ASUS Intros Ivy Bridge-E BIOS Updates for X79 Motherboards

[btarunr]

ASUS began rolling out BIOS updates to its socket LGA2011 motherboards based on the X79 Express chipset, which lets them support Intel's upcoming Core "Ivy Bridge-E" processors, namely the Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition, the Core i7-4930K, and the Core i7-4820K. The company's flagship LGA2011 motherboard, the ROG Rampage IV Extreme, gets support for these chips through BIOS version 4206. ROG Rampage IV Formula gets it through BIOS version 4004. The micro-ATX ROG Rampage IV Gene gets it through BIOS version 4206. Elsewhere in ASUS' LGA2011 lineup, the TUF Sabertooth X79 gets it with BIOS version 4104. The mainline P9X79 series gets it with BIOS version 4104. These updates are now available on ASUS support website.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[koaschten]

Yes, we get it.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just talk about changes to the bios and then drop a table with the boards and the required bios version to support the new cpus?

 

[Aquinus]

Yes, we get it.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just talk about changes to the bios and then drop a table with the boards and the required bios version to support the new cpus?

ASUS puts this on their website, but I suspect they haven't added it yet because IVB-E hasn't been released yet.

For mine: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P9X79_DELUXE/#support_CPU

 

[the54thvoid]

Yes, we get it.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just talk about changes to the bios and then drop a table with the boards and the required bios version to support the new cpus?

It would have been easier for you to not even post a reply...

It seems a bit redundant to upgrade from x79 based sb-e to ivy-e. Do x79 still not miss out on certain functionality? In other words you have a slightly 'crippled' upgrade path?

 

[buggalugs]

It would have been easier for you to not even post a reply...

It seems a bit redundant to upgrade from x79 based sb-e to ivy-e. Do x79 still not miss out on certain functionality? In other words you have a slightly 'crippled' upgrade path?

Yeap. Only 2x sata6GB/s ports, no native Intel USB 3.0 etc...... But there are rumours that a X79 motherboard refresh is coming with upgraded components.

 

[Vlada011]

I can't remember when some customer pull smarter move than buying Rampage 4 Extreme and 3930K. How they hit premium hardware and how long they have live hardware.
I mean and now how much cost their upgrade for next 2-3 years on IB-E on 6 cores 150-200e
Only DDR4 will bring something new. Without that they can stay how they want on that.
That is best possible decision first because motherboard is stable as rock, second CPU is 6 core and monster.
PCIe 2.0 and lack of official support for PCIe 3.0 spoil enjoyment but people with cross over that for selling 3930k and buying 4930K on same motherboard.
But who knew in October/November 2011 how that is best possible option on long term and only 200e more than top IB, SB, and now Haswell platform. Now it's late.

 

[NeoXF]

I dont understand the people who keep talking about DDR4 like the second comming of Jesus or somethin... it will do next to nothing performance wise for most average consumers, only segment that will see real gains are the APU and APU-like machines, so AMD Carizo and beefy igpu enabled Intel Skylake. Otherwise, just workstations.

 

[Octavean]

ASUS puts this on their website, but I suspect they haven't added it yet because IVB-E hasn't been released yet.

For mine: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P9X79_DELUXE/#support_CPU

I have the same Asus P9X79 Deluxe motherboard as you and the 4104 BIOS update is already online ready for download:

Description

P9X79 DELUXE BIOS 4104
1.Enhance compatibilty with some CPUs.
2.Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

4,47 MBytes update 2013.07.08

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P9X79_DELUXE/#support_Download_36

 

[Vlada011]

I understand people who talk about DDR4. When someone live on place where monthly payment is 250-300e if you have job, because 50% is without it's normal to look and think to avoid to pay 1000e for platform with DDR3 soon before new generation. I mean DDR3>DDR4, PCIe 2.0 >3.0, USB 2.0>3.0, SATA Express that is new generation not AVX 2.0 or AVX 3.0 Instructions. Important is support. First generation probably difference will be small but if you have DDR4 you can buy faster for one two year without changin CPU with 6 cores and motherboard for gaming.
Someone who have money to change every year he don't need to think on that.

 

[Octavean]

Yeap. Only 2x sata6GB/s ports, no native Intel USB 3.0 etc...... But there are rumours that a X79 motherboard refresh is coming with upgraded components.

I'd have more faith in those rumors if there were some credible leaks of which I've seen none.

 

[cadaveca]

I have faith that when I install this BIOS, my ES C0 CPU will not OC any more.


Instead, I find it to be better.

 

[drdeathx]

It would have been easier for you to not even post a reply...

It seems a bit redundant to upgrade from x79 based sb-e to ivy-e. Do x79 still not miss out on certain functionality? In other words you have a slightly 'crippled' upgrade path?

It would have been easier for you not to post a reply

 

[Aquinus]

It seems a bit redundant to upgrade from x79 based sb-e to ivy-e. Do x79 still not miss out on certain functionality? In other words you have a slightly 'crippled' upgrade path?

Almost sounds like SB to IVB.

 

[buggalugs]

Almost sounds like SB to IVB.

CPU performance isn't the only reason to upgrade though. Like 6x sata 6GB/s ports, Native Intel USB 3.0, PCI-E 3.0, new motherboards with UEFI, and stuff like wifi and Bluetooth.

 

[Aquinus]

CPU performance isn't the only reason to upgrade though. Like 6x sata 6GB/s ports, Native Intel USB 3.0, PCI-E 3.0, new motherboards with UEFI, and stuff like wifi and Bluetooth.

Most X79 boards have EUFI iirc, USB 3.0 has been plenty fast on my P9X79 Deluxe, and SB-E can already do PCI-E 3.0. As far as the 6xSATA3 ports, I would rather have a RAID card if I was driving that many devices, in which case SB-E is already adequate. The only reason I can think of for upgrading would be to.

A: Get more cores, since I (along with several others,) have a 3820.
B: Be able to run faster memory.
C: To consume less power while performing the same or better.

I think that most complaints about X79 are absurd because most of the functionality is in the CPU and any person who really knows that they're doing wouldn't use the PCH to drive that many drives to begin with. If I really needed 6 ports running that fast, I wouldn't be using the PCH in the first place. Also the only drives that really benefit from SATA 6Gb/s are SSDs. So I find it unrealistic that anyone really needs that many ports and if they do they shouldn't be using the PCH and they clearly have the money for a RAID card if they have 6x SSDs to use. The PCH is not the end, it is the beginning. It's not designed to offer everything and anything. It's there to get you started and satisfy most user's needs.

I know that if I were to buy any more drives and ran RAID-5 larger than 4 disks, I wouldn't use the PCH.

Edit: Also, adding more to the PCH would increase the amount of heat it releases under load. I'm sure Intel doesn't want to have to actively cool the PCH.

 

[Kaynar]

I am stuck with updating my new Asus Gene BIOS to the latest version (4403) using the flashback utility... Can someone help me ... I have made a thread describing my problem here:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2982262#post2982262

Thanks!

 

[GTVic]

Are there some [early] LGA2011 motherboards that support SandyBridge-E that won't support IvyBridge-E due to hardware changes required?

Apparently Lenovo's older LGA2011 workstation motherboards won't be compatible, not sure if they are refusing to release a new BIOS for those or there is a hardware incompatibility.

 

[Aquinus]

It's probably because the board is out of support. I highly doubt IVB-E has anything hardware wise that would prevent a board from using it that worked fine with SB-E.