CPU/Mobo How often do we need a BIOS update?

TechNickGamer

TechNickGamer

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I recently bought my PC with a Ryzen 7600x processor on an ASUS Motherboard, happened to once update my BIOS last month (before that was a September update) cuz I ran into some BT driver issues and all and now its fine. Now I see there is another BIOS update available for Asus introducing Core Tuning features for AM5 chipsets. I've heard that it's a good idea to update our BIOS before switching to a better processor, but should I think about doing so frequently if ASUS publishes a new version, especially when I don't have any intentions to upgrade anything else?

Source - https://wccftech.com/asus-intros-co...latency-for-faster-performance-on-ryzen-cpus/

Am asking this because the update is for ASUS motherboards And am owning an Ryzen cpu with AM5 chipset. The BIOS feature is set to Auto by default within the AM5 BIOS panel and can be set to enabled by the user if they are willing to try it out to get benefits in terms of "gaming".

Reddit discussion for more insights.
 
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Ideally, your system should be on the latest update.

Pragmatically, you should update about a week to a month after release, to make sure there aren't any glaring issues reported by more zealous users. If there are any issues, then the manufacturer usually responds by removing the update and issuing a new one and the cycle repeats.

In practice I update the bios of my systems when I take them offline for cleaning, so around monthly and only if the the update is more than a month old (so that I know there aren't any issues).

A lot of early USB issues on AM4 were resolved with bios updates that came over a year after release.
 
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You should update bios only if you are facing any issue and the update resolves it.
If everything is working as intended - stick to same bios version.

If you decide to update - do it after ta least a month or two after release as suggested above.
 
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rsaeon said:
Ideally, your system should be on the latest update.

Pragmatically, you should update about a week to a month after release, to make sure there aren't any glaring issues reported by more zealous users. If there are any issues, then the manufacturer usually responds by removing the update and issuing a new one and the cycle repeats.

In practice I update the bios of my systems when I take them offline for cleaning, so around monthly and only if the the update is more than a month old (so that I know there aren't any issues).

A lot of early USB issues on AM4 were resolved with bios updates that came over a year after release.
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yea looks like its still in the Beta version as per the article.
Also @rsaeon , a quick question. I have an old Dell laptop from 10 years and recently i have reinstalled the OS. I see the latest BIOS on the drivers page available but it shows for Windows 11 and I have it on Win 7 installed so should I update the BIOS or no ?
pra300 said:
You should update bios only if you are facing any issue and the update resolves it.
If everything is working as intended - stick to same bios version.

If you decide to update - do it after ta least a month or two after release as suggested above.
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Agreed. The newer bios is also seemingly for latest zen5 architecture and its better in latency for 9800x3d cpus so im going to pass for now
 
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Dell systems from that era usually reboot into a DOS environment to apply a BIOS update, if thats the case then the OS requirement is probably because they aren't able to offer support on older versions of Windows.

I updated my Optiplexes with a USB drive prepared on a windows system even though the Optiplexes were running Linux.
 
rsaeon said:
Dell systems from that era usually reboot into a DOS environment to apply a BIOS update, if thats the case then the OS requirement is probably because they aren't able to offer support on older versions of Windows.

I updated my Optiplexes with a USB drive prepared on a windows system even though the Optiplexes were running Linux.
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So that's a Yes or a No for going forward with the update ?
 
Screenshot_2024-12-22-01-22-12-086_com.microsoft.emmx-edit.jpg

It'll work fine for your system. Just make sure it's fully charged or plugged into an UPS.
 
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If you are not facing any issues currently then don't update it for now. Bios update sometimes goes wrong and you may endup with a corrupted bios chip which ll give you a lot of troubles. It is not like installing windows again and again. I flashed many bios so belive me if you don't have a major issue don't update it frequently.
 
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Unless you have a more newer motherboard and need to update then do so
A more older motherboard is point less to do
Older motherboard do only if you need newer processor bios update
 
Lots of new vendors now have support for BIOS updates from Windows itself. They'll apply on the next reboot, but makes it pretty easy to stay up to date with BIOS updates.
 
I have a asrock b450 steel legend and on the bios download page the latest version says “asrock do Not recommend updating the bios if you are going to use Pinnacle,Raven or summit ridge CPU on your system” so my question is i am trying to upgrade my cpu from a r5 2400g to a r5 3600,so will the warning issued by asrock effect me or should i just download the bios update that came out on the year the 3600 came out
 
Wolfi3 said:
I have a asrock b450 steel legend and on the bios download page the latest version says “asrock do Not recommend updating the bios if you are going to use Pinnacle,Raven or summit ridge CPU on your system” so my question is i am trying to upgrade my cpu from a r5 2400g to a r5 3600,so will the warning issued by asrock effect me or should i just download the bios update that came out on the year the 3600 came out
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Go ahead and update it to the latest version, if you don't plan on using the 2400 again. If you do plan to use it again, update to a period that has support for 1xxxx, 2xxxx, and 3xxxx.

The latest version effectively drops support for Ryzen 1xxxx and 2xxxx chips.

NOTE: update to the latest version only when you have the 3600 in hand and ready to be plopped in. Once updated, your 2400 will not work, anymore.
 
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PunkX 75 said:
Go ahead and update it to the latest version, if you don't plan on using the 2400 again. If you do plan to use it again, update to a period that has support for 1xxxx, 2xxxx, and 3xxxx.

The latest version effectively drops support for Ryzen 1xxxx and 2xxxx chips.

NOTE: update to the latest version only when you have the 3600 in hand and ready to be plopped in. Once updated, your 2400 will not work, anymore.
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so lets say some problem comes up with the 3600 and i have to use the 2400 in the meantime,will it be possible to use the 2400 for updating the bios that supports it or will i have to use another later cpu for changing the bios
 
Wolfi3 said:
so lets say some problem comes up with the 3600 and i have to use the 2400 in the meantime,will it be possible to use the 2400 for updating the bios that supports it or will i have to use another later cpu for changing the bios
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You can update to a BIOS that supports both the 2400 and 3600, and it'll work fine.

My advice is, to update to a BIOS that supports both, and test the 3600. If it works fine, use the 3600 and update to the latest BIOS.
 
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PunkX 75 said:
You can update to a BIOS that supports both the 2400 and 3600, and it'll work fine.

My advice is, to update to a BIOS that supports both, and test the 3600. If it works fine, use the 3600 and update to the latest BIOS.
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I am sorry for being so ignorant about all these but my other question is when you say “your 2400 will not work anymore” will i still be able to access bios for instant flash to revert back to the bios that supports it ?
 
Wolfi3 said:
I am sorry for being so ignorant about all these but my other question is when you say “your 2400 will not work anymore” will i still be able to access bios for instant flash to revert back to the bios that supports it ?
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That is because the codename for the 2400 is Raven Ridge. The latest BIOS drops support for it, to make space on the BIOS chip for newer AM4 CPUs such as the 5700X3D, 5600X3D and the 5000XT series. With the latest BIOS, you will not be able to use the 2400 at all, not even the BIOS. The system won't show a display
 
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