BIOS update and have to put the old stuff back in if it's still available to even perform the BIOS update.

[Alir]

If you update BIOS, do you have to reinstall your OS?

[harrynowl]

8 minutes ago, Alir said:

If you update BIOS, do you have to reinstall your OS?

no

[aisle9]

9 minutes ago, Alir said:

If you update BIOS, do you have to reinstall your OS?

No.

[MNMadman]

I'm a special snowflake -- I update the BIOS as often as I update drivers.  As soon as I discover there's a new one, I update to it.  I'm not worried about BIOS update failures -- never had one in 23 years of computer geekery.

[GrissmIN]

I work it into my routine for building a computer or getting new hardware, so I do it as soon as I build the PC. Personally my view is that it's like a driver update. Sure it MAY cause issues, but so could a new driver for your GPU. 

[Alir]

55 minutes ago, GrissmIN said:

I work it into my routine for building a computer or getting new hardware, so I do it as soon as I build the PC. Personally my view is that it's like a driver update. Sure it MAY cause issues, but so could a new driver for your GPU. 

It could also brick your motherboard if you get something wrong. Which is my main concern.

[GrissmIN]

4 minutes ago, Alir said:

It could also brick your motherboard if you get something wrong. Which is my main concern.

I've done this dozens and doezens of times. It is actually very easy to do - and hard to mess up. You just download the BIOS update to a flashdrive - plug in the flashdrive, and from you POST screen or MB BIOS navigate to the flash bios option. Only the file with the BIOS update shows up - you select that one, it loads up, and presto- updated BIOS. 

 

Sure - it COULD brick your board, but so could a power surge from the wall during a storm - even it hooked up to a surge protector.

[Alir]

2 minutes ago, GrissmIN said:

I've done this dozens and doezens of times. It is actually very easy to do - and hard to mess up. You just download the BIOS update to a flashdrive - plug in the flashdrive, and from you POST screen or MB BIOS navigate to the flash bios option. Only the file with the BIOS update shows up - you select that one, it loads up, and presto- updated BIOS. 

 

Sure - it COULD brick your board, but so could a power surge from the wall during a storm - even it hooked up to a surge protector.

 

Is it really that easy??

I updated the BIOS on my laptop and it was a bit more tedious. Requiring you to enter codes and... stuff.

You had to enter text in the prompt to instruct it to update from your flash drive as opposed to it just doing it all automatically with one press of a button.

One small typo and God knows what could have happened.

[GrissmIN]

3 minutes ago, Alir said:

 

Is it really that easy??

I updated the BIOS on my laptop and it was a bit more tedious. Requiring you to enter codes and... stuff.

You had to enter text in the prompt to instruct it to update from your flash drive as opposed to it just doing it all automatically with one press of a button.

One small typo and God knows what could have happened.

I have never had to do anything of that sort for a desktop. Manufactures most likely make it harder to do when you buy it from them because they don't want you messing with anything. But yes that's all it takes - super easy, super fast.