As flightsimmers, we run probably the most intensive programs that a PC is ever going to have to process.

Consequently, it's common practice to try and keep our hardware and our drivers up to date. You'll constantly see messages in forums (I post them frequently) about this as possible cures for problems.

I update my drivers around  once a month and was doing so earlier (searching that is - didn't find or install any, which is relevant when reading on here).

For some reason, I decided to check if there was a BIOS update. I have only ever done this once before . It's not a thing you want to screw up as it will render your Motherboard useless if you do it wrong.

However there was an update and I processed it. When I re-booted, I had a couple of extra options in the Bios, but nothing exceptional. I reset my parameters as I'd had them before, re-booted again and....the following is the totally inexplicable result:

My system boots in half the time it did previously.

My internet explorer, which previously used to take a while to connect upon first boot, gets straight there like a frightened greyhound.

Unfortunately my FS2002 fps hasn't gone up any lol. (Edit - they have actually - see my message further down).

The point is that the bios is not something it ever occurs to me to update really. You rarely hear it mentioned. But WHAT a difference! It's like someone's taken a cork out of the bottle. Everything is faster.

Now I've seriously no idea why this is. The bios is the "basic input output system" that's used before your P.C. opens windows up. It's a low level interface with very basic setup parameters. I know them off by heart on my PC - I've explored bios settings until I'm blue in the face. I've changed nothing from before. But somewhere, something significant has changed.

Bottom line to this is that if you haven't checked for a bios update recently, perhaps you should consider it.

BUT

Don't do this if you don't have a suitable bios flash utility and understand how to use it. As I said before, the consequences of getting it wrong are a new motherboard.

No - not at all.

That jumper is to reset the CMOS - which is basically all the parameters you see when you open the BIOS. If you adjust something in there that results in you being unable to boot, using that jumper will get your system back. It's commonly used when people overclock their chips too far.

Updating the BIOS in this case means flashing a brand new set of data instructions to the BIOS chip itself. If you have a good utility to do this and understand it, it's pretty safe. If you don't it's very risky.  If, for example, you selected the wrong file to flash, you would render your BIOS chip dead.

I use a Jetway V333U m/board which comes with a utility called "Magic Bios". It's excellent. It checks on-line to see if you need an upgrade, then flashes it for you. Whats more, it does it inside Windows which is HIGHLY unusual. Commonly, you're required to go into DOS and do all sorts of horrendous commands.

Man,, this stuff always makes my head spin, but here's how I understand it :

The BIOS can never be opened or accessed (other than flashing and changing it all together) by the user.

Going into "set-up" or CMOS (simply the name given to the type of semi-conductor that lends itself well to PROM (programmable-read-only-memory)),, only allows the user to alter how the computer behaves (ie.  boot-sequence clock-speeds etc.)  AFTER the BIOS has done it's thing.

As Tipster noted, changing a BIOS is not for the faint of heart and there really shouldn't be a reason to try it, unless your board is quite old or you've gotten a "really" new piece of hardware or chipset. Chipsets are an even scarier thing to change, as often it requires the use of a soldering iron    and at that point, you're prob better of just buying a new board to go with your new hardware. In fact, many pieces of new hardware have a chipset (or BIOS) of their own.

I've never heard  of someone getting such an "unexpected" performance increase from a BIOS change (normally you'd know why you were flashing the BIOS) so somewhere along the line you must have "outgrown" the BIOS and were lucky enough to not have had a serious conflict to this point.

Anyway.. the prospect of such new-found performance boost has me intrigued enough to flash my BIOS just to see,,,  wish me luck 

PS. gonna buy a new board and keep it nearby (still in the box so I can return if need)..  just in case the worst happens 

Blade - I haven't seen an fps increase thats obvious but I haven't really tested it properly, I experinced the same lightning increase in browser performance though - very odd, but glad it's helped.

Brett - I totally agree with everything you've said, which is exactly why I started this thread. I'm not an official computer engineer, but I know a fair bit about PC hardware. I build and repair the things regularly for people and I'm as surprised as anyone about these results.

My Motherboard is less than a year old and certainly wouldn't normally be considered to be out of date.
If I were less familiar than I am with my own BIOS settings, I'd say I must have changed something that I previously had set in a critcally bad setting. However, I know my BIOS settings ad verbatum. I spent a good deal of time playing with them not so long ago in an effort to optimise performance. I simply don't understand why the upgrade would have this effect but the fact remains that it has.

Very best of luck with your own upgrade.

Just to underline this once more to everyone - if you don't know what you're doing with a BIOS update - DON'T DO IT!

You may very well live to regret it.

I just did a thorugh fps test of FS2002.

My increase isn't as impressive as Blade's but I've gone from an average of 10.7 at Meigs (heavily modified scenery and pretty much everything maxed)  to 11.8.

Something in my PC is now running a lot better than it was, I just haven't got the foggiest idea what?!

Mine is a Jetway V333U - runs the VIA 4-in-1 chipset.

The rest of my specs are a follows:

Athlon XP1800+ o/c to XP1900+equiv.
512mb 333mhz DDR RAM
GeForce 4 MX440.

I was just doing some reading..... Check here........


http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/boot.htm