I have an ASrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 with a Sandy Bridge i5-2500k and stock BIOS version 1.20. I have purchased a new MSI GTX970 Gaming video card (which will arrive tomorrow). I have recently found posts on many forums about people with Z68 chipsets having issues (sometimes quite severe) with their new 970. Most of them suggest to update BIOS to the latest version and sure enough the two latest versions available state that they "Improve discrete VGA card vBIOS compatibility". But than I came across this thread IMPORTANT SPECIAL BIOS UPDATE INFORMATION FOR ASROCK INTEL 6-SERIES AND X79 CHIPSET MOTHER BOARDS in which I found that updating to the newer BIOS version should only be done if upgrading to an Ivy Bridge CPU and should be avoided if remaining with the Sandy Bridge CPU.
So as you can see I am in a bit of a conundrum. If I dont update BIOS, my new card might not work, but If I do my CPU might not work. Of course none of this is an issue if the card works with the stock 1.20 version (which is what I am hoping for) but if it doesn't I have a serious problem.
Any insights, suggestions or experiences on this issue?
On a sidenote, I have found with a quick google search this 3DMark score in which the guy uses the same setup I have with no problems so the card is compatible, unfortunately does not show what BIOS version he is using.
So as you can see I am in a bit of a conundrum. If I dont update BIOS, my new card might not work, but If I do my CPU might not work. Of course none of this is an issue if the card works with the stock 1.20 version (which is what I am hoping for) but if it doesn't I have a serious problem.
Any insights, suggestions or experiences on this issue?
On a sidenote, I have found with a quick google search this 3DMark score in which the guy uses the same setup I have with no problems so the card is compatible, unfortunately does not show what BIOS version he is using.
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