Motherboard BIOS is really important. There are ways to upgrade the BIOS.

When PConline is a DIY game player, how to choose a suitable motherboard is often the most tangled, even if the same chipset, some people are willing to spend three or four thousand to buy a variety of beliefs high-end products, some people in the Good enough to use good principles to choose six or seven hundred cheap motherboards, these two options can not talk about who is right and wrong, but one thing is certain - high-priced to buy the motherboard is not stupid money, the motherboard this thing There are many value-added, most people focus on cost-effective, but the big brand motherboards tend to have more invisible value. We recently encountered the Ming Hao motherboard because it does not support Ruilong APU and false propaganda is an example, we may notice at this time Whether the motherboard BIOS will be upgraded frequently or the BIOS is not easy to use will directly affect the user experience.

In the various functions and designs of the motherboard, the BIOS is often the most easily overlooked. The motherboard manufacturer's promotion will focus on the game network card, HiFi sound card, high-speed USB 3.1 and other selling points. Less, in the past few years there is a dual BIOS sales point of sale, but the dual BIOS is now almost standard on the high-end motherboard, so no point selling features, but experienced DOS interface to brush the BIOS of the veterans to the present The BIOS will be more emotional, knowing that more players will pay more attention to the role of the BIOS. Today we will briefly talk about the importance of the motherboard BIOS and how to upgrade these things.

What is the BIOS? Open any book that tells the basic principle of the computer can see the definition of the BIOS - Basic Input Output System basic input output system, it is a firmware program, it can be said that it is one of the bottom of the PC computer program, daily The first step to boot is the BIOS self-test, which can be successfully booted using the BIOS self-test. Whether it is a PC desktop or a laptop, the BIOS is so important that the BIOS can be written into a book. We do not pursue these technical issues. Everyone feels that the BIOS is less effective every time the BIOS is booted. The sense of presence is better, and you can't wait to press the power button to enter the Windows system for a second, because once the BIOS stops on a certain process, it shows that the computer has a problem, so there is tossing, check the BIOS error code (some motherboards also (There is not necessarily a debug light.) Experienced DIY players will even use BIOS self-testing sounds to determine where the problem lies. What are the two short, two long, one short, and three short, and so on, but now, these traditional DIY technologies are about to lose. The ancestral craftsmanship hasn't used much, but it's a pity.

With the advancement of technology, the BIOS is constantly evolving, and not to mention these basic changes in capacity, the current UIFI BIOS has changed the interface of the traditional BIOS and has become more gorgeous. Graphical interface, multi-language languages ​​including Simplified Chinese, fast startup, support for high-definition resolution, and other functions are all common with UEFI. After all, UFEI uses a C language that is much more powerful than assembly language. BIOS chip Manufacturers and motherboard makers can develop more features, so the BIOS of various AMD and Intel motherboards we see now is much more advanced than the simple to shabby text BIOS interface.

Everyone knows that computer systems, upgrade or reinstall a system will feel the system faster, then the motherboard BIOS upgrade What are the benefits? In simple terms, by upgrading the BIOS, we can get the following benefits:

ASUS motherboard BIOS upgrade instructions

1, support for the latest processor - a few years ago, interface maddening Intel to change the interface every year, make people complain, now much better, only two or three years for an interface, at least two generations of processors to upgrade, and each generation of processing There will also be a variety of SKU models, and the motherboard must support the new processor. Upgrading the BIOS is a must. A few days ago, we encountered the Ming Luan B350 motherboard can not support Ruilong APU is actually this problem, because the BIOS update is not in place, the existing BIOS does not support two new processors Ryzen 5 2400G, Ryzen 3 2200G, it can not be lit System.

2. Increased memory compatibility - Yes, even in the 21st century, one of the most vulnerable places for computers is memory compatibility. As a review editor, I feel deeply touched. Point the system is not on. For motherboard manufacturers, memory compatibility certification is also a complex process. Only constant BIOS upgrades can ensure compatibility with various types of memory.

