BIOS question

[MG44]

hi am concidering overclocking my computer in the near future and was looking at updating the BIOS
this is new territory for me, i have an ASRock 4 core 1600 GLAN mobo with a intel core 2 quad 2.4ghz
Iv checked my surrent version (1.1) and there are 5 newer versions
The files are working on a .exe type so it seem rather straight foward

just want to check it is that simple and is it worth doing bearing in mind the chance that it may all go wrong a screw my mobo up

Am i on the right track or should i just leave it???

 

[Vekiq]

Updating BIOS through windows works, but it is not recommended.
It is best to flash BIOS through your floppy drive, if you do not have floppy you can do it with USB stick

have a read here http://www.lejabeach.com/ASRock/html/asrockbiosguide.htm

Regards

 

[MG44]

so its worth doing it then, there are some instructions on the ASrock websiste for the dos files so i think i mite give it a go, what is the differance between windows flashing and flashing manualy??
will have to keep my fingers crossed

 

[Vekiq]

so its worth doing it then, there are some instructions on the ASrock websiste for the dos files so i think i mite give it a go, what is the differance between windows flashing and flashing manualy??
will have to keep my fingers crossed

In reality you only need to update BIOS when you have problems with your board like new hardware (CPU, RAM, gcard...) support, instability or when new features are added to BIOS/board and you want/need to use them.

Some board manufacturers provide windows utility to update your BIOS, i am not sure if asrock does them, never really used asrock.
Windows utility can be used, but there are some horror stories with this, things could go wrong, but that does not need to be case, i have used both in the past without any issues, but i tend not to use windows utility just to make sure.

With windows utility you start update while in windows, process starts, updates and then restarts your PC.

With floppy update it all happens outside of the windows during boot process.

 

[MG44]

well iv got some ocz RAM recently and i was under the assumption that for best resutls overclocking you should have the latest BIOS

might leave it for a bit then if its not essential the bios updates dnt seem to include any major addons

 

[Vekiq]

well iv got some ocz RAM recently and i was under the assumption that for best resutls overclocking you should have the latest BIOS

might leave it for a bit then if its not essential the bios updates dnt seem to include any major addons

This may be the case if release notes for BIOS say that improves OC capabilities, no brainer, do an update, if not, try and overclock, if it gives you stable system at clocks you like you are fine, if not, update and try again.

Its really trial and error here, wast number of hardware combinations make it hard to predict what will work the best.

 

[MG44]

well iv overclocked and iv got it to 3GHz with the bus at 340 and the multiplier 9
been running prime 95 for 3 hours now and all seems ok
guess didnt need the bios update

 

[Vekiq]

Nice one, 3 ghz is nice clock.
I am sure it would go little faster if you have decent cooling, but i am sure 3ghz will give you all performance you may need

 

[MG44]

yes i think it mite go faster but due to ASrock being very vague with voltage values and being generaly incopitnet not to put a CPU voltage in the bios at all i think il leave it as it is
the NB and VTT have 3 settings, low, auto and high, would love to know what they mean
have run prime 95 n had core 3 stop after 3 hours with a rounding error any surggestions???

 

[Vekiq]

I am afraid i am running out of talent at this stage, Asrock is fairly unknown to me, i would not want to advise you to do something that will get your setup fried.

But generally you are probably running into ram issues at this stage, upping ram voltage can help, but this is really just a guess.

Maybe someone with better knowledge of asrock can help more.