GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions today revealed the new PerfDrive technology on the Intel 700 series platform, which Integrates multiple GIGABYTE exclusive BIOS settings to allow users easily balance between different levels of performance, power consumption, and temperature according to their needs when using 13th gen Intel Core processors including i9-13900K CPU. In addition to the former released Instant 6 GHz, GIGABYTE PerfDrive technology also integrates newly developed BIOS settings of Optimization and Spec Enhance. Collaborating with the existing GCC software platform and GIGABYTE Ultra Durable design, GIGABYTE brings the most powerful 700 series platform with perfectly tuned motherboards in hardware, software, and firmware.

Enhanced by the supreme hardware design of power management, thermal, and stability, GIGABYTE Z790 motherboards not only smash the all-core overclocking world record on Cinebench R23 but also creates remarkable DDR overclocking performance of DDR5 9300. Now GIGABYTE PerfDrive technology makes it easy and attainable for users to enjoy the optimal performance of the Z790 platform, and benefit from the easy-tuning for 13th gen K-SKU Core CPUs on the B760 platform. Based on optimized HW design with multiple GIGABYTE unique BIOS setting, PerfDrive technology satisfy various users' needs with its intuitive graphical interface in the GIGABYTE UEFI BIOS.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced the Instant 6 GHz technology which is exclusively designed for performance enhancement of Intel Core i9-13900K processor. By simply updating the latest BIOS on GIGABYTE's Z790 motherboards and activating related settings, users can boost the performance of Intel Core i9-13900K to 6 GHz in a snap. Other than the Turbo Boost mode, GIGABYTE Instant 6 GHz technology can unleash the potential power of the processor to boost the single-core performance up to 3% higher, which leading up to experiencing the unparalleled performance of future processors.

The lately launched Intel Core i9-13900K processor enables users to enjoy O.C. performance in an easier way. Using GIGABYTE's latest Instant 6 GHz technology, the system can automatically tweak CPU voltage and Vcore Load Line Calibration to detect the most two optimized cores running at 6 GHz frequency. Instead of suffering from complex O.C settings, users can enjoy effortless Overclocking by simply updating the latest BIOS on GIGABYTE's Z790 motherboards and activating the Instant 6 GHz option in the BIOS. This further delivers a 3% performance boost on one single core, and provides an O.C. edition-like experience on i9-13900K processor. The latest GIGABYTE Z790 motherboards ascend to a new level with their exclusive VRM design, thermal design, and convenience. The BIOS support Instant 6 GHz technology of Z790 motherboards has been updated on the GIGABYTE official website, users can upgrade BIOS with Q-Flash or Q-Flash Plus.

ASUS today announced the new Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) enhancement, an exclusive temperature control feature for its range of X670 and B650 motherboards designed for AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors.

These latest CPUs push the limits of performance farther than ever before. They dynamically take advantage of available thermal headroom to give users higher clock speeds. This means that users might see higher CPU temperatures than they are used to in a new AMD Ryzen-powered machine. To put users in control, ASUS is rolling out a BIOS update for its X670 and B650 motherboards with new options for its PBO enhancement feature that makes it easy to balance thermals and performance. With just a few clicks, users will be able to dramatically reduce CPU temperatures—and maybe even increase performance and reduce fan noise in the process.

Intel Alder Lake source code for BIOS/UEFI building and optimization has been leaked in a massive 6 GB leak that appeared on 4chan and GitHub. While this number may seem small, it is a colossal codebase, given that the regular code files take up small space. We assume that the documentation is bundled there as well, however, we can not check ourselves as the repository has been taken down. Tom's Hardware has contacted an Intel representative to talk about the code leak and the rep issued a statement for the website.

Intel SpokespersonOur proprietary UEFI code appears to have been leaked by a third party. We do not believe this exposes any new security vulnerabilities as we do not rely on obfuscation of information as a security measure. This code is covered under our bug bounty program within the Project Circuit Breaker campaign, and we encourage any researchers who may identify potential vulnerabilities to bring them our attention through this program. We are reaching out to both customers and the security research community to keep them informed of this situation.