3, to enhance overclocking performance - for overclockers, this upgrade will be very important, in some overclocking competition, the players may also use the special BIOS provided by the manufacturer, will relax some restrictions on overclocking, help Players improve overclocking potential. Of course, the public version of the BIOS will also enhance overclocking performance, but it is still based on stability.

4, to enhance system stability - this improvement is similar to the daily upgrade of many APP instructions, system stability is relatively metaphysical, the system instability caused by the BIOS (crash, restart, etc.) is rare, mainly with other Compatible with accessories.

5, security upgrade - most people still do not feel this problem, but some time ago Spectre spectre, Meltown meltdown vulnerability, Microsoft, Google, Apple and other software vendors are busy patching, Intel, AMD is also pushing various The purpose of the BIOS microcode upgrade is to block the security vulnerabilities through the BIOS, so the BIOS upgrade also has the function of improving the security, but most of the time this problem is not prominent, after all, the heavy level vulnerabilities are not always there, for individual users. The impact is not great, but it is very important for enterprise users.

The benefits of BIOS upgrades are numerous, especially with the addition of new processor support and improved memory compatibility. Then the problem has come. Since there are so many benefits, how should the motherboard BIOS be upgraded?

Many players have no sense of the BIOS is an important reason for this product regardless of the setting or upgrade is a certain threshold, simple interface, plain English, difficult to understand the professional terms are so big, brush the BIOS is also cumbersome, need to boot to pure DOS environment, input various instructions to operate, the result is that only a very few players are willing to toss the BIOS. However, now that there are many technological advances, there are many ways to brush the BIOS. Manufacturers have also developed a variety of simple and convenient BIOS upgrade methods with the times. We have introduced the following methods from easy to difficult:

· 0 level of difficulty: Automatic refresh under Windows system

Modern people who are accustomed to the graphical interface don't even go to DOS to scan the BIOS, and even create a DOS startup environment will not, so the most simple brush the motherboard BIOS is no doubt under the Windows system refresh, which can actually be divided into two In this case, one kind of motherboard manufacturer directly combines the BIOS and the required files for the upgrade into an exe executable file. The user only needs to download the upgrade package corresponding to the motherboard and double-click it to execute it. ASRock provides the BIOS upgrade in this way.

The second update under Windows requires the installation of supporting software from the motherboard manufacturer. The BIOS upgrade tool for the ASUS motherboard is called EZ Update. The operating interface is as follows:

Asus's Windows BIOS upgrade tool supports automatic search and manual search. The player who does not know the motherboard model and BIOS model can automatically find the corresponding BIOS and upgrade. The difficulty of upgrading the BIOS is not high.

In addition to ASUS, Gigabyte motherboards also have @BIOS upgrade programs, MSI also has Live Update upgrade software, features similar to the ASUS EZ Update, can download the BIOS and upgrade online, even if the white player to upgrade the BIOS there is no obstacle, this point this The three old motherboard manufacturers deserve praise.

Level 1 Difficulty: Third-party tool refresh under Windows

What if motherboard makers do not provide official tools or executable programs? In this case, if you want to refresh the BIOS under Windows, you have to upgrade the difficulty level. You can only use third-party tools. Current BIOS chip vendors mainly include AMI and AWARD (the other Phoenix was acquired by them). Among them, the BIOS of AMI is the most common and the BIOS tools are the most mature. We use the AMI BIOS as an example and do not know the source of the motherboard BIOS chip. You can use the CPU-Z software to view the "Mainboard" column, which has features that specifically identify the BIOS chip and version.

The AMI's BIOS upgrade tool is called AFU (AMI Firmware Update) and is available on multiple versions on the official website. It supports DOS, Windows, and FreeBSD, Linux and other systems. There are multiple versions of this tool. There are many download points for this software, there are also Pacific Download Center, there are many Chinese versions, but just two days before the official version of the version, looks like comes with Simplified Chinese, 5.10 version as shown above. Brushing the BIOS with AFU is not too much trouble, find the ROM file provided by the motherboard manufacturer, click on Open (should be translated into open only) Load the ROM file, select the BIOS option according to the situation, refresh the system after restart OK.

