BIOS Overview

Taking a look at the EVGA Z790 CLASSIFIED BIOS, first impressions are good. The CLASSIFIED doesn't have a true "Easy Mode" landing screen, instead, the first splash screen gives a few options to either auto overclock, leave everything alone, just boot the system or enter the advanced configuration menu. Unfortunately there is no way around the fact that you still will need to enter the advanced configuration menu to set the memory XMP profile.

Once inside, the layout is straight forward and easy to figure out with tabs for each major category. It is especially nice that memory has an entire tab without having to go through two sub-menus as seen on ASRock.

Looking through the BIOS, EVGA isn't kidding around here with its voltage options and all in one place. EVGA has a voltage safety built-in which is nice to see. It does prevent instant death of the CPU, but some of these seem a bit higher than what might be safe for long-term use. For example, System Agent goes up to 1.5 V and up to 2.0 V with Extreme voltage unlocked. There has been a number of posts about what is safe for long term usage and that can left to the forums for further discussion. It seems many of voltages EVGA deems safe are a bit higher than what a novice overclocker should be setting. That shouldn't be a deterrent for new users, just be aware that caution is advised when changing voltages if you're unsure what they do.

There are a few bugs that need to be resolved related to memory. Firstly, a second memory profile is unsupported as well as any user configured profiles. This means if a profile is created on a different motherboard and flashed to the memory, this motherboard cannot read it. For example, creating a DRAM User Profile on Gigabyte can be flashed to the DRAM and read on MSI, ASUS and ASRock, just not EVGA currently. BIOS 1.07 (Beta) added OC profiles, which are a bit extreme and are unlikely to be stable. The DDR5-8000 OC profile boots into Windows, but is not stable enough to do anything. Manually setting up DDR5-8000 instead does not even boot with BIOS 1.07. BIOS version 1.05 will work however if you manually set the CPU SA, VDD2, TX voltages as well instead of leaving everyone on auto.

BIOS 1.07 (Beta) also adds CPU P1/P2 power limits. Previously (1.05) it was only 4095 W, which is roughly infinite power that CPU can request for the Turbo function.

The overall takeaway here is EVGA is catering to the users who are already familiar with overclocking, but it is also very well organized so not to overwhelm new users. EVGA for the most part is using the official names for all voltages and that makes asking for help on the forums that much easier. Those who would rather not perform any CPU overclocking can go directly over the memory tab, enabling the XMP profile without fearing the worst.

Default Splash Screen

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OC Tab

Memory Tab

Advanced

Boot + Save