Video Card BIOS Upgrade

[Woodrow]

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hi,
What benefits of updating the BIOS on video card?i have update my motherboard bios.that was very easy.just downloaded s/w from intel website and then run setup from operating system. I know that updating drivers can bring about some improvement,is this the same with a BIOS update?

[Killen]

Before an Operating system like Windows XP loads and the software drivers take control of your video card's functions, the video BIOS initializes the card. As soon as it receives power from the motherboard, the BIOS activates the card and identifies itself to the motherboard BIOS.

At this point, the graphic processor and video memory clock speeds are also set by the BIOS, though these may be overridden by the drivers or other utilities once the operating system has loaded.

In short, the video BIOS starts and identifies the card, and provides its initial crop of settings.

In the current age of the unified video driver, where manufacturers like ATI and Nvidia provide a single set of drivers for all their video products, the way the video drivers interact with a card also depends on how the card is identified by the BIOS. Thus, 'new' features can be activated by using a different BIOS on the same Graphics processor.

[RoninBlade]

Not necessarily. Video BIOSes can be upgraded for many different reasons: to increase stability, to add extra functionality (eg: HDCP), etc.he BIOS would be modified. However, it wouldn't be permanent. You can use your VBIOS update utility to "rollback" to an older BIOS.

[T.J.]

hi,
The video is BIOS is a small piece of code (typically <64 KB), which is stored inside a small chip on your video card. When the VGA card receives power, the BIOS is loaded into system memory and immediately executed by the CPU.

[RoninBlade]

On startup, the BIOS initializes the video card:
Initialize the GPU
Detect number of memory chips, chip size, access mode
Enable memory access and set proper timings
Detect if external devices (analog VGA, DVI, TV-out) are connected and enable them
Set core and memory clock
Enable power management
Set fan speed (if supported by the board)
After these tasks are completed, the display will turn on and display what's happening next - usually the motherboard's POST screen.Once you boot into Windows, the display driver takes over all video functions and the BIOS is no longer used. However, it remains accessible for execution.