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Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with Intel processors => Topic started by: uncle_billy on January 22, 2011, 01:24:37 am

Title: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: uncle_billy on January 22, 2011, 01:24:37 am

All the sites (except Anandtech) which reviewed motherboards for Sandy Bridge says that new Gigabyte motherboards with x67 chipset don't support UEFI but just EFI boot.

But Anandtech says in review  (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4130/the-battle-of-the-p67-boards-asus-vs-gigabyte-at-190/5) of P67A-UD4 that it has EFI (UEFI) already implemented:

Quote

Gigabyte’s dual BIOS system is on this board. Yes, that is right – BIOS. No UEFI here. Well, that's not strictly true, as one of the latest BIOS updates at the time of writing (F6) implements an EFI into the BIOS, reportedly allowing bootable access to hard drives over 2.2TB. This is due to, as Gigabyte explained, that their board is actually UEFI, but without a proper GUI interface like other boards. They've used the old BIOS-style interface for now, as after years of plugging away they believe it's quick, stable and recognisable for consumers to understand. So underneath, it's truly 64-bit, meaning 2.2TB+ partition support is possible, and could also suggest that a new GUI is coming in the future. I asked about time-scale for this, but Gigabyte were undoubtedly tight-lipped about dates and implementations.

So, does it mean that Gigabytes' motherboards which support EFI boot and drives over 2 TB, have full EFI support except graphical user interface? Or is UEFI just partially implemented?

Why Gigabyte everywhere says that it will support UEFI later? Do they mean just "we will add graphical interface later"?

Title: Re: Does Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: faizoff on January 22, 2011, 03:06:02 am

I'm wondering about this too. I haven't updated my stock BIOS yet and probably will later on once I read more about overclocking and other settings to play around with.

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: Dark Mantis on January 22, 2011, 10:05:28 am

Hi and welcome to the Gigabyte Forum.

I would tend to agree with Anandtech's statement from what I know. I will however try and get some more information from the company about this and the timeline involved. I will post back when I receive an answer.

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: magictoaster on January 25, 2011, 02:22:48 pm

I would like to know this as well! The P67A-UD7 is a great board, but UEFI would be nice!

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: Dark Mantis on January 25, 2011, 02:43:25 pm

Well good news guys. The UEFI is upon us! As from today it is being loaded onto all new P67 and H67 boards in production and can be dretrofitted to most of the higher end boards that are recent X58 etc. You can read more about it here:

http://gigabytedaily.blogspot.com/2011/01/gigabyte-hybrid-efi-technology.html

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: magictoaster on January 25, 2011, 06:22:33 pm

So basically Gigabyte offers Hybrid EFI Technology, but will not update to the "modern" graphical interface used by other major vendors. Not a deal breaker, but nice to know.

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: Dark Mantis on January 25, 2011, 06:24:45 pm

I think it is a case of a little at a time. They want to see how it pans out and what problems there are with it before full commitment.

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: magictoaster on January 25, 2011, 06:39:17 pm

Make sens! Thanks a lot for the info. I'm looking forward to installing and using my new UD7!  ;D

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: runn3R on April 21, 2011, 10:34:17 am

Our GUI BIOS is coming soon:

(http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/upload/files/2011-04%20Touch%20BIOS%20ad.jpg)

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: Dark Mantis on April 21, 2011, 10:36:06 am

Are you saying it will support touchscreen as well runn3R ? ;D

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: runn3R on April 21, 2011, 10:39:17 am

:D Why only touchscreen and not remote ?  ;)

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: Dark Mantis on April 21, 2011, 10:40:18 am

Ah true! I like that idea, I can use my system from my armchair! Cool! 8) 8)

Just got to work out how to get the armchair in the office now!

Title: Re: Do Gigabyte motherboards already support EFI?
Post by: runn3R on April 27, 2011, 10:37:42 am

You were right about touchscreen, DM.
http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,5134.0.html