Hot Off The Press – New UEFI BIOS Updates – Firmware – Nov 2014

It has been a while since our last hot of the press but we hope to be on track to bring you these updates now on a weekly basis. There have been continued releases for a wide range of motherboards since our last post including the range of Z97 and X99 motherboards so if you have not checked your support page recently make sure to do so.

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, firmware makes a big difference. Firmware affects almost all aspects of a product whether it be performance, compatibility / interoprability, 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. We will be noting what type improvements they enable or implement. Additionally as drivers can also affect performance considerably we  will do our best to give you visibility on important driver releases that can provide or enable new functionality, resolves issues or overall improve the user experience. 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 have listed updates issues for motherboards since our last post in mid Sept.

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

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. Building your system – Updating to the latest UEFI will help to ensure you have the best interoprability, 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 ).

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.