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Do I need a Bios update to use Kaby Lake with z170?

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UncleGrandpa

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Nov 16, 2016
Hi all, I have a question. I recently bought the Extreme6, it was on sale for around $100 so I'm not planning to change it. But I haven't bought the CPU yet, and I'm running out of time as I need to travel soon and take the computer with me. Anyways, I waited this long to get the CPU thinking it would go down in price once Kaby Lake showed up but it didn't. It actually went up after Christmas from what I could see :(

On some websites it costs the same. So I'm unsure which one to get now, but I read somewhere that for a z170 board to use Kaby Lake you need to update it and in order to do that you need to be running Skylake (which I would have no way to do that if I get Kaby Lake). Is that true? I just wanted to find that out.

I don't know how I would get a hold of a Skylake processor just to update my MB, so if that were the case I think I will abandon the idea of getting Kaby Lake.
 
Kaby Lake won't work without Bios update on Gigabyte Z170 , I checked the Gigabyte forums and Gave a phone call.
 
EarthDog said:
It will work enough to flash the bios. I'd buy kaby.
Click to expand...

Yeah if that were the case I would like to get Kaby. I guess I will have to find out how it works for Asrock specifically.

wingman99 said:
Kaby Lake won't work without Bios update on Gigabyte Z170 , I checked the Gigabyte forums and Gave a phone call.
Click to expand...

Thanks wingman :) Will probably call AsRock to find out if they have any suggestions that might allow me to still update. Otherwise will have to go with Skylake.
 
I wouldn't count on the Kaby Lake working well enough to get you into bios, especially not to update the bios. If the update ("flash") does not complete you will have a borked motherboard. I would get a cheap Skylake Celeron to do the flash.
 
UncleGrandpa said:
Yeah if that were the case I would like to get Kaby. I guess I will have to find out how it works for Asrock specifically.



Thanks wingman :) Will probably call AsRock to find out if they have any suggestions that might allow me to still update. Otherwise will have to go with Skylake.
Click to expand...

Post back what you find out. Asrock (909) 590-8308
 
Thank you guys, haven't called yet but might do it tomorrow as I found a Kaby Lake "return" at a local store that I might want to get given its price.

BTW, is the 470 enough to play most games at 1080, or should I wait for the 480 to get cheaper? I have this goal that I don't want to spend over $170 or so on the GPU. I'm sure the 480 will go below that, I think it did during Black Friday but I was busy getting other components lol.

Games I currently have aren't very graphic-intensive but will probably be getting Rayman Legends because my son wants it and I know for a fact that my current computer can't handle it.
 
Fyi, giga's boards will only flash with Kaby on boards that use qflash..(Called them).

I haven't called asrock...at this point, I'd get skylake with z170.... I'm not sure what I have written down from that call, lol!

470 is barely a 1080p card to me. You really need to pick your goal... either a good 1080p card, or spend less than 170. You will be waiting a couple of months I'd imagine.. or maybe look at the used market.
 
Thanks Earthdog! If I end up buying that Kaby, I will go with Trent's suggestion and buy a $40 Celeron just to update my bios. Then I'll list the Celeron on eBay, hopefully someone will want it lol

I guess I can keep waiting for the 480 to drop. I think I can use Intel HD Graphics for now as I don't even own any demanding games, I'm using the Geforce 6150se right now and it somehow works with very low settings :eek:
 
Uncle, someone in the forum classifides has a 480 for sale for a great price! I don't know if you have enough posts to access the classies, however.
 
trents said:
Uncle, someone in the forum classifides has a 480 for sale for a great price! I don't know if you have enough posts to access the classies, however.
Click to expand...

Hi Trents! Thanks so much for the heads up :) Will check it out if I'm able to. I'm still kind of debating whether to buy a GPU now or wait because I don't even have any games that require a dedicated card. Once I get it I will have to buy some though lol

Right now I'm playing Rayman Origins on low settings and Steamworld Dig on my Athlon X2 computer. I'm surprised it can even play this stuff 'cause it's a 10 year old PC :p
 
Rayman origins system requirements

OS: Windows® XP SP3 / Windows Vista® SP2 / Windows® 7 SP1.
Processor: Intel Core2Duo E4400 @ 2.00 Ghz or AMD Athlon64X2 3800+ @ 2.00Ghz.
Memory: 2 GB Windows XP / Vista / Windows 7.
Graphics: 256 MB DirectX®9 / Radeon HD 2600XT or GeForce 8600GT.
DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c or higher.
Sound: DirectX 9.0-compliant sound card.
 
So, I read on Asrock's forum that one can get a bios chip that's already been updated and then switch it. Is that safe? Does a professional need to install it or is it fairly easy?

Yeah Rayman Origins has pretty low requirements, it has very nice graphics though so if I hadn't read anything I wouldn't even have tried to DL it lol
 
From what I can see in the pics it appears the BIOS chips are down by the SB HS and they are removable with a pair of tweezers. You'll have to verify but that's what I see. I have ordered BIOS chips like that before from ebay and they do work. Since then I have gotten myself one of these
Now I can flash my own
 
Depends on the board. But yours appears to have the ability to take them out and drop them in. Look by your PCH heatsink, to the right, say 5 o'clock area...
 
Would he have to change both chips in that dual bios board?

Johan45 said:
From what I can see in the pics it appears the BIOS chips are down by the SB HS and they are removable with a pair of tweezers. You'll have to verify but that's what I see. I have ordered BIOS chips like that before from ebay and they do work. Since then I have gotten myself one of these
Now I can flash my own
Click to expand...

Sean, how does that nano programmer work? I looked at the picture from your link. So I take it you pry off the bios chip you want to reprogram and insert it into one of the two sockets on the programmer. Then I'm assuming you connect the nano programmer to another computer, download the appropriate bios update file for the motherboard and use software that came with the nano programmer to reprogram the chip that had been removed from the motherboard? So you do this with another computer? That's the part I'm wondering about.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just one as he can boot to it, then flash the other.

You have the general idea on how that tool works, yes.
 
trents said:
Would he have to change both chips in that dual bios board?



Sean, how does that nano programmer work? I looked at the picture from your link. So I take it you pry off the bios chip you want to reprogram and insert it into one of the two sockets on the programmer. Then I'm assuming you connect the nano programmer to another computer, download the appropriate bios update file for the motherboard and use software that came with the nano programmer to reprogram the chip that had been removed from the motherboard? So you do this with another computer? That's the part I'm wondering about.
Click to expand...

That's it in a nutshell. The SW for the programmer need to be downloaded from a site. Install it onto another PC, I use an old laptop running Win7 32. The antivirus will squeal like a pig at this SW though. So you have to disable it. Carefully remove the chip from the board and note the orientation. One corner typically has a mark or some chips have a cut corner. Put the chip in the programmer run the SW directing to the chip and BIOS file. Then re-install into the board. I have saved a couple boards so far. To me it's already paid for itself. Not all chips are removable and there are accessories you can get for the programmer that will let you flash these on board. I haven't needed to do that so I don't have them.
 
Thanks all, I'm glad this is likely to work out. I reserved the Kaby Lake since it turned out to be a little bit cheaper than the non-returned Skylake.

Is there anything I need to do after I install the new chip, like update the second chip or is that not necessary? I guess I will have to do some research about that but just to get some idea.
 
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