BIOS question

[Leo]

I have a question that I will work into a chess hardware question. My computer downloaded a BIOS update on its own. I let it when it asked. I have never updated my BIOS before. I am wondering what it does for the computer and will it help chess engines in anyway. I read that it helps your hardware take advantage of things.

[MikeB]

I have a question that I will work into a chess hardware question. My computer downloaded a BIOS update on its own. I let it when it asked. I have never updated my BIOS before. I am wondering what it does for the computer and will it help chess engines in anyway. I read that it helps your hardware take advantage of things.

Think of BiOS as a hardware update - as opposed to a software update. There should be a readme that explains what the update is doing. Generally speaking, the update will allow you run the latest coolest gizmo that you didn't even realize you needed. BiOS update fall in the category of , "if it ain't boken, dont fix it - since there is risk involved that could literally brick you machine. If you don't have a recovery plan and rock solid stable power and UPS, I would avoid - unless you know it fixes an issue you are having.

[Leo]

I have a question that I will work into a chess hardware question. My computer downloaded a BIOS update on its own. I let it when it asked. I have never updated my BIOS before. I am wondering what it does for the computer and will it help chess engines in anyway. I read that it helps your hardware take advantage of things.

Think of BiOS as a hardware update - as opposed to a software update. There should be a readme that explains what the update is doing. Generally speaking, the update will allow you run the latest coolest gizmo that you didn't even realize you needed. BiOS update fall in the category of , "if it ain't boken, dont fix it - since there is risk involved that could literally brick you machine. If you don't have a recovery plan and rock solid stable power and UPS, I would avoid - unless you know it fixes an issue you are having.

Thanks. Luckily it worked without any problems. It was scary for a minute when I had a blank screen for a while at the end.

[reflectionofpower]

I have a question that I will work into a chess hardware question. My computer downloaded a BIOS update on its own. I let it when it asked. I have never updated my BIOS before. I am wondering what it does for the computer and will it help chess engines in anyway. I read that it helps your hardware take advantage of things.

Think of BiOS as a hardware update - as opposed to a software update. There should be a readme that explains what the update is doing. Generally speaking, the update will allow you run the latest coolest gizmo that you didn't even realize you needed. BiOS update fall in the category of , "if it ain't boken, dont fix it - since there is risk involved that could literally brick you machine. If you don't have a recovery plan and rock solid stable power and UPS, I would avoid - unless you know it fixes an issue you are having.

True words of wisdom. I have NEVER updated my BIOS because of the above mentioned reasons. It is good to CLEAN your registry with backup but NEVER DEFRAG your registry. It ALWAYS ends in disaster.

[yurikvelo]

BIOS updates are mostly compatibility issues with new CPU, DRAM vendors, PCI-E extension cards, boot options etc.

If your system was up and running - BIOS upgrade won't change anything in 99% cases.

At download section of your motherboard vendor site you can always find BIOS manual downloads and changelog.

Here is history of BIOS updates for my motherboard:

2019-09-09: Improve memory compatibility
2019-09-24: Update AMD ComboPI1.0.0.3abba
2019-11-11: Update AMD ComboPI1.0.0.4 Patch B (SMU v46.54)
- Improved system boot up time
- Improved PCI-E device compatibility.
2020-06-12: Updated AMD AGESA ComboAm4PI 1.0.0.6

AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture (AGESA), is a procedure library developed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), used to perform the Platform Initialization (PI) on mainboards
AGESA became particularly relevant with the AM4 platform, which AMD designed for futureproofing, and as of May 2019 has served as the base for three different generations of CPUs based on its Zen architecture. For each of these generations, a new branch of AGESA code has been released.
In March 2019, the third iteration of AGESA, named "ComboAM4 PI", was released, starting at version 0.0.7.0, introducing support for Zen 2-based processors.

If BIOS is not updated - installing new CPU, other DRAM vendors, PCI-E cards might not work or have some functionality or stability issues or need some manual parameter tweaking (good BIOS will set best parameters automatically).

Recently I installed SSD for other Intel-based PC on older ASUS motherboard. It doesn't have M.2 NVME slot, but I didn't want to buy outdated SATA drive if M.2 is possible. I tested with PCI-E x16 to M.2 extension adapter. It works fine (operating system from other drive see this new SSD), but I wanted to move operating system onto new M.2 drive. In other words - make it bootable from BIOS. Stock BIOS do not see PCI-E cards in boot options.
I hoped for recent BIOS update, but no luck. They didn't add this functionality, so I ended up installing legacy SATA-3 SSD