"To Flash the BIOS manually:
First download the latest BIOS from our website ( http://www.evga.com/support/download/ )
Next create a folder in your C:\ drive called BIOS.
Extract all the files in the ZIP folder to C:\BIOS (Note: just copy the files themselves and the sub-folders.  Do not put the files in a folder in the BIOS folder.)
Under Start->All Programs->Accessories right click on the Command Prompt icon and select "Run as administrator".
Type CD\ (Enter)
Type CD BIOS (Enter)
Type fptwin(32/64).bat (Enter)   (If 32-bit OS - fptwin32.bat , 64-bit OS - fptwin64.bat)
The utility should now flash the BIOS. Press Y to flash. Once the process completes you can reboot the system and you should have the BIOS flashed.
If your board has multiple BIOS', You can follow the same steps to flash the other BIOS' on the board if you desire."
 
http://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?faqid=59335

rebelderock
i switched to the correct bios, wich is bugged. No post and only FF.  Requested to EVGA a new bios chip with updated bios. I hope it will do the trick.

sorry to hear that man:( you can solve it if you have a SB-e cpu i think!

BlueJay37
 If this is all a big misunderstanding I don't know why EVGA doesn't just make a "Jacob already said this is as intended. The voltage spike by itself will not damage your processor" post.

and silence can be an answer

Still waiting for detailed answer. Thanks.

Under NDA?! Why though?

I would have thought all features would be detail for the customers now. I don't understand how EVGA wants to keep it under wraps after the motherboard is already released. I'm not liking this policy. My guess is because the Z87 hasn't being released yet.

Anyways, I got most of my stuff to start building my X79 now. I think I'll keep the default bios until EVGA actually produces one that is quality, bugs fixed, and has all the latest ROMs.

MiRai

Luigi408My guess is because the Z87 hasn't being released yet.

Z87 boards have been available since Haswell was released over 4 months ago.

Lol oops. Hmmm... Why so much secrecy then? Seems weird. I'd like to get as much info of my PC parts as I can to make a decision to buy it or not. I wonder what they are hiding about the board

So, here's where we currently stand with this voltage spike issue that was introduced in BIOS revision 2.04 and is still happening in revision 2.05...
 

• When power is initially applied to the motherboard during its first power on, the VCore can spike as high as 1.683V as read by a DMM (with a VCore BIOS setting of 1.400V) (source | video)
• We are being told:

• This only happens when the multiplier is set above 41x (source | source)
• This is a feature/optimization taken from other Z87 motherboard BIOS microcode (EVGA says Asus boards have this as well) (source) [Yet, no one that has the tools to measure this has found another motherboard that comes with this "feature"]
• The spike in voltage should cause no harm to the CPU (source) [Keyword: Should]
• The details cannot be revealed because there is an NDA in place (for the BIOS microcode?) (source)

 
When this "feature" was uncovered it also reminded me of other posts I had read where people were having trouble reaching > 40x multiplier with BIOS 2.04, but all was well with 2.02 (source).  Coincidence?  Could be, since the OP of that thread claimed a brand new PSU seemed to fix the issue, but I find it extremely odd that BIOS revision 2.02 didn't exhibit the unintended behavior with their original PSU. /shrug
 
I think we would all love to hear a detailed explanation of what this "feature" is called and what it's used for.

I just want to contribute my own findings with bios 2.04.
CPU 4.5 ghz  vCore 1.33
Here is the voltage spike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIOxjFyyzWw&feature=youtu.be
 
Here are some measurements:
                            set            idle              idle                      burn       burn      
                                        measured        ELEET               measured    ELEET
CPU @ 4.4 ghz 
vCORE                   1.3          1.303                                     1.355       1.389
PLL                        1.789       1.789
VCCIO                    1.1          1.056                                    1.065
VSA                                      1.024                                    1.037
VDIMM L                 1.65         1.622                                    1.623
VDIMM R                 1.65         1.626                                    1.626
 
CPU @ 4.5 ghz 
vCORE                     1.33        1.334            1.36                   1.388     1.411
PLL                                         1.789 (1.823 in hard.mon.)      1.789
VCCIO                     1.1           1.056                                     1.063
VSA                                        1.024                                     1.032
VDIMM L                  1.65         1.622                                      1.623
VDIMM R                  1.65         1.626                                     1.626
  
