BIOS Walkthrough

Like previous boards before it, the Gigabyte X79S-UP5 WiFi gets GIgabyte's new UEFI BIOS, which I've covered several times recently. The layout here is the same, with all the same basic options.


From tab to tab, I actually couldn't say much about the BIOS itself that I have not said before, other than that its sub-menus are slightly better optimized.


One thing I haven't covered too much is Gigabyte's new 3DBIOS, a graphical user interface that tries to take some of the mystery out of the options offered. Most of the main options for board set-up are across the bottom, including boot order, language, and date, under others. Clicking each icon has a menu pop up in the middle, which disappears when you hit "ESC".


As you can see, SmartFan options here are broken down into two separate groups, one more group than I had expected. To get to the real board options like clocks, voltages, and more specific settings, you merely need to click the right area on the picture of the board sitting in the background, each area of which will light up blue after you activate a part that has settings you can change. There's also a little pop-up window that lets you know the details. It's pretty useful, for sure.


CPU speed, memory timings, and other such options are contained within what is referred to as the "System Tuning" section. Clicking on it pops up not one, but two windows. One window contains the settings you can change, while the window on the right side of the screen provides some monitoring information, far more than you'd find in the "normal" BIOS.

As I've mentioned before, Gigabyte's UEFI BIOS has progressed very quickly, even though they were late to the game of releasing products equipped with UEFI. It really appears as if they took that time to get everything working just right, which really shows. The BIOS is quick and responsive, and there was not a single occasion where I found myself thinking "I wish this option was here", which is a big change from BIOSes Gigabyte has released in the past.