The UEFI Forum today announced the release of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) 2.10 specification and Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) 6.5 specification. The new specification versions expand support for new processor types, memory interfaces and platform types, while allowing for crypto agility in post-quantum system security.

"We are excited to share the new Conformance Profiles feature, responsive to community pull for a way to make the UEFI Forum's work useful," said Mark Doran, UEFI Forum President. "The Conformance Profiles feature will expand the platform types UEFI can support to an ever wider range of platform types like IoT, embedded and automotive spaces - beyond general purpose computers."

AMD has reportedly pushed market-availability date of its next-generation Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" desktop processors from September 15 to September 27, 2022. This would clash with the rumored product-announcement date of the Intel 13th Generation Core "Raptor Lake" processor series. If true, this is possibly a move designed to prevent Intel from sharing performance numbers of Ryzen 7000-series processors in the product-announcement presentation of "Raptor Lake," as Intel can only compare the chips it is announcing with competing AMD products that are available in the market at the time.

A September 27 market availability could still mean a late-August product announcement along the sidelines of Gamescom, with product reviews in the following weeks. It's just that the market availability date is now pushed to late-September. Intel's launch cycle for "Raptor Lake" could see a late-September announcement, but it remains to be seen if product availability is immediate, or timed weeks later. The 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processor is built on the same LGA1700 package as current "Alder Lake," and compatible with existing Intel 600-series motherboards with a UEFI firmware update; although will be launched alongside new Intel 700-series chipset motherboards. AMD's Ryzen 7000-series product launch will be timed with those of compatible Socket AM5 motherboards based on the AMD 600-series chipset, and a new line of DDR5 memory modules featuring the AMD EXPO technology.

G.Skill is readying variants of its DDR5 memory series that feature the AMD EXPO technology. A rival to Intel XMP 3.0, EXPO makes it easy to use overclocked memory modules with AMD Ryzen 7000 series platforms, by applying the advertised settings of the memory with one click in the motherboard's UEFI setup program, or Ryzen Master. What sets EXPO apart from XMP 3.0 is that it includes not just the memory frequency and main timings, but also fine-grained settings that are unique to the AMD platform. It's also different from DOCP, which was essentially a motherboard UEFI setup program-based feature that translates XMP settings to AMD-compatible settings on a "nearest neighbor" principle.

We've learned from earlier reports that DDR5-6000 will be the "sweetspot" memory frequency for the Ryzen 7000 "Raphael" processor, much in the same way DDR4-3600 is for the Ryzen 5000 "Vermeer," as this is when you'll be able to run the FClk at its highest possible frequency—3000 MHz in case of Raphael and 1800 MHz in case of Vermeer—without engaging a 1:2 divider between FClk and memory clock. At least one G.Skill SKU featuring EXPO has been confirmed, the Trident Z5 "F5-6000J3038F16G." G.Skill already sells Trident Z5 DDR5-6000 kits in the market, but those only feature XMP 3.0, and run the memory at CL30-40-40-96 instead of CL30-38-38-96 that the EXPO-equipped kit will. This is because the EXPO profile includes all the various AMD-specific sub-timings needed to tighten the tRCD, tRP, and tRAS. Various memory manufacturers are expected to announce AMD EXPO memory kits late-August, alongside Socket AM5 motherboards, and the Ryzen 7000 processors themselves; with market availability expected in mid-September.

At the end of last month, ASRock revealed its UEFI/BIOS updates for its 600-series motherboards for the next generation of CPUs from Intel and now ASUS has announced that it will offer updates for its Z690 motherboards. We're not sure why ASUS has limited itself to only Z690, but we'd expect updates for all of its 600-series chipset motherboards to arrive in due time. ASUS has been just as short on details as ASRock, although in the case of ASUS, all the Z690 boards will start on the same UEFI version—160x—when it comes to Raptor Lake support.