 
Clearly, ELEET, overestimates the voltage on my board. The bios section of hardware monitor also overestimates.
Also, there is a significant voltage spike, but I do not know how 'real' it is. I am not a hardware engineer, but the voltage we are measuring is BEFORE the chip. The actual voltage the cpu 'sees' might be different. Why? Well, remember the traces from the measuring point to the cpu add resistance. And then from the pins to the cpu proper the 'wires get mighty thin'. And then when you are on the silicon, it's a whole 'nother world. Unless I can get a microprobe (one of those things IBM makes by stacking one atom at a time) diectly onto the bare silicon, I'll never really know what my cpu sees. But then again, Intel calibrates their CPUs to measured voltage so one might ask ' Where do they measure'? 
Then there is the question of the meter. How does it measure voltage and do transients cause aberrant readings. 
My video shows transients up to 3.3 volts, then 1.9, then 1.5, then 1.339. The 3 volt reading might be real. Just before it's 3.3 v, I see a 191 mV reading. So it's not a spurious event. It's quite reproducible.  I must have rebooted this machine 200x in 2 weeks. To think my cpu is hitting 3 volts every time concerns me. Truth is, I NEVER measured this before-it might be a common even.
 
Just for fun, I checked ALL the other voltages at boot. VSA, PLL,vDIMM. They all spike all over the place. Even with bios 2.02, I get spikes. Here is the video of that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b47_AeMzakg&feature=youtu.be
Spikes to 2.5v
 
BTW, there are never any spikes when I restart. Only w cold boots.
And yes I have experienced most problems reported by others on this board. Reboot loops. Dropping USB3 ports. Hangs at b7. Hangs at Marvell driver load w error A2. Interestingly, these problems usually crop up when I switch from one bios to another. I think the voltage settings from the 'previous' boot are retained somewhere in the CMOS and not stored in each bios. There may be three bioses, but are there three CMOSes? That's why I think I find fewer problems when I clear the cmos after I switch bioses. Anyways, has ANY other board EVER had cold-switchable bioses? Most of the problems I have seen, I worked through by raising voltages. Truthfully, we dont really know what's going on in the bios.  Know that ELEET over measures and the real voltages are usually lower.
 
When you think about it, the board has to boot somehow. If you cannot dial in the voltages BEFORE you press the ON button, then how will it know what to do? We know from experience that we can destabilize a board by changing CPU and memory clocks. The bios wizards have to guestimate some numbers to get the board to boot with unknown hardware.
 
The only thing that bothers me is that it crashes on resume from standby-in a reproducible manner. Right now I have a scheduled task to shut it off when idle.

 Obviously this must be the issue I was having with 40+ multiplier and a Seasonic X1250 PSU. Also most likely the problem with the Corsair 860i PSU's also.
I RMA'D the PSU but it seems that the real issue is who ever writes the bios for this board needs a bit more education in what they do.
I see a lot of my thoughts reflected in this thread IE Evga fixes 1 thing in the bios and breaks another or 2.
 

DsanOB

bdary
If you have the ZIP folder with revision 2.02, then you can reflash to that revision.  My suggestion is this, boot into Windows, then go move the bios selector switch to the position (1,2, or 3) you want to flash to.  Then run the flash tool as instructed on the OP.
 
If you plan to re-flash to the same bios chip you booted on, make sure you loaded the bios default settings prior to flashing.

Oooh, I was wondering how to do this! Finding concrete info on how to flash a different BIOS chip than the one you're currently using has been harder to find than I expected :)
 
Does this voltage spike issue only really affect you if you're overclocking? What about if you're still running stock clocks? I just got my X79 Dark and installed a 4930k CPU so I was looking into updating the BIOS to the latest version (as recommended by EVGA) - then I found this thread! I'm more than a little concerned...
 
If it could damage my CPU even at stock speeds, I'll just stay on v2.02 until I hear something official or (hopefully) see a v2.06 released!

Hi and Welcome to the forums...
 
I can only go by what a couple other members have stated in this thread about this "voltage spike" issue.  But based on that, I have personally decided to just play it safe and stick with bios rev 2.02 until I see what 2.06 brings when released.
The other day I went to do some of my own testing on this and found that my DMM isn't sensative enough for voltage under 2 volts...  Time for me to buy a new & more sensative unit.

We are going to make this function optional in a future release.

This function is now optional in BIOS 2.07 http://forums.evga.com/tm.aspx?m=2041909
 
To disable it please disable the K-Boost option.

EVGA_JacobF
This function is now optional in BIOS 2.07 http://forums.evga.com/tm.aspx?m=2041909
 
To disable it please disable the K-Boost option.

Thanks!
K-Boost-disable - i confirm that there is no anymore spikes cpu voltage bootup  , all run in specs:)
case closed!

Look at the description of this "feature" (K-Boost) in bios..... it says "use at your own risk".
 
Meh

I finally made it to the OS with Kboost off but I had to raise the Vcore from 1.38 to 1.40
 
Not sure which is the worse of the evils....

It's the fear of something that you don't fully understand that keeps you in the Dark of things. Just gonna let it spike until something fantastic happens.