Question Must the BIOS Upgrade for the CPU?

[JoeKliche]

Good morning, afternoon, evening and night for everybody!

I'm upgrading from windows 7 to 10. With the switch I've decided to also upgrade my computer's hardware. I'm getting into beginner music production on a restrictive budget. As far as I am aware, the setup that I'm thinking of having will be enough.

Dell Optiplex 390 with the Intel H61 Express Chipset (1155).
Current CPU: Intel Pentium G850 2.9ghz, Dual Core, 65watts.
Current BIOS: A05, 2/9/2012.
4gb RAM.

I will be upgrading the CPU to the Intel Core i5-3570 3.4ghz, Quad Core, 77watts.
I will be upgrading to at least 8gb RAM, preferably 16gb.


My questions:
Will I need to update my BIOS to run the i5-3570?
Is the wattage difference enough to be concerned about?
I also have RAM concerns. The tech manual says the motherboard has a max RAM size of 8gb (2x4). Is that because of the motherboard itself and is it possible to get to 16gb RAM (2x8)?

Any other advice about this situation is certainly welcomed.
I appreciate y'all's knowledge, thank you!

 

[Mr.Spock]

probably a good idea as there's some vulnerabilities patched and the latest bios is A14 I believe. And the later bios is more likely to support the newer CPU

the extra wattage is minimal, 8GB limit is probably all they tested for so it's a decent gamble it'll recognize 16GB