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How to Flash a BIOS: Graphics Card and Motherboard Edition

Final Thoughts

There we have it, a quick and easy run-down of how to correctly update your BIOS for both motherboards and graphics cards. You experience may differ depending on how easy it is it attain the new BIOS or if you have a different motherboard to flash. Some motherboards are extremely easy and do all of the work for you through the BIOS online update services (ASRock) or the utility within Windows can be extremely quick also.

The whole process is extremely straightforward assuming you prepare yourself before carrying out the task, ensuring adequate electricity supply and secure power cables. While the BIOS updates I carried out weren’t of performance boosting nature, it’s nice to know that the latest update has been applied to ensure maximum system stability.

Motherboards generally have far more BIOS updates than graphics cards and as such, the software and other applications available are easier to use as there is more research and development behind them. Motherboards also offer the best gains after an update thanks to increased stability and more functionality. If we take the recent Z170 launch, updates are constantly being released that helps with all manner of features such as increased DDR compatibility and even video encoding improvements.

Graphics cards are a ‘sold as seen’ option as there isn’t really much that can go wrong with a card. If there is a problem, it is normally not fixed by a BIOS update and requires an RMA. So why do we have an obsession with flashing Graphics cards?

Put simply, experimenting. If we look back to the AMD HD6950 and HD6970, the cards were almost identical and it was proven that in most cases, the HD 6950 was a BIOS locked version. This evoked consumers to flash the HD6970 BIOS onto the HD6950 with varying levels of success. Personally I was successful and saved myself over £100 by purchasing an HD6950 and flashing the BIOS.

I would recommend flashing a BIOS to anyone who owns a computer, a no-fuss upgrade that helps your system remain as stable as possible. It also helps when you come to customer support for any issues as you are on the latest BIOS for troubleshooting.

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