ASUS will offer updates for its ROG, ROG Strix, ProArt, Prime and TUF Gaming boards at this first stage. ASUS recommends using the BIOS Flashback functionality on the motherboards, or its EZ Flash 3 program in Windows. To get the latest UEFI update for your motherboard, you need to head over to ASUS' support site and download it manually according to the press release.

ASRock has released UEFI/BIOS updates for at least 47 of its 600-series chipset based motherboards, which will add support for the next generation of CPUs from Intel. The new CPUs are of course Intel's 13th gen Core CPU's, codenamed Raptor Lake, even though ASRock doesn't specifically mention this anywhere in the text on its portal site. We're expecting to see similar announcements from the other motherboard makers in due time. ASRock doesn't go into any kind of details as to which CPUs are supported and the company doesn't appear to have updated its CPU support lists yet, which is a shame, but not entirely unexpected, since the Raptor Lake CPUs aren't expected to launch until later this year.

However, ASRock has implemented what the company calls Auto Driver Installer or ADI in this UEFI/BIOS update for the boards and this is likely to be an unpopular addition, as it means drivers will be automatically be downloaded and installed if the system is connected to the internet. Presumably there will be an option to disable this feature, but it appears to be enabled by default, which has proven to be an unpopular option when other companies have done it. Admittedly it could be a handy feature during a new build or OS reinstall, but it's also a potential attack vector for malware.

AMD's upcoming Socket AM5 Ryzen 7000-series "Raphael" desktop processors will ship with native support for DDR5-5200 memory speed, according to a marketing slide by memory maker Apacer (which also owns the overclocking memory brand ZADAK). The "Zen 4" based desktop processors will feature a dual-channel DDR5 (4 sub-channel) interface, just like the 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake," but with no backwards compatibility with DDR4.

AMD already stated that Ryzen 7000 processors have a design focus on memory overclocking capabilities, including AMD EXPO, a custom memory module SPD extension standard rivaling Intel XMP 3.0, which will come with fine-grained settings specific to the AMD memory controller architecture. Until now, AMD relied on A-XMP, a motherboard vendor-enabled feature based in the UEFI firmware setup program, which translates Intel XMP SPD profiles of memory modules into AMD-approximate settings.

Memtest86+, the spiritual successor of MemTest86, has been somewhat stuck in development hell, but now the developer behind the memory testing software has promised to deliver version 6.00 sometime this summer. Version 5.31b was released in April 2020, some six years after the previous release and still not released as a final build, largely due to the pandemic. Version 6.00 promises a host of new features and the developers are already now asking for people that want to pitch in and help out with the project, since it's an open-source project.

The goal of version 6.00 is to deliver 64-bit support, UEFI and DDR5 with XMP support, as well as support for up to 256 CPU cores. Other features that are said to come include PXE and native USB boot. The goal is to provide a beta build sometime in April, but for those that don't mind compiling their own version of the code, can give it a try now, although the developers are warning that the code is going to be buggy at this point. The base code is said to have been re-written from scratch compared to prior versions and a lot of features are still missing and some features from the older versions are said to have been dropped, at least for the time being.

AMD announced that it is bringing official Ryzen 5000 "Zen 3" desktop processor support to the oldest of Socket AM4 motherboards out there, which are based on AMD 300-series chipset models—the X370, B350, and A320. The company is working with motherboard and pre-built gaming desktop OEMs to push UEFI firmware updates with support. In addition to Ryzen 5000, this would also add Ryzen 3000 and Ryzen 4000 "Zen 2" support across the board. Motherboard firmware updates that add Ryzen 5000 support will encapsulate AGESA V2 PI 1.2.0.7 microcode, so look for this AGESA version in the change-log of the firmware update. AMD expects that motherboard and pre-built vendors will start pushing these updates from May 2022.

Does it take ages for the taskbar calendar and notification center to load on your Windows 11 PC powered by an AMD Ryzen processor? Notice random stutters in performance? Chances are, the lag is caused not due to user-interface bugs by Microsoft, but hardware. AMD discovered that certain Ryzen-powered Windows 11 and Windows 10 PCs experience intermittent performance stutters when running with fTPM (firmware TPM) enabled.

