BIOS 2.05/2.06 Updates (Spectre)

• Update CPU microcode for Intel Security.

This BIOS is intended to update the CPU microcode to increase security related to the reported Spectre vulnerability for processors used on X99 motherboards.  This microcode update is expected to be used in conjunction with related patches from your Operating System or VMM to ensure complete protection from reported vulnerabilities. 
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Windows Installation

• Download the correct .zip file below for your motherboard:

         151-HE-E999-KR - EVGA X99 Classified - v2.06
         150-HE-E097-KR - EVGA X99 FTW-K - v2.05
         150-HE-E997-KR - EVGA X99 FTW - v2.05
         131-HE-E995-KR - EVGA X99 Micro - v2.05
         131-HE-E095-KR - EVGA X99 Micro2 - v2.05

• First go into your BIOS and load defaults, save and exit
• Close all open programs.
• Go into the folder where you unzipped this package and double-click update.bat
• Press Y to start the flash process
• DO NOT TURN OFF POWER OR RESET DURING THE FLASH PROCESS
• After the flashing is finished, the system will automatically shut down. Then power on again and go into BIOS to setup.
• NOTE: If flash box immediately closes after flash attempt, the flash may need to be ran from a CMD prompt with administrator privileges or DOS version.

  
BIOS Installation

• Extract the contents of .zip file to USB flash drive (must be formatted as FAT32)
• Reboot the machine and go into the system BIOS

• From the BIOS, navigate to the Save & Exit tab and open "Select BIOS File."
• Select the .bin file you wish to flash.

 
[Updated 4/16 - Final BIOS updates for Spectre-related vulnerabilities]

EVGATech_LeeM
BIOS 2.04/2.05 Updates (Spectre)

• Update CPU microcode for Intel Security.

This BIOS is intended to update the CPU microcode to increase security related to the reported Spectre vulnerability for processors used on X99 motherboards.  This microcode update is expected to be used in conjunction with related patches from your Operating System or VMM to ensure complete protection from reported vulnerabilities. 
  ​

---

​
Windows Installation

• Download the correct .zip file below for your motherboard:

         151-HE-E999-KR - EVGA X99 Classified -v2.05
        150-HE-E097-KR - EVGA X99 FTW-K -v2.04
       150-HE-E997-KR - EVGA X99 FTW -v2.04
       131-HE-E995-KR - EVGA X99 Micro -v2.04
        131-HE-E095-KR - EVGA X99 Micro2 -v2.04

• First go into your BIOS and load defaults, save and exit
• Close all open programs.
• Go into the folder where you unzipped this package and update.bat
• Press Y to start the flash process
• DO NOT TURN OFF POWER OR RESET DURING THE FLASH PROCESS
• After the flashing is finished, the system will automatically shut down. Then power on again and go into BIOS to setup.
• NOTE: If flash box immediately closes after flash attempt, the flash may need to be ran from a CMD prompt with administrator privileges or DOS version.

  
BIOS Installation

• Extract the contents of .zip file to USB flash drive (must be formatted as FAT32)
• Reboot the machine and go into the system BIOS

• From the BIOS, navigate to the Save & Exit tab and open "Select BIOS File."
• Select the .bin file you wish to flash.

I'm wondering if I should be the 'test dummy' and see what if any performance degradation there is...wish me luck....

Outstanding. Thank you EVGA!

Test time!!!

So far, every test I have run, Superposition, 3Dmark Suite are all within the margin of error. Meaning the scores are not higher or lower on average.
 

zerocool101
Test time!!!

We have similar systems, are you having trouble getting to 4.5? Mine seems to be ~4.6.  So far I've not seen any difference in performance at all. Some more testing in the works.

About a 1% decrease in Firestrike physics performance - https://www.3dmark.com/co...s/14564450/fs/14683669
 
Edit: and about 2% faster in Timespy physics - https://www.3dmark.com/compare/spy/3127750/spy/2177613 
 
So, easily within the margin of error for my X99 Classified running a 6950X.
 
