Hot Of The Press New – UEFI BIOS Updates – Firmware – May 2015

BIOS / UEFI releases for the work week 19 of 2015 / May 4th 2015.

As any enthusiast knows hardware only takes you so far. When considering what affects your experience with component products whether it be a motherboard, graphics card or a router: the firmware for those components & devices makes a big difference. Firmware affects almost all aspects of a product whether it be performance, compatibility / interoperability, reliability as well as general functionality and even the GUI.  This is an area ASUS has spent considerable time and effort, committing a large number of its internal resources to ensure we have leading firmware that provides a superior user experience. In this new ongoing series we will be covering new updates as they are released. So if you have been wondering whether a new UEFI ( BIOS ) has been released for your board. look no further.

Below is the list of motherboards have received updates this month. As always you can grab these updates at support.asus.com. For networking we hope to have the list of released firmware available soon and incorporate this into our weekly update.

I would recommend you use control F ( find ) to search if your motherboard is listed.

Please keep in mind that if you motherboard is not listed it does not mean it will not be updated ( especially if it was produced within the last year or more recently ). For boards beyond one year ( 1 ) of age production updates will become less frequent at the vast majority of aspects that require updating will have been implemented / phase into the UEFI. With a few exceptions most boards will not see updating beyond two years ( 2 ) since the chipset release of date of production, this is again due to the vast majority of reasons to continue release will have been implemented.

For the majority of users if you currently have a system working free of issues then I would advise there is no need for updating your firmware ( UEFI / BIOS ). Conditions I would recommend you update the UEFI are noted below.

1. In the stage of building your PC – Updating to the latest UEFI will help to ensure you have the best interoperability, compatibility, performance and stability
2. Experiencing stability or compatibility issues – While stability and compatibility issues can be affected by a wide range of factors independent of the UEFI if you have gone through standard troubleshooting steps and have verified the issue at stock operation ( as well after a full clean OS installation ) you should consider updating to a newer UEFI / BIOS.
3. Interested in new features – At times post the launch of initial firmware we may integrate new levels of functionality into the UEFI and applications associated with the UEFI ( such as AiSuite ). Some users look to take advantage of these new features and functionality.

Advisory note – Updating the UEFI can affect RAID configurations due to the option ROM potentially being updated / modified this can render a previously configured RAID unusable. As such it is always advised if you are running a RAID to research prior to the update as well as complete a backup of important data.

Additionally overclockers should keep in mind that auto rules within the UEFi can be revised or changed extensively. These along with other low level adjustments to the UEFI can change the state of an overclocked system. In some situations it can cause a stable overclock to become unstable and also take an overclock that was once unstable to stability ( although this is far less likely ). With this in mind it is strongly recommend you have a back up of the previous UEFI along with all values you defined to achieve your overclock.

Important updates present within these UEFI releases.

• All X99 motherboards received a UEFI update to fully support NVMe based SSDs as well as offer support of the ASUS Hyperkit module. This module allows X99 motherboards to support using Intel’s 750 series 2.5 inch SSD via the Hyperkit module which interfaces with the onboard M.2 slot.
• All Z97 motherboards have recevied a UEFI update to fully support NVMe based SSDs including Intel’s 750 series. The

Complete listing of newly released UEFI / BIOS. * this list contains updates spanned across the 6 weeks. As such there are multiple updates for the same board. Please check the support site for the most current build.