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Which BIOS for Kaby Lake GA-z170x-ud5 th build

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thewad

thewad

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Sep 12, 2016
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Motherboard
Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 TH
CPU
i7-7700K
Graphics
RX 570
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I am updating my system to an i7 7700K processor. I know I have to update the BIOS to at least F20 for the Kaby to run (still have the Skylake installed). My question is, which BIOS should I use. The Gigabyte web site duly lists the other BIOS options but the descriptions are not terribly informative to my small understanding:

F20 Support 7th generation CPU. * This BIOS prohibits updating to earlier version BIOS. 2016/12/16
F21 V core Voltage adjust. 2017/03/13
F22a Update CPU micro code to fix HT flaw issue. 2017/06/30
F22d Update Intel ME for security vulnerabilities. 2017/12/01
F22g Update CPU Microcode. 2018/03/09

My gut reaction is to go with the F22g under the assumption that successive iterations of the BIOS are better, because, isn't that why they are released? Does anyone have experience with these setups? Shouldn't I want to fix my HT flaw issue? Any insight would be much appreciated.

Does it make any sense to return the Kaby and just go with a i7 6700?
 
Hack1
GA-Z170X-UD5 TH |  i7 7700K |  RX 570 Pulse 8GB
thewad said:
I am updating my system to an i7 7700K processor. I know I have to update the BIOS to at least F20 for the Kaby to run (still have the Skylake installed). My question is, which BIOS should I use. The Gigabyte web site duly lists the other BIOS options but the descriptions are not terribly informative to my small understanding:

F20 Support 7th generation CPU. * This BIOS prohibits updating to earlier version BIOS. 2016/12/16
F21 V core Voltage adjust. 2017/03/13
F22a Update CPU micro code to fix HT flaw issue. 2017/06/30
F22d Update Intel ME for security vulnerabilities. 2017/12/01
F22g Update CPU Microcode. 2018/03/09

My gut reaction is to go with the F22g under the assumption that successive iterations of the BIOS are better, because, isn't that why they are released? Does anyone have experience with these setups? Shouldn't I want to fix my HT flaw issue? Any insight would be much appreciated.

Does it make any sense to return the Kaby and just go with a i7 6700?
Click to expand...

If I were you, I would upgrade to F22d now to fix the HT flaw and Intel ME vulnerabilities.

F22g contains CPU microcode that attempts to mitigate the Spectre vulnerabilities discovered in January. Previously the Spectre CPU microcodes from Intel were found to cause sudden reboots on systems and were pulled. This F22g probably contains the modified CPU microcodes that supposedly eliminate the problems but we don't know if there are other problems. Also, at present NO exploits has been found in the wild that attempt to exploit the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities.
 
I spoke with an IT person here. I wanted to do the USB drive format, BIOS download, unpack and write all on a windows machine. He agreed. I sent him a link to the Gigabyte MoBo page. He was back in touch, said he'd set up the USB drive and that it looked like the F22a and above had microcode updates addressing Meltdown/Specter and I should probably get things running with F20 before thinking about playing with F22
 
Hack1
GA-Z170X-UD5 TH |  i7 7700K |  RX 570 Pulse 8GB
Mr. Bond,

Thanks for the input.

I'm guessing you're running F22d. Any reason you've not moved to F22g? It has more CPU microcode updates.

I realize it's a massive pain to move from F20 to anything lower, but is it possible to move freely between BIOSs > F20? If not, or unknown, I'm tempted to take the baby step to F20, get it running there and then confront CPU microcode masquerading as BIOS. My IT guy used the same description of no Meltdown/Spectre examples in the wild.

Probably an abundance of caution going to F20 first, but I know a heck of a lot more about BIOS then I did (still not a lot, but a lot more)...

You're running a z270x board, do you need to enable kernalpm to get the Kaby Lake to work with OSX?
 
Hack1
GA-Z170X-UD5 TH |  i7 7700K |  RX 570 Pulse 8GB
Mr. Bond,
Apologies, you clearly addressed the F22d vs. F22g issue. It was past my bedtime.
Questions regarding migrating between F20+ BIOSs and kernalpm still stand.
Thanks for a clear description of things, even if my own understanding was initially not so clear.
 
Hack1
GA-Z170X-UD5 TH |  i7 7700K |  RX 570 Pulse 8GB
thewad said:
Mr. Bond,
Apologies, you clearly addressed the F22d vs. F22g issue. It was past my bedtime.
Questions regarding migrating between F20+ BIOSs and kernalpm still stand.
Thanks for a clear description of things, even if my own understanding was initially not so clear.
Click to expand...

If you are worried about the F22 BIOSes, then I recommend going to F21 first.

Yes, I believe you should be able to move freely between the >= F20 BIOSes.

I don't have to do anything on my Z270 motherboard other than to set the required BIOS settings in the Installation Guide, to be able to install and run Sierra and High Sierra.

My Z270 motherboard is on BIOS F5 which contains CPU microcode to fix the HT flaw issue. There is a newer F6d BIOS which probably contains the CPU microcodes to mitigate the Spectre vulnerabilities. I have not installed that yet as I think there is no need to at this moment.
 
Last edited:
2016 Build
GA-Z170X-UD5 TH |  i7 6700K |  GTX 980 Ti
2019 Build
Z390 DESIGNARE |  i9 9900K |  RX 580 Pulse 8GB
i use this BIOS 22g too, but the microde isn't update anymore.
 
HarryMcGinty said:
Came here as I'm now hitting a snag after updating to 22g. Think I should try downgrading? Do you mind sharing your BIOS settings? I can't boot anything off of 22g for some reason. :(

Here's my sob story: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/gigabyte-ga-z170x-ud5-th-not-working.286662/
Click to expand...

That link doesn't seem to work... For me, the only critical bios setting that I need to change from stock is the to disable to Serial Port (Peripherals->SuperIO). You also might need XCHI Handoff = enabled if you're not using AptioMemoryFix
I also prefer CSM support to be disabled but that might cause problems if you have a legacy bios AMD card (I don't)
 
Edit System
Z490 Vision G |  i9 10900K |  Radeon Nitro+ RX 5700 XT 8GB
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