The performance stutter is caused due to background memory transactions between Windows and the fTPM, to authenticate an action, as the fTPM serves the function of a hardware root of trust. Since the fTPM is part of the UEFI firmware that resides on the SPI flash EEPROM chip, the performance stutter is caused due to fTPM-related memory transactions with this chip.

Although Intel's upcoming 13th generation of desktop CPUs that goes under the code name of Raptor Lake, are expected to retain support for DDR4 memory, it has come to our attention that Intel will make a big push towards DDR5 when the platform launches later this year. Intel is apparently already asking motherboard makers to avoid using DDR4 in combination with the upcoming 700-series chipsets and the only reason for this would be to speed up the transition to DDR5. According to various leaks and rumors we should expect to see support for DDR5 at 5600 MHz for Raptor Lake, which is at least a step in the right direction.

What this doesn't mean, is that Intel has removed support for DDR4 in the CPUs, as it's still very much present and is expected to work fine in 600-series chipset motherboards. As such, there shouldn't be any issues upgrading to a new CPU, at least not after a quick UEFI update. From our understanding, it's partially related to the fact that DDR4 and DDR5 motherboards have quite different UEFI code when it comes to the memory support and in turn it means that the board makers are going to end up spending a lot more time getting their boards working, as is already the case with the 600-series chipsets. We can sort of understand Intel's sentiment here, but we're also expecting to see some motherboards based on the 700-series chipsets with DDR4 support, least not from the likes of ASRock that has always liked to create non-conforming motherboards. However, this also looks like it's the end for DDR4 support from Intel, which wasn't entirely unexpected.

While NVMe storage devices offer significant performance and reliability advantages over their platter-based counterparts, many Linux and VMware based applications continue to rely on older SAS & SATA solutions due to the ready availability of firmware level RAID storage and native driver support. This combination greatly simplifies the kernel update process while minimizing downtime. RAID solutions with native driver support will be treated as embedded devices, and do not need to be updated separately to comply with the kernel change.

The SSD6200 product family was designed to address these concerns. The NVMe RAID capability is integrated at the firmware level, and functions independent of the host. In addition, SSD6200 series controllers are natively supported by all major Virtualization platforms, such as VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V and Proxmox, and all current versions and distributions of Windows, Linux and FreeBSD operating systems. This native, In-Box driver support ensures administrators are free to update the Kernel, apply patches, or download and install scheduled updates whenever the need arises, using standard operating procedures. No work-arounds, no hassles, no surprises.

We're not sure if this will bring more praise for AMD, or if there will be a new angry mob with virtual pitchforks, because it's coming too late, but it looks like at least some AMD X370 based motherboards are getting support for AMD's Zen 3 based Ryzen processors. First out is ASRock with the X370 Pro4, which even at launch was a run of the mill X370 board, but it's possible that the company is just using it as its test platform to see if it's worth adding support for Zen 3 or not.

ASRock has added support for all of AMD's Vermeer based CPUs, as well as several Renoir based APUs. You can find all the added models in the modified screenshot below, since the processors weren't all listed in order on ASRock's website. The P7.10 UEFI update is required and it also drops support for AMD's now rather old Excavator+ based Bristol Ridge APUs, a loss that almost no-one is likely to shed a tear over. The interesting thing to keep an eye on now, is both if ASRock will follow suit with other models, as well as what its competitors will do in terms of adding support for Zen 3 CPUs on their older motherboard models.

Microsoft and AMD on Thursday released software updates that fix the two performance issues affecting AMD Ryzen processors with Windows 11. The two issues were abnormally high L3 cache latency, and a broken "Preferred Cores" system. The companies had assessed that the issues impact performance of Ryzen processors on Windows 11 by as much as 15%.

