[SOLVED] Should I Update My BIOS?

[danielm175]

Hi,

I currently have an ASUS prime motherboard and I have had this PC for like 4 years now with no trouble. Should I update my BIOS or not to get the latest security and features?

I hear that updating your BIOS is risky and can lead to a dead motherboard if done wrong. Do you even need to update your motherboard BIOS?

Same with GPU, should you update your GPU firmware or not?

Thanks.

 

[Lafong]

Should I update my BIOS or not to get the latest security and features?

I hear that updating your BIOS is risky and can lead to a dead motherboard if done wrong. Do you even need to update your motherboard BIOS?

Opinions differ.

Few minds are changed by any discussion of the topic.

Obviously, you should if you have good reason to believe it would solve a particular problem that you have.

Risk is there....prior experience helps.

Sounds like you don't have experience. It's pretty much your call, driven by whatever you think is important. Don't know if you have problems and don't know why it is under consideration.

A certain percentage of people will think your decision is dead wrong...regardless of what it is.

I think I've done it maybe twice in the last 20 plus years. Haven't done it in at least 10 years.

 

[danielm175]

Opinions differ.

Few minds are changed by any discussion of the topic.

Obviously, you should if you have good reason to believe it would solve a particular problem that you have.

Risk is there....prior experience helps.

Sounds like you don't have experience. It's pretty much your call, driven by whatever you think is important. Don't know if you have problems and don't know why it is under consideration.

A certain percentage of people will think your decision is dead wrong...regardless of what it is.

I think I've done it maybe twice in the last 20 plus years. Haven't done it in at least 10 years.

I guess my main reason is for security and making sure all system firmware is updated so that everything is working to maxiumum performance inside my PC.

Currently like I said my PC is working 100% fine no issues no problems. But my main question is that would it be worth updating the BIOS or not for the sake of getting the latest features and security on PC?

I guess my other question would be is, why would you update your GPU drivers, Windows updates and software updates on your computer to get the latest updates for your software on PC. Just like you update your games on the PC to get patch fixes on games. Why should you not update your GPU and Motherboard BIOS too? As would it make performance and security better overall if you did update GPU and Motherboard BIOS just like you update GPU drivers?

Thanks.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Currently like I said my PC is working 100% fine no issues no problems. But my main question is that would it be worth updating the BIOS or not for the sake of getting the latest features and security on PC?

In your situation everything seems to be working without issues. Then BIOS update won't solve anything for you.
BIOS update involves additional risks. If the update fails, you end up with bricked hardware.
That's why it is not recommended, unless you're having some issue.

If it's not broken, then don't go fixing it. Your fixing might break it.

why would you update your GPU drivers, Windows updates and software updates on your computer to get the latest updates for your software on PC.

Driver updates may improve compatibility/performance with some newly released applications (i.e. games).
Windows updates do not update to latest drivers though.

 

[Zerk2012]

My standard answer on this. If it's not broke don't try to fix it.

 

[Lafong]

Reading between your lines:

It sounds like you would be suspicious you would not be getting maximum performance, features, security, etc if you DIDN'T update the BIOS.

Can you shrug that suspicion off? If you cannot, you are forced to do it.

I don't use GPUs.

 

[Eximo]

Given the age of the system you are more likely to have a performance LOSS from a bios update.

There were several vulnerabilities identified in processors called side channel attacks. This allowed things in memory to be read out via unconventional means due to the way processors try to optimize running code. (very simplified) The solution to much of this was to disable certain performance enhancing aspects of CPUs, and the extreme of turning off multi-threading.

Look up Spectre, Meltdown, and other variants of side channel attacks. Mostly requires physical access to the system so there isn't a huge concern for the average consumer, but those security updates are applied universally (some of them may have been slipped in my Microsoft via microcode updates)