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    Bios Bios Bios!!!

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by BeastRider, Jan 19, 2012.

  1. BeastRider

    BeastRider Notebook Evangelist

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    Okay so I'm running BIOS A05 right now and wondering if I should upgrade to BIOS A07/A08. I'm stable at SATA 6GB/s speeds and don't wanna downgrade to SATA 3GB/s. Does A07/A08 really lock the port to SATA 3GB/s speeds?? What benefits could there possibly be with BIOS A07 if that were the case? Next would be the A08, does the BIOS increase performance of the GT555M? Another thing I'm hearing is downgrading to BIOS A03 with better cooling to avoid high temps since my GPU reaches temps of 83-85 degrees while gaming.

    Well basically I'm confused as to what I should do, personally I'd like to keep my M14x at BIOS A05 since I don't really have any issues with it whatsoever though I could do with a louder yet cooler M14x but I'm afraid BIOS A03 might get me to SATA 3GB/s speeds and I really wouldn't like that to happen..

    Any opinions/suggestions are welcome. Thanks! :)
     
    BeastRider, Jan 19, 2012
    #1
  2. DC87

    DC87 Notebook Consultant

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    Don't fix it if it's not broken :p

    But in all seriousness, in you're situation if you do not have boot issues I would NOT upgrade to A07/A08. There was no performance increase for the GPU that I'm aware of (My fps stayed the same, so did WEI).

    A08 seems it made my booting issues slighty better, not perfect although.

    Cannot comment on A03.
     
    DC87, Jan 19, 2012
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  3. stonehz

    stonehz Notebook Enthusiast

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    I will agree with DC87 ..
    if it is working ... don't change it.
    And especially A08 that downgrades your SATA speeds.
    I think if you want to increase GT555M performance , you can try the unlocked A05 bios..haven't tested and don't know more..
    I will stick with A05 until Dell decides to start Αdding features (every bios version it's worse than the previous) :)
     
    stonehz, Jan 19, 2012
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  4. BeastRider

    BeastRider Notebook Evangelist

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    Kinda noticed that especially when I read what BIOS A07 does, locks SATA speeds to SATA 3GB/s..Not having any issues at all but a VMOD with the GT555M would be cool though I'm not having good temps so might not be advisable for me to increase voltage..So BIOS A05 is fine? What about others advice to downgrade to A03, how many degrees would be cut with A03?
     
    BeastRider, Jan 21, 2012
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  5. bigtonyman

    bigtonyman Desktop Powa!!!

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    like the others said if it isn't broke don't upgrade. Dell did the samething to the m17x with the A09 bios so people are rolling back to the stable A08 one. If i were you, since you don't seem to be having any issues with your system, leave the bios alone for now. ;)
     
    bigtonyman, Jan 21, 2012
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  6. BeastRider

    BeastRider Notebook Evangelist

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    Alrighty, will do. Thanks for all the advice! :D
     
    BeastRider, Jan 21, 2012
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  7. shatnerzbassoon

    shatnerzbassoon Newbie

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    A far as I can tell from my own experience A05 is the best at the moment, it deals with the fan noise issue and maintains Sata 3 with no stability issues on my SSD. Everything from A06 upwards seems to be a downgrade to me, essential Alienware capping ports (ie Sata Port 0 to Sata 2 speeds) to mitigate the problem rather than actualy fixing it and giving their customers what the have paid for :-(
     
    shatnerzbassoon, Jan 22, 2012
    #7