PC BIOS soon to be replaced by UEFI

[sjwaste]

I run Vista and just sleep the computer when I'm not using it. Same as my Macbook. One uses BIOS, the other EFI - and it makes no difference to me.

Who's rebooting that often?

 

[Jeff7]

Well, I've heard it said a few times. for different components.

"2.0 Ghz, that would like turn on instantly!"
"8 Gigs of ram? That sould start really fast!"
"A new video card? That will make the system boot so much faster!"

All focusing on problems that, while they may be related, aren't the main cause of slowdowns. The main cause is that the hard drive is slow. Boot time is almost completely Dependant on HD speed. CPU can bottle neck it, as well as ram. but they certainly aren't the main causes of it.

The bios, however, is NOT something that really bottlenecks things. There are HUGE areas that the bios could be speed up, yet isn't. Why? Because it is fast enough.

Exactly. The hard drive is the slowest primary component of any major system. Everything else is measuring things in nanoseconds and tens of gigabytes per second, while hard drives are stuck with milliseconds and megabytes per second.

:wub: my solid-state boot drive.


I loved Intel's old ads, back in the 56k days - that their processor would somehow enhance or speed up your "Internet experience."

 

[Chaotic42]

bios + ssd + i5 750 + win7 64= cold boot in a few seconds

(bios + ssd + i5 750 + win7 64) + hauppauge tv drivers = about 1 minute

Hauppauge is just terrible. I finally learned my lesson and stopped buying their crap.

 

[Numenorean]

ummmm... Boot up times aren't slow because the bios is slow.

It takes about 30 seconds or so just to go through all my BIOS crap. If it only took 2 seconds, then I could have the computer up and running to the desktop in about 8-10 seconds from the time the button is pressed.

 

[konakid7]

Too bad it'll probably still be a while before we'll be able to pick up motherboards with this at newegg. Looking forward to that day though, I've always thought the bios was a pain.

 

[GeekDrew]

Too bad it'll probably still be a while before we'll be able to pick up motherboards with this at newegg. Looking forward to that day though, I've always thought the bios was a pain.

... it was a pain?

 

[Cogman]

It takes about 30 seconds or so just to go through all my BIOS crap. If it only took 2 seconds, then I could have the computer up and running to the desktop in about 8-10 seconds from the time the button is pressed.

Really? How old is your bios? Is it from the 60s?

The only time my bios has taken more than a second is when is when the old bios was doing memory checks.

 

[Numenorean]

Really? How old is your bios? Is it from the 60s?

The only time my bios has taken more than a second is when is when the old bios was doing memory checks.

It's mainly the several additional RAID BIOSes that have to be gone through to manage my RAID arrays that add the longer time.

 

[Mark R]

ummmm... Boot up times aren't slow because the bios is slow.

True. However, UEFI has the advantage that during boot it fully enumerates all hardware devices and loads basic drivers for them, before bringing up the OS.

This means the OS doesn't need to perform a slow scan for connected hardware (which is the single most time consuming step in the boot process). It's already got a complete list - not only that, but it doesn't have to run hard drives, etc. in low-performance 'compatability mode' as prelimianry hardware-specific drivers will have been loaded during POST.

 

[CZroe]

I still feel burned by them not delivering EFI on non-Macs.

 

[13Gigatons]

EFI will be a boon for large corporations since it will have network connection outside the OS but for home users will add very little since most just want to get into the OS.

 

[stag3]

my pc is on 24/7 so i could care less

 

[Anubis]

my pc is on 24/7 so i could care less

how much less?

 

[frostedflakes]

lol I thought the same thing when I read the article a few days back. On my purely average PC using some Gigabyte AM3 board (can't remember model right now), Bios is gone in a few seconds, hardly '25 seconds', more like 3-4 seconds at most. I don't have an SSD, so from the actual HDD bootup from ~3 seconds to desktop is about 25-30 seconds I think. Instant bios wouldn't shave more than 3-4 seconds off of my boot time with my physical HDD. Perhaps when SSDs get so damned fast that they can boot up in 1 second to a full OS this will be more exciting to me in terms of speed, although I'm sure this UEFI will have numerous other advantages (and maybe some potential drawbacks) compared to good old BIOS.

I think UEFI can also speed up OS boot time (using a UEFI aware OS, of course), because it can tell the OS exactly what hardware is present and what drivers need to be loaded. BIOS doesn't pass on this info, so the OS doesn't know this before it starts and has to poll hardware, which takes time.

 

[meltdown75]

cool

 

[zerocool84]

I can't believe people here are saying they don't care. It helps everyone and thank god we're finally going to be getting away from ancient BIOS. 25yrs is an eternity in the computing world.

 

[frostedflakes]

Yeah, it's pretty crazy how much people have been able to do with BIOS considering its limitations. Remember that it was introduced back in the days of 16-bit CPUs and as such can only access like 1MB of memory. Back in the 1980s that was enormous, but by today's standards it's nothing.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

It's not Windows either. It's all the crap that people, and IT departments, install that runs at startup.

When users cant behave and want certain features, this is required.

 

[fatpat268]

Eh, I figured EFI would've become a standard years ago. I'm surprised it has taken this long.

Concerning boot times: I rarely do a cold boot anymore. S3 sleep works well and uses a very small amount of power. The PC wakes up superfast from it as well. The only time I do a cold boot anymore is if something has been acting up on the computer, but that's about it. Frequently, that bootup process takes 5 minutes or more (I could optimize it, but frankly I don't care).

 

[Bateluer]

I'm curious if manufacturer or other parties will use the UEFI to introduce DRM into the PC, to block you from playing 'unapproved' content or to monitor your system for P2P traffic, etc.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I'm curious if manufacturer or other parties will use the UEFI to introduce DRM into the PC, to block you from playing 'unapproved' content or to monitor your system for P2P traffic, etc.

thoughtcrime

 

[TecHNooB]

I'm glad I haven't bought a new PC in about 5 years. This will be a great excuse to get a new one

 

[coloumb]

Awesome. The engineers who originally created the "bios" can't believe it's still in use today. We need something new to replace old and aging technology.

Hell - if only my PC could have the same instant on/cooling without any noise/very little heat - I'd be a happy camper.

 

[Terzo]

I'm curious if manufacturer or other parties will use the UEFI to introduce DRM into the PC, to block you from playing 'unapproved' content or to monitor your system for P2P traffic, etc.

I hope not. I don't think it would be an issue though; there's too much competition. I doubt enthusiasts would purchase a motherboard with such limitations, and I reckon the market is big enough that there will always be someone willing to make a drm free motherboard.

 

[phillyTIM]

I'll believe the changeover when I see it; what concrete evidence do we have that makers are going to make the change? For sure, they will find an excuse for new systems with UEFI to sell at a premium!