This upgrade is also operating under Windows, compared to the first a little tedious, said third-party tools, its utility is still a tool for the BIOS vendor, in short, these two methods are under Widows operation, for the white More friendly.

Level 2 Difficulty: The motherboard comes with a BIOS upgrade tool to refresh

If the motherboard maker does not provide the possibility of refreshing under Windows? It should be considered under the BIOS to refresh. At this point, we still praised ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASRock. They all provided BIOS refresh tools.

ASUS motherboard BIOS refresh tool

Optional local storage or Internet refresh

This process has nothing to say, just select the downloaded ROM file to automatically refresh, Gigabyte's Q-Flash, MSI's M-Flash are all such operations, you can flash the BIOS file in the BIOS interface.

Hell grade difficulty: refresh under DOS

Level 2 difficulty Below is Level 3 difficulty? Wrong, if the first two methods are useless, we can only use the most primitive means to refresh under DOS, this operation is more difficult than the previously described way more trouble - first you want to find a U disk production DOS environment, MS-DOS or FreeDos can be, fortunately, there are a lot of tools you can also create a boot disk, no floppy drive. Completed this step, the following is to set the first boot disk to U disk (now no one should use the drive to boot), enter the DOS environment. To this step, in fact, there are differences in operational difficulty, although some motherboards require DOS environment, but the manufacturers packaged bat batch file, directly execute the batch file will automatically brush the BIOS. If you do not have this, it is the real hell-level brush BIOS mode, you need to execute the BIOS flash utility under DOS, and sometimes specify various parameters, let the BIOS forced refresh to complete, this is very test the level of the players.

As a review editor, the BIOS is rarely used in daily operations in this way. However, it is said that in addition to the several motherboard brands of the Taiwanese brand, the domestic brands of motherboard manufacturers do have BIOS upgrades. Lagging a lot, Windows update tool is not, there is no tool in the BIOS, you need a third-party tool to brush, and the official provided brush BIOS software is really not updated for ten years, does not support 64-bit systems, explain the guide or the XP interface Demonstration. The most unbearable is that they have a low-end motherboard BIOS, and some motherboards do not even provide AFU Windows version, in this respect is quite simple, it is entirely contingent.

Emergency Dafa: You can brush the BIOS without booting

In addition to the conventional brush BIOS approach described above, there is actually a way to emergency brush the BIOS, Asus first introduced a flashing method called USB Flashback on the motherboard, you can notice that some Asus motherboards USB interface is white, This interface supports USB Flashback function. It does not need the CPU, memory or other hardware to brush the BIOS to the motherboard. So once the BIOS has caused the motherboard to hang up, or the unsupported CPU and other unexpected situations, the USB Flashback function brush BIOS can show its talents. .

ASUS motherboard supports USB Flashback brush BIOS function

In addition to Asus, Gigabyte also has Q-Flash Plus, MSI has Flashback+ and other similar functions, but also can brush BIOS to the motherboard without the CPU, the function is similar.

For many veterans, BIOS under DOS is just a basic operation, but as far as the current situation is concerned, this traditional technology is more and more inconsistent with the current trend, expecting a new generation of DIY to go under the boring DOS refresh. BIOS is not feasible, so providing a simple, intelligent BIOS upgrade is also a performance of the motherboard manufacturers, which is also reflected in ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and other brands higher than the value of domestic brands.

For the player, the idea of ​​many people is that the BIOS will not be upgraded as long as there is no problem. However, the function of the BIOS and the sustainability of the upgrade are still a watershed. You don't care about this part, but it does not mean it is not important. When you buy a motherboard, don't just look at the price/performance ratio. The BIOS is also a very important reference factor. The more luxurious the host platform, the more important this issue is.