The two issues are fixed in separate methods. The L3 cache latency bug is improved through a Windows Update patch, which has been released now as an Update Preview (an Update Preview is not a "beta," but a software update released ahead of its designated "patch Tuesday"). The Update Preview is chronicled under KB5006746, and Windows 11 systems updated with this, get their OS build version set as "build 22000.282." The next update restores the Preferred Cores mechanism that leverages UEFI-CPPC2. This update comes in the form of an AMD Chipset Software update. You'll need to download and install both of the following:

DOWNLOAD: Windows 11 October 21, 2021 Update Preview KB5006746 | AMD Chipset Driver Software 3.10.08.506

Microsoft on October 12 put out the first Cumulative Updates for the new Windows 11 operating system, since its October 5 release. The company's monthly update packages for Windows are unofficially dubbed "patch Tuesday" updates, as they're scheduled to come out on the second Tuesday of each month. Shortly after Windows 11 launch, AMD and Microsoft jointly discovered that Windows 11 is poorly optimized for AMD Ryzen processors, which see significantly increased L3 cache latency, and the UEFI-CPPC2 (preferred cores mechanism) rendered not working. In our own testing, a Ryzen 7 2700X "Pinnacle Ridge" processor, which typically posts an L3 cache latency of 10 ns, was tested to show a latency of 17 ns. This was made much worse with the October 12 "patch Tuesday" update, driving up the latency to 31.9 ns.

AMD put out a statement on social media, which surfaced on Reddit. The company stated that patches for the two issues have been developed, and specified dates on which they'll be released. The patch for the Preferred Cores (UEFI-CPPC2) bug will be released on October 21. Customers can request the patch even earlier. By "customers," AMD is probably referring to big enterprise customers running mission-critical applications on Threadripper or EPYC-powered workstations. The L3 cache latency bug will be fixed through the Windows Update channel, its release is scheduled for October 19.

Apparently, AMD processors officially compatible with Windows 11, exhibit a three-times increase in L3 cache latency with the new operating system. The new operating system is also found to break the "preferred cores" system on AMD processors (UEFI CPPC2), in which the two "best" CPU cores, which can sustain the highest boost frequencies, are highlighted to the operating system, so most of the light-threaded traffic could be sent to them.

AMD and Microsoft jointly made this discovery, and listed out potential impact on application performance. The increased L3 cache latency affects performance of applications sensitive to memory performance. They also warn of a 10-15% loss in gaming performance. On the other hand, a dysfunctional "preferred cores" system would mean reduced performance in light-threaded tasks as the OS is unaware which are the processor's two best cores. Thankfully, both issues can be fixed via software updates, and AMD is working with Microsoft to push fixes for both issues through Windows Update, in an update rollout scheduled within October 2021.

Intel has been working on a technology that will improve the lives of all users that have an Intel-based processor in their system. According to the recent round of patches for the Linux kernel, Intel's engineers have been working on a feature called Intel Seamless Update, which promises to bring updating of system firmware without a need to reboot. First of all, it is important to note that firmware upgrades have been stuck at requiring reboot in order to apply patches. This has caused many systems to be down and to slow down the infrastructure by a wide margin, as these updates can last up to several minutes, where the system is rebooting and can not be used.

Intel has presented an idea of creating a technology that will update system firmware, such as UEFI, in the run time. That means that the system will be able to apply firmware patches, without ever needing a reboot, minimizing downtime. This is especially valuable for customers with very high service level agreements (SLAs) around downtime, meaning that almost 100% uptime (not possible to be 100% generally speaking) is required for these systems. An example of this would be medical server infrastructure, which has to constantly be available for access. Using this technology, systems such as these could update their firmware and be online non-stop, without maybe ever needing to reboot. The said feature is supposed to arrive in time for the launch alongside Intel "Sapphire Rapids" Xeon processors.

Microsoft released a fairly detailed run-down of the under-the-hood changes it made to Windows 11 over its predecessor. The operating system is optimized for a zero-trust work environment. This explains making a hardware TPM 2.0 device a minimum system requirement. The company may even penalize PCs running unsupported hardware with no access to security updates. The company also described fine-grained application performance prioritization, which automatically prevents "trivial" apps from taking up too many system resources.

