UPGRADE your BIOS - 30X series cards

BTW GPU BIOS should also be the latest version, because that’s how they fix bugs. Also, my EVGA 3080 FTW3 can be flashed with an official XOC BIOS that allows extending power limit to 450W (500W on 3090) by flipping the OC switch on the GPU. Things like that help FPS, and every little bit counts in MSFS.

BTW I found that a large GPU overclock introduces stutters, so I’m running a very modest overclock to make sure there is no throttling (memory clock+200, GPU clock +101) with FTW3 Ultra stock clocks already pretty high @1800MHz - 90Mhz more than founders edition, but with maximum power (118) and temp (91) limits.

Not updating BIOS unless things are not working well is not a great advice, IMHO. There is a certain theoretical risk, but I have never yet bricked anything with BIOS or firmware update and I have updated many dozens of PCs and devices over the years, maybe hundreds of updates. Maybe if all things are working perfectly you shouldn’t touch BIOS updates, but MSFS is so far from working perfectly, that it doesn’t apply. It’s a good idea to have PC backed up by a UPS, in case power interruption during update (which could brick something). So, like with drivers, unless it’s known that a new BIOS is worse than the old one - you should upgrade.

Yes, but we are talking about updating the system´s BIOS.
As you say, the Sim is far from perfect, but i rather wait for the 27th and further updates, than updating my BIOS which is, according to MSI, only a BETA.
No front, I just try to say there are only 6 more days for a real improvment (as long we can trust the expectations)

Yes, but what I was saying is you should update BOTH motherboard and GPU BIOS, because both are important. For example, GPU BIOS update fixed crashes due to many 3080/3090 boards that were using a particular components, and allow for more power and higher clocks, and motherboard BIOS fixed the horrible Reverb G2 USB connectivity issues requiring you to downgrade your motherboard’s capabilities. Every little bit helps with MSFS, and it’s going to be relevant regardless of the Sim Update V. Why limit your system by buggy firmware when you don’t have to? So there you go.

Good for you, but given that regular consumers have issues running video games on their hardware and can’t figure out why, saying flash your BIOS on the mainboard and your GFX firmware card is a terrible idea. It’s complex and fraught with potential issues and the net gain will be, nothing at all. The original post gives no indication about what is being altered or affected by the update, if anything, and why that relates to supposed FPS increases in this game. A lot of what is said about making FS2020 work better is unsubstantiated (like H.A.G.S and Game Mode) and this is no different. If your hardware is working the way it should then lay off flashing new firmware, maybe it will be fine, maybe you’ll wreck your computer and be out hundreds or thousands (given the current GFX card crisis).

3 Likes

You back from the past again?

This isn’t 1990, bios flash is something you do in Windows not some convoluted boot to floppy like it used to be.

Don’t throw insults, this isn’t AVSIM. The method is not the issue.

1 Like

Manufacturers don’t pay people to write bios code just to entertain themselves. Many times these are crucial fixes that can improve performance and even extend the life of the component. A prime example is 3090’s being bricked by playing Amazon’s “New World”, I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts a bios update will be released to prevent that from happening ever again.

You choose, run a card that can be bricked by a DX10 API call or update the bios to prevent that?

Imagine buying a UPS for a BIOS Update one time per year

LOL, you don’t buy a UPS for that. But if you have any valuable information on your PC (including MSFS that can take weeks to set up right) you already have a UPS. It prevents you from losing the OS and data when power fluctuates or goes out even for a few seconds. And prevents your expensive PC from frying out during an energy spike. And BTW the chances of your OS total loss are much higher when you have a Windows Update in progress when you lose power. That can really screw you up. I lost MBR on my hard drive once because I had to hard-reset stuck PC. The whole partition gone. This is what happens when you interrupt power at the wrong time. So you are living dangerously if you don’t have a UPS. Go to the closest Costco and get one :slight_smile:

1 Like

hi i installed the firmware 1902 from the asus site and i too see better performance in games not only in fs2020. now strange no longer appears the download in the Asus site. config i9 9900kf z390e 32 gb ram 3200 3070

Most people don’t buy a UPS at all, because they don’t really need one. Over the years I have experienced many power outages when the computer was running, not once, not ever, did I lose anything. A UPS is for mission critical hardware, like emergency response centers, hospitals, NASA and those guys that make sure Thanos is really really gone this time. :hear_no_evil:

And what happens if you forgot to save your work and your computer shuts off?
The UPS saves my life more than once in the past, I had the time to save and shut down in safe.

Not sure, what does happen? Pretty sure that auto-save and CTRL-S are cheaper and more effective.

Yes in theory, autosave for some professional applications is a pain, take 3ds Max for example, you have a 2 GB file and every 10 minutes while you work it starts to save by it’s own and during this process everything is blocked! And you wait… And you stop your work.

Ctrl + S is the best solution but you have to remember to do it manually.
Personally I can’t live without an UPS, my work and the efforts I put on it doesn’t worth a crash or a sudden shutdown.

Most people have passwords like “123456” or “password” - which are among the most common passwords used, and it’s a fact. So what? Does it mean it’s a good idea?
Most people also don’t buy $3000+ PCs.
If you do anything that is valuable on your PC and you value your time, you’d be a fool not to invest in UPS. It not just protects you from loss of data or OS (and yes, it did happen to me once) but it also takes over when there is a power spike that can kill your expensive hardware. And remember, autosave won’t help when your saved file or the whole partition is corrupted because power was lost during a write operation. You can easily lose everything, not just last 10 minutes of work. Couple of years ago during power outage of my unprotected NAS all files larger than 1Gb were reset to 0 bytes. Weird things happen on power loss. Paying $1000+ for a graphic card and $3000+ for a PC and not investing $60 in UPS that protects both hardware and data is a very strange decision :slight_smile:
I currently have 3 UPSs running: one protecting my studio gear and home theater PC, one for work/MSFS PC, and a an old retired UPS that can’t hold a PC but still saved my 3D printer from crashing a print after 6 hours when power quite for 20 seconds. They saved me several times already from losing a lot of time at the least. Best money ever spent. As it’s not a critical item you can find one on sale on Black Friday or Boxing day for really cheap.
And as energy demand steadily increases, and building new generation stations that are reliable and not dependent on wind or clear skies are strongly resisted - power outages become more and more common and frequent.

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.