Maximus VIII Extreme Bios 3201

[ratbone]

I have a Intel Core i7 6700K 4.00GHz Skylake CPU and my last bios update was 2202 I've skipped Bios 3007 for obvious stability reasons but I have found no feedback from anyone on the latest bios version 3201.

My questions are:

1) Do I gain anything by implementing this upgrade. A risk/benefit assessment would be great.

2) Is 3201 really just for the New Kaby Lake CPUs?


any feedback would be appreciated

[Nate152]

Hi ratbone

Bios version 3201 addresses:

1) Improved CPU compatibility
2) Fixed wake-up function when using some PCIE devices
3) Improved keyboard compatibility when "Fast Boot" is enabled
4) Fixed Dram frequency read display error in OS
5) Improved Dram XMP compatibility over 4200MHz
6) Fixed Plextor M.2 device issue
7) Modified OA key function in legacy OS

[JustinThyme]

I cant speak for the Extreme but can for the extreme assy. The boards are supposed to be identical, just different color schemes and whats in the retail box.
BIOS 3007 hosed me pretty good.
First board it completely bricked. No hope of recovery even with two BIOS.
Second one Went to code 60 and would not post and wouldnt let me use BIOS 2. Had to swap ROMS, flashback to 2202 then copy over to BIOS2 to get it working again.
I was only going that route for the Kaby lake CPUs which never would work on this platform so ended up buying an IX formula for the 7700K and leaving the M8E with a 6700K in it.
Runs great with 2202 with the hardware I have in it and a 6700K @ 5GHz. Love that board and think Im just going to leave it where it is. I only tried the 3007 because another trusted member said he got it to work but then later posted of cooked ram.

My advice would be to say with 2202 unless you intend on trying a Kaby lake on a Z170 chipset.

[Nate152]

I agree with this - My advice would be to say with 2202 unless you intend on trying a Kaby lake on a Z170 chipset.

[Chino]

If your system is stable with your BIOS, just stick with it. Unless there's a functionality in a newer BIOS you want, I don't see a need to update it.

[ratbone]

Thanks all For the detailed feedback. You have all confirmed what my gut feeling was.
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
My system is as solid as a rock never failed or blue screened except for the occasional NVidia driver issues which are easily rolled back A bad bios upgrade can brick your board just like Justin's

I'll follow all of your advice and stick with 2202
Once again Thanks all.:)

[nightstrike]

ratbone wrote:
I have a Intel Core i7 6700K 4.00GHz Skylake CPU and my last bios update was 2202 I've skipped Bios 3007 for obvious stability reasons but I have found no feedback from anyone on the latest bios version 3201.

My questions are:

1) Do I gain anything by implementing this upgrade. A risk/benefit assessment would be great.

2) Is 3201 really just for the New Kaby Lake CPUs?


any feedback would be appreciated

I have an M8E / i7-6700K running Windows 7 Ultimate (I refuse to use Windows 10).

I ran 2202 for a long time, and it mostly worked, but I had definite issues with resuming from Standby once I got my Strix 1080 O8G. Under the integrated Intel HD 530, it worked fine, but with the Strix 1080, the nvidia driver would cause standby resumes to fail (and judging from the kernel debugging I did, the failure was actually in that it never fully went into Standby, as opposed to going in but not being able to come out).

I skipped 3007 because of all the problems with it (see https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?90117-Maximus-VIII-Extreme-BIOS-3007)

I updated to 3201 because the notes mentioned a Standby fix, and it was similar to the problems I experienced. Flashed both BIOS chips, spent some time restoring my settings, and been running it very stable ever since. I was excited to see that they added support for better memory (I currently run G.Skill F4-3866C18Q-16GTZ, but I want to run F4-4000C18Q-32GTZ), but they didn't update the QVL and neither did G.Skill.

[ratbone]

nightstrike wrote:
I have an M8E / i7-6700K running Windows 7 Ultimate (I refuse to use Windows 10).

I ran 2202 for a long time, and it mostly worked, but I had definite issues with resuming from Standby once I got my Strix 1080 O8G. Under the integrated Intel HD 530, it worked fine, but with the Strix 1080, the nvidia driver would cause standby resumes to fail (and judging from the kernel debugging I did, the failure was actually in that it never fully went into Standby, as opposed to going in but not being able to come out).

I skipped 3007 because of all the problems with it (see https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?90117-Maximus-VIII-Extreme-BIOS-3007)

I updated to 3201 because the notes mentioned a Standby fix, and it was similar to the problems I experienced. Flashed both BIOS chips, spent some time restoring my settings, and been running it very stable ever since. I was excited to see that they added support for better memory (I currently run G.Skill F4-3866C18Q-16GTZ, but I want to run F4-4000C18Q-32GTZ), but they didn't update the QVL and neither did G.Skill.

Thanks for the info Nightstrike. good to know of a successful bios update of a similar system.

A side note I was a big fan of windows 7 and completely skipped 8 and 8.1. I have been totally converted by Win 10 (professional) it is stable and has a lot of good features. Touch wood, not one BSOD. I do recommend a clean build and not an upgrade though. as long as you have new hardware and no really old legacy drivers installed, it's brilliant.

[nightstrike]

ratbone wrote:
Thanks for the info Nightstrike. good to know of a successful bios update of a similar system.

I'm sure you know this, but when you do the update, your computer will appear to be very unresponsive, and will power cycle several times. It can be a little scary how it responds to a new BIOS.

A side note I was a big fan of windows 7 and completely skipped 8 and 8.1. I have been totally converted by Win 10 (professional) it is stable and has a lot of good features. Touch wood, not one BSOD. I do recommend a clean build and not an upgrade though. as long as you have new hardware and no really old legacy drivers installed, it's brilliant.

I'm sure it's stable, and adds features, but there's several key aspects that make it unacceptable for me:

• Privacy concerns
  
• Forced updates
  
• Advertisements
  

I'm hoping that somebody makes third party mods that tame the OS. Either that, or that I can hold out long enough for the next OS version that's more acceptable (at least if you look at 98SE being good, 2k being bad, XP being good, Vista being bad, 7 being good, 8 being bad.... I lost on 10, so maybe the next iteration will be good?)

[ratbone]

I have experienced the unresponsive and multiple reboots and it is scary. I do not think I will flash to 3201 because there is nothing I need from it and it is just not worth the risk

another side note, just trying out server 2016 on my lab you won't like it..... it looks and feels like a cross between server 2012 R2 and windows 10 🙂

in the end an OS is just a means to an end use whatever works for you.