Apps running in the foreground also automatically get a higher app priority. This is particularly useful when your CPU is bogged down with a heavy workload, and you're trying to open a new app. The OS automatically rations resources to ensure the app you just launched is prioritized, making the experience snappy. This technology carries forward even to the Edge web-browser, where the tab that's active has more priority, and tabs that haven't been accessed in a while are put to "sleep" (i.e. their memory is completely paged, and they're given least system resources). Microsoft calls this "Sleeping Tabs." Microsoft claims that the feature can reduce memory savings by around 30%, which could be handy for your foreground tasks. With the feature enabled, the OS (or Edge) handle prioritization automatically.

PC components major GIGABYTE has reportedly been hacked, with the attacker group, which goes by the name RansomEXX, stealing 112 GB in data that contains confidential technical documents from Intel, AMD, and others; which are released to GIGABYTE under strict NDAs, to help it design motherboards, notebooks, desktops, servers, and graphics cards. The group also deployed ransomware to encrypt GIGABYTE's data, which includes these documents. The attack allegedly occurred in the week of August 2, and GIGABYTE was forced to shut down its systems in its Taiwan headquarters. This even caused some downtime for its websites.

While it's conceivable that a company of GIGABYTE's scale would maintain timely cold backups of its data, and can recover almost everything RansomEXX encrypted, there's another aspect to this attack, and it's the data the attackers stole. They threaten to leak the data if a ransom isn't paid in time. This would put a large amount of confidential documents, including motherboard designs, UEFI/BIOS/TPM data/keys, etc., out in the public domain. GIGABYTE didn't comment on the issue beyond stating that it has isolated the affected servers from the rest of its network and notified law enforcement.

Most modern PC platforms include an fTPM (firmware trusted platform module) of some form. Those that don't, have a TPM 2.0 compatible header on the motherboards. Microsoft's requirement of a hardware TPM for Windows 11 has scalpers go after add-on TPMs, which are typically priced around $20, but now marked up to $100, according to price-tracking by Shen Ye, a senior HTC VIVE exec, who has been tracking prices of add-on TPMs on Twitter.

Scalpers possibly anticipate a rush of ill-informed buyers out for add-on TPMs, who haven't spent 5 minutes digging through their UEFI setup programs for the fTPM toggle. Below is a screenshot of a Ryzen 7 2700X-based machine, paired with an AMD B450 chipset motherboard (a platform from 2018), with its fTPM toggle turned on. The PC now meets Windows 11 system requirements. Windows 11 uses hardware TPMs for secure storage of credentials. "Microsoft, can you not impose a TPM requirement during a silicon shortage? Especially considering most desktop motherboards support TPM only as a purchasable accessory," Shen Ye tweeted.

EVGA GeForce RTX 30 Series utilizing NVIDIA Resizable BAR gives gamers an extra boost in gameplay framerate on select titles by letting the CPU directly access the GPU's entire frame buffer memory. EVGA Precision X1 simplifies the upgrade process and makes it more intuitive, so you can spend less time updating software and firmware and get back to your gaming! All EVGA GeForce RTX 30 Series now feature support for NVIDIA Resizable BAR after updating a brand new EVGA VBIOS.

MSI announced that it will begin rolling out UEFI firmware updates for its Socket AM4 motherboards based on the AMD 400-series and 500-series chipsets, which incorporate AMD's latest AGESA Combo PI V2 1.2.0.0 microcode. These firmware updates will enable resizable BAR support for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30-series "Ampere" graphics cards, improvements for Ryzen 5000 series "Vermeer" desktop processors, and an assortment of board model-specific improvements or fixes.

The company will begin releasing these firmware updates for its AMD 500-series chipset motherboards, and its AMD 400-series "MAX" models in January 2021. In February, it will follow up with updates for AMD 400-series non-"MAX" models. The "MAX" model name suffix for an MSI AMD 400-series motherboard denotes a board with a 32-megabyte SPI flash ROM chip that allows MSI to cram in its feature-rich ClickBIOS setup program. Keep checking the "support" section of your motherboard's product page on the MSI website for these firmware updates.