Bios update on PRO H610M-G WIFI (MS-7D46) (prebuilt)

[vg889158002e3]

Greetings,

I recently purchased a prebuilt MSI gaming desktop, model *Codex R2 B14NUC7-240US*. Everything runs smoothly, however when launching World of Warcraft, I get a warning regarding my BIOS.


"World of Warcraft has detected your computer is using an Intel 13th or 14th generation processor that does not have the proper updates installed to address potential processor instability issues. It is highly recommended to update your BIOS on your motherboard to the latest version with Intel's microcode 0x12B or later."

CPU Name: Intel Core i7-14700F
Motherboard Name: Micro-Star International Co. Ltd. Pro H610M-G WIFI (MS-7D46)
BIOS Release Date: 08/26/2024
Microcode Version: 0x129

I am having difficulty locating the correct BIOS update. I searched for the motherboard on the support page and found this: MSI PRO H610M-G WIFI Support (https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-H610M-G-WIFI/support), but it didn’t seem to work.

Error Message:
"Unable to start a Secure Flash session, update will be ignore !!! If this file come from MSI, please contact MSI."

Additionally, the current BIOS model ID I found in the BIOS setup is E7D46IZ1 version VA.F3.

Any assistance in finding or applying the correct BIOS update would be greatly appreciated!

 

[citay]

Codex R2 B14NUC7-240US

E7D46IZ1

Your board, while being likely identical to the retail board, cannot use its BIOS updates right now. Instead, they provide BIOS updates for the entire pre-built PC.

The big issue here is that your model is not in the list of the support pages: https://us.msi.com/Desktop/Codex-R2-14th/support

So i would open a ticket with MSI to ask where to get your BIOS updates.

I have to say, they cheaped out badly by using such a low-end board model together with an i7. This kind of board, you use for a Celeron or an i3. I wouldn't even use it for an i5, let alone a 14th gen i7. This board still has a VRM using cheap discrete MOSFETs, completely without heatsinks, not something you wanna see for a high-end CPU model which can have an extremely high power draw if left off the leash.

Of course, in their attempt to mitigate this cheapskate board model, they went for 14700F (note the missing K), which means, this CPU will have a PL1 (Long duration power limit) of only 65W set in the BIOS. Basically turning this i7 CPU into more of an i5 or even an i3, because 65W (to which it will get restricted after about a minute of load) means that the CPU will have to clock itself down massively to obey that low limit, leaving tons of performance unused. Then we got what appears to be a single-fan, single-tower air cooler on this thing, yeah, this couldn't deal with a 14700K in any kind of way.

But yes, Intel had huge issues with CPU degradation from voltage spikes, triggered by a buggy microcode that was bundled in older BIOS versions. I wrote about it here the other day. Around half a year ago, you almost couldn't escape the videos and articles about that on Youtube etc. if you followed any tech news, but i guess some people didn't notice it at all, and that's understandable, not everyone follows these things. And certainly nobody expected an issue of this magnitude that can actually make CPUs unstable within some months of use.

So the BIOS update is very important, let's hope MSI can provide one. Worst comes to worst, you may have to cross-flash the BIOS to the retail board's BIOS by using the Forum flash tool, but let's first see about getting the proper update for your system, because they will probably have some pre-baked power limits and other settings in there.

 

[vg889158002e3]

Thank you for the detailed reply! I'll definitely look into making a ticket with MSI. Would upgrading the