It should also be noted that as of the F3a BIOS, two of the CPU settings seem not to work - Load Line Calibration settings for the CPU, no matter what option is selected, does not kick in properly. As a result, we do get better multithreaded performance at stock settings for Sandy Bridge-E Core processors. I can confirm this for regular socket 2011 Core processors, however I can also confirm that it does not affect Xeons. Regarding MultiCore Enhancement, the X79S-UP5 does include MCE as part of the setup when XMP is enabled. Gigabyte have solved the issue on Z77 with a BIOS update, however it still lingers here in C606.
#GIGABYTE ULTRA DURABLE BIOS SCREEN SOFTWARE#
Also of note is our Deferred Procedure Call latency testing, which determines how well requests for CPU time are dealt (critical for audio processing) - sometimes the software in the OS can have a negative impact, such as EasyTune 6, due to their system monitoring feature. However there still seems to be an issue with the C606 chipset and that NumLock feature, as it is still a problem on the F3a BIOS for the X79S-UP5 WiFi. Later BIOSes removed this time penalty, and this is what we see on the Z77 platform. The second saw the system speeded up, but in order to type numbers in NumLock had to be pressed which caused a 10-second delay. The first was slow and clunky, with transitions taking time. Since the inception, Gigabyte seems to have gone through three phases of BIOS. If you can get around the fact that Gigabyte calls a 2D image the '3D BIOS' technology, then usually the Gigabyte BIOS is an easy one to navigate and use. The overriding message, as with any graphical BIOS, is to expose the nature of the configurable settings in an aesthetically pleasing way. Over time, it has increased in speed, usability and presentation. Despite the fact that Gigabyte were late to the graphical BIOS party back in the P67 era, today we have a fully functioning BIOS on our hands to play with.