BIOS Question!!  

Hey guys, I'm new to these forums and I think they are great from what I've seen. I hope that you guys will be able to help me in some way with my question.

I recently built a new computer for myself, It is the first one that I have built from scratch and I'm quite proud with myself about it However I am a bit of a noob when it comes to certain areas. One of them is in relation to my BIOS. My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-870-UD3 motherboard and it says that it's version 2.1 when I look on the board itself.
So I wanted to go to the Gigabyte website to find out what version to upgrade to, I've never flashed a BIOS before or anything like that so I am new to it. So I went to and typed GIGABYTE - Support & Downloads in and my Motherboard type,

When I did that GIGABYTE - Support & Downloads - Downloads <<<this page came up and I could see all the different versions. If you have a look you will see that there are versions 3.1 there aswell. My question is can I use the 3.1 version or can I only use 2.1?? If I use 3.1 will that upgrade my BIOS to 3.1??
Thank you guys for the answers and response =)

hi Colinjbro, and welcome to sevenforums,

flashing a bios is inherently risky - there's a small chance that you can 'brick' your motherboard. if something goes wrong, it can be an expensive mistake.

sensible advice is never flash a bios unless you really need to, to solve a problem that you know is fixed in a new version of bios.

have you got a particular problem that you know is fixed in the new bios?

if not, it's best to leave it alone, it's not like regular (easily uninstallable) software or drivers where it's a good idea to get the new version.

You'd best stick with 2.1

Here are the BIOSes for that:

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM3 - GA-870A-UD3 (rev. 2.1)

F2, 3, 4, and 5a.

But you shouldn't flash the BIOS just because you can. If you don't have issues, don't do it unless you have a specific reason to believe the new BIOS will solve the problem.

mickey megabyte said:

hi Colinjbro, and welcome to sevenforums,

flashing a bios is inherently risky - there's a small chance that you can 'brick' your motherboard. if something goes wrong, it can be an expensive mistake.

sensible advice is never flash a bios unless you really need to, to solve a problem that you know is fixed in a new version of bios.

have you got a particular problem that you know is fixed in the new bios?

if not, it's best to leave it alone, it's not like regular software or drivers where it's a good idea to get the new version.

As I said I am not very savvy when it comes to the BIOS and all so I wouldn't really know if something in the BIOS was wrong or not. I guess I'm just one of those guys that just wants to have everything to the latest version and updated to the newest you know?

ignatzatsonic said:

You'd best stick with 2.1

Here are the BIOSes for that:

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM3 - GA-870A-UD3 (rev. 2.1)

F2, 3, 4, and 5a.

But you shouldn't flash the BIOS just because you can. If you don't have issues, don't do it unless you have a specific reason to believe the new BIOS will solve the problem.

I see what you mean, But if Gigabyte brought out a new version of my BIOS does that not mean that it's replacing something that needed to be fixed? Or improving something?!

BIOS updates are most often issued to address specific problems or to accommodate new hardware. They are not intended to give everyone the "latest and greatest". That's not their purpose.

If you dig around at Gigabyte, you might find a list of issues supposedly fixed by the new BIOS. If you don't have any of those issues, you don't need the new BIOS. You should be grateful if you don't need it.

amen

ignatzatsonic said:

BIOS updates are most often issued to address specific problems or to accommodate new hardware. They are not intended to give everyone the "latest and greatest". That's not their purpose.

If you dig around at Gigabyte, you might find a list of issues supposedly fixed by the new BIOS. If you don't have any of those issues, you don't need the new BIOS. You should be grateful if you don't need it.

Thank you guys for the help and info, I'm very happy with the help I received +)##:)

you know where to come back for more help if you need it :)