ASRock Z77M UEFI 1.20 question

[MaXeEmOe]

Hello,

I just recently did this build and wondering whether or not I should update the bios to 1.50, as that appears to be the latest for this mobo. Here are the specs:

Processor	Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4 GHz IvyBridge CPU
Cooling system	Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard	ASRock Z77M Z77 Motherboard
RAM	Corsair Vengeance LP 16 GB DDR3-1600 Kit (2 x 8 GB)
Graphics Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2 GB Graphics Card
Hard Drive and SSD	Samsung 830 Series 128 GB SSD
Hard Drive and SSD	Western Digital 500 GB 7200 RPM HDD
Case	Fractal Design Arc Mini
Power Supply	Rosewill CAPSTONE 550W 80 PLUS Gold PSU

Please note I have been building systems for years now and also work in IT, so please spare the "if ain't broke don't fix it" comments. I'm just inquiring if it's worth updating it to the lastest bios for maximum performance, especially for the video card. After breezing through the instructions, the PCI-E 3.0 slot will only give you those speeds if you're using an Ivy Bridge processor which I currently am. No CPU overclocking has been performed and system is stable at the moment. Yet, I may be interested in doing that at a later time and may just do an on the fly OC via bios as I'm not too versed with doing incremental changes to voltages and don't wish to experiment. I'll most likely leave the GPU alone and keep it at stock. OS is MS W7 64 bit SP1. Any comments/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

[parsec]

Re: ASRock Z77M UEFI 1.20 question

My BIOS philosophy is, if it isn't broken, try to break it with the newest version...

Seriously, I don't own your specific board, but do use a very similar board, ASR Z77 Ex 4. I've update the BIOS/UEFI ten times on my board (many new versions, not because they were buggy) using Instant Flash, and have never had the slightest problem.

The added PCIe speed settings and detection was added in a UEFI update to my board too, and they work fine, nothing to fear IMO. A 600 series video card I use will cut the link speed to PCIe 1.0 when just using the Internet/low stress, so don't get worried if you see that at times. If it does that during gaming, then the video card likely has problems.

For me, the updates for Windows 8 that are also listed for your board (doesn't seem to be all of them) were important, as I use Windows 8 (or do you hate-8?) I installed Win 8 for UEFI booting and it all works perfectly, I'm even able to use a video card whose VBIOS had an update to support UEFI booting (GOP support.) Otherwise you're stuck with the on-CPU graphics, which are Ok.

I have not seen any complaints about the new UEFI versions for your board, or really any complaints about it that I can recall, so you should be fine.

[MaXeEmOe]

Re: ASRock Z77M UEFI 1.20 question

My BIOS philosophy is, if it isn't broken, try to break it with the newest version...

Seriously, I don't own your specific board, but do use a very similar board, ASR Z77 Ex 4. I've update the BIOS/UEFI ten times on my board (many new versions, not because they were buggy) using Instant Flash, and have never had the slightest problem.

The added PCIe speed settings and detection was added in a UEFI update to my board too, and they work fine, nothing to fear IMO. A 600 series video card I use will cut the link speed to PCIe 1.0 when just using the Internet/low stress, so don't get worried if you see that at times. If it does that during gaming, then the video card likely has problems.

For me, the updates for Windows 8 that are also listed for your board (doesn't seem to be all of them) were important, as I use Windows 8 (or do you hate-8?) I installed Win 8 for UEFI booting and it all works perfectly, I'm even able to use a video card whose VBIOS had an update to support UEFI booting (GOP support.) Otherwise you're stuck with the on-CPU graphics, which are Ok.

I have not seen any complaints about the new UEFI versions for your board, or really any complaints about it that I can recall, so you should be fine.

parsec,

Thanks for the input. Yeah this rig was just built specifically for an entertainment setup, mainly for YouTube. Since it will be primarily used for streaming, I just wanted the graphics card to have the best performance possible.

As for Windows 8, I've never tried it so I wouldn't know if I hate it. From what I've read and seen about it, it seems to be geared towards tablets. I understand you can prolly install a GUI to revert back to the W7 theme or at least a Start Button, but I'm pretty happy with Windows 7 so I just decided to stick with it. Plus, I usually don't make the move to a new OS until a service pack is released. That way, I know all the kinks have been worked out. Haven't kept up with W8 news so not sure if there's a SP out for it currently or not.

I may just end up updating the bios to bring peace of mind and will use the Instant Flash utility since it seems to be the safest method.