G481 Bios and Drivers

@Bannon05

You can with some caveats. The BIOS won't flash unless you use the Gigabyte flashback function. You have to rename the BIOS file to Gigabyte.bin, copy it onto a FAT32 flash drive. From there insert it into the marked BIOS flashback port, then turn the system off and press the flashback button. It takes 5-7 minutes. Once you do that, we won't be able to target your system with our tested qualified driver updates.

@Bannon05

We push them automatically, except for the Nvidia driver. That I would keep up to date manually or with the GeForce Experience. If there's a new BIOS out for the board that you're interested in due to feature or microcode updates, post on here and we can qualify it as time allows.

@Wunderboy04

I can put it on my project list to qualify and test that BIOS. With Gigabyte they do lock our custom BIOS from flashing normally, but you can Q-Flash it if you want to.

Page 19: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_z890-aorus-elite-x-ice_1004_e.pdf?v=de977be7bb5eb91990f1b66b809bce01

Downside of this is it changes the CHID back to Gigabyte so you won't get the drivers or updates we targeted at the system. You can flash back to our custom BIOS once we're able to qualify it.

@Wunderboy04

For this to work you need to do the following:

1. Copy the file to a FAT32 BIOS.
2. Plug it into the USB port labeled 'BIOS'.
3. Turn off the system.
4. Remove the panel and press the QF_PLUS button on the top right.
5. The light will start to flash, wait 3-5 minutes until it stops and power the system on.

Request for the custom BIOS is in, I'm just waiting on Gigabyte.

@Wunderboy04

I'll post here once I have it and we'll pin a thread for the model. Usually takes Gigabyte about a week. We will be posting BIOS updates on our new powerspec.com site in the near future.

@ript

BIOS updates we'll post on the forum and eventually our site. We don't push these unless we have to as it will generally disable XMP.

Driver updates are automatic through Windows Update.

@PowerSpec_MikeW

Hi Mike!

I know you guys have your hands full with all the new releases etc., but any updates from Gigabyte about the BIOS? It looks like version F15 from 1/3/2025 is the most recent non-beta version. Thanks again.

@PowerSpec_MikeW

No worries, it's all good! I'm not having any issues, I just plan on tinkering around and am curious to see what (if any) performance increases can be found in benchmarks like Cinebench R23, etc.

Quick question - do you have any experience with the Gigabyte PerfDrive BIOS settings for the Z890 Aorus Elite X Ice? I had been using "Intel Default Settings - Performance" but switched to "GBT Default" within the last week or so. From what I can tell, it seems to increase power limits (sets PL1/PL2 limits to 4095W) amongst other settings. I can't really find too much information online from either Gigabyte's website or Reddit/other forums. I have noticed fairly significant increases in both Cinebench R23 multi-core benchmark (from approximately 40,000 to 43,000+) and in single-core benchmark (from approximately 2100 to 2300+) while maintaining decent temperatures. However, I now notice micro-stuttering while gaming at high FPS/refresh rate (FPS locked at 269 with a 270HZ refresh rate). Plan on switching PerfDrive back to Intel Default Settings - Performance to see if that resolves the stuttering because I'm a massive novice and I'm not sure what other BIOS settings are being changed aside from power limits when using the GBT Default PerfDrive profile.

@PowerSpec_MikeW

2560x1440 for now, so I realize I’m not exactly pushing either the GPU or CPU.  FPS remain fairly constant at or near 269 and temperatures remain in the 60s C while gaming.  I’m not certain that it’s the PerfDrive setting that’s causing the stutters, but I don’t recall them happening before I started messing around in BIOS and the Tweaker settings (I went down a rabbit hole on Reddit and changed a lot of settings, like disabling C-States).  It could also be NVIDIA Reflex (enabled vs enabled + boost) and/or NVIDIA control panel low latency settings.

I plan on testing it this weekend when I have more time.  To be fair though, this PC is an absolute beast and I probably didn’t need to tweak anything in BIOS. 

@PowerSpec_MikeW

I will mess around and max out some graphics settings (texture streaming budget, texture filtering, model detail, etc.) and see how that impacts my FPS. I do think you're right and I probably have a bunch of room to play with. I'm just used to the old Counter Strike days of playing with the lowest possible graphics settings, but that's out of habit rather than necessity at this point.

In other news, I took a closer look at total power draw/total package power for the CPU in HWiNFO while running Cinebench R23 using the PerfDrive "GBT Default" setting. It shoots up to 340+ W during the multi-core test and I get a score of around 42,000-43,000. I went back into BIOS and switched PerfDrive to "Intel Default Settings - Performance" and then manually set PL1 to 250 W and PL2 to 300 W. I reran the multi-core test and and basically achieved the same score (~42,500) with considerably lower temperatures (low 70s C as opposed to mid 80s C) due to the lower overall CPU power draw. So it does appear that "GBT Default" is some sort of general overclock setting provided by Gigabyte... but perhaps a bit too aggressive for my liking.

After switching PerfDrive to "Intel Default Settings - Performance" I did notice that the CPU wasn't able to maintain maximum clock speeds (should be 5.4 GHz for the P-Cores and 4.6 GHz for the E-Cores), with HWiNFO showing that core frequencies were being clipped "due to electrical design or other constraints (e.g. maximum electrical current consumption, SVID voltage limit or PL4 limit)." Again, I ended up with essentially the same score so this is more of an observation than anything else, and whatever "clipping" that was occurring wasn't constant and did not appear to significantly affect performance in any way. To me this means that the CPU isn't boosting as high as possible for a reason other than power limits or thermal throttling, and it's due to some sort of voltage or current limit. I don't recall if there's access to PL4 in BIOS but from what I've read that is simply the CPU's maximum power limit/emergency shutdown threshold. I will monitor again while gaming for a longer period of time and see what HWiNFO shows, but I highly doubt I'll see frequency clipping or throttling because I didn't see any while running the single-core test. I did play for 10 or so minutes and didn't experience any stuttering. I don't know if changing the PerfDrive setting had any impact or if it was something else (wonky game servers, internet speed/connection issue, me being crazy, etc.), but I'm not complaining.

Thanks, I'm done hijacking this post. 😂😎

@PowerSpec_MikeW

The more I learn, the more I realize how much more I have to learn… haha. Sounds like I have more learning to do.

With regard to the new BIOS, just confirming that I need to update via the Q-Flash method you discussed in a few posts above? And then re-enable XMP in BIOS afterwards. Thanks again, you've been a massive help!

@PowerSpec_MikeW

Awesome, thanks Mike!

@ript

The BIOS I provided has us as the manufacturer. You can check in msinfo32.