Then again, even after the update the speculationcontrol powershell command is still showing that hardware support for branch speculation is false, per https://www.windowscentral.com/how-check-if-your-pc-still-vulnerable-meltdown-and-spectre-exploits
 
Hmm.....

I have a bunch of tests here; cinebench, crystal disk mark, firestrike, nvenc benchmark; each taken pre-update, post-windows update, post-BIOS update, and post nvidia driver update.
Most of them are within a few digits of percentage, minor losses, a downer but no big deal.

NVMe drive (960 EVO) took an absolute BEATING on queued random reads :( IOPS are down to less than half.

Before:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 5.2.2 x64 (C) 2007-2017 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

   Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) :  3261.504 MB/s
  Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) :  1518.708 MB/s
  Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :   529.957 MB/s [129384.0 IOPS]
 Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :   462.568 MB/s [112931.6 IOPS]
         Sequential Read (T= 1) :  2091.812 MB/s
        Sequential Write (T= 1) :  1516.551 MB/s
   Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :    48.049 MB/s [ 11730.7 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :   204.195 MB/s [ 49852.3 IOPS]

  Test : 1024 MiB [C: 66.9% (139.8/209.0 GiB)] (x5)  [Interval=5 sec]
  Date : 2018/01/13 12:59:58
    OS : Windows 10 Professional [10.0 Build 16299] (x64)
 

After:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 5.2.2 x64 (C) 2007-2017 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

   Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) :  3262.128 MB/s
  Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) :  1522.919 MB/s
  Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :   214.307 MB/s [ 52321.0 IOPS]
 Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :   189.012 MB/s [ 46145.5 IOPS]
         Sequential Read (T= 1) :  1953.288 MB/s
        Sequential Write (T= 1) :  1507.053 MB/s
   Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :    42.063 MB/s [ 10269.3 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :   123.837 MB/s [ 30233.6 IOPS]

  Test : 1024 MiB [C: 66.9% (139.8/209.0 GiB)] (x5)  [Interval=5 sec]
  Date : 2018/01/13 14:12:40
    OS : Windows 10 Professional [10.0 Build 16299] (x64)
 


Better than being vulnerable, and glad EVGA came up with the BIOS fix nice and fast.
Edit: happy to post the rest if anyone is interested. It's pretty much what you've seen on youtube already.

arestavo
Then again, even after the update the speculationcontrol powershell command is still showing that hardware support for branch speculation is false, per https://www.windowscentral.com/how-check-if-your-pc-still-vulnerable-meltdown-and-spectre-exploits

Are you running powershell as admin?
Works here on my x99 Micro2 with 5820K:

PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-SpeculationControlSettings
Speculation control settings for CVE-2017-5715 [branch target injection]

Hardware support for branch target injection mitigation is present: True
Windows OS support for branch target injection mitigation is present: True
Windows OS support for branch target injection mitigation is enabled: True

Speculation control settings for CVE-2017-5754 [rogue data cache load]

Hardware requires kernel VA shadowing: True
Windows OS support for kernel VA shadow is present: True
Windows OS support for kernel VA shadow is enabled: True
Windows OS support for PCID performance optimization is enabled: True [not required for security]


BTIHardwarePresent             : True
BTIWindowsSupportPresent       : True
BTIWindowsSupportEnabled       : True
BTIDisabledBySystemPolicy      : False
BTIDisabledByNoHardwareSupport : False
KVAShadowRequired              : True
KVAShadowWindowsSupportPresent : True
KVAShadowWindowsSupportEnabled : True
KVAShadowPcidEnabled           : True

No red, all green.

Yes, as admin. Showing all red and only KVAShadowRequired as True
 
Seems like I can't get that required Windows 10 update either (kb4056892), even when just using Windows Defender as my antivirus.

Well.....I got my highest score ever on FS Ultra using my typical bench settings. Meaning my regular daily 4.5ghz on the processor 3200mhz XMP memory and GPU +190 core and +775 on the mem.
Gotta update my sig...
 
 
https://www.3dmark.com/co...s/14683802/fs/12577840