BIOS Overview

We'd say that Gigabyte's BIOS is attractive to look at and well laid-out, with the Easy Mode page offering most settings any newcomer would need such as the ability to set XMP/EXPO profiles, a quick access link to update the BIOS using Q-Flash, fan control using Smart Fan 6 or adjust the boot sequence. However, something that is missing is anything to do with Precision Boost Overdrive, which you can usually access from the competition's EFI home pages. A lot of enthusiasts will set the memory profile, turn on PBO and that's it so having the option to enable here would be useful. The search option is useful for finding most things without having to sift through the menus, but one thing it can't do is get past any AMD overclocking disclaimers, so searching for Curve Optimizer for example won't yield any results.

The default favorites page, which is fully customizable, also lacks any reference to PBO and this is definitely something we'd like to see changed. As usual, PBO settings can be accessed in two different areas - Tweaker and Settings menus, with the latter also including options for applying 65 W or 105 W modes to CPUs - the upgrade to 105 W being a popular topic for the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X for example. The fan control section is easily a match for the competition with complete readouts for temperatures always present, a clear interface and ability to switch fan inputs including to the two onboard 2-pin thermistor headers. The only thing we'd change is the ability to drag one point on the fan curve up or down and have it drag the rest in front with it. This is possible on ASUS boards and indeed in Gigabyte's software, but for some reason not in the EFI whether you're in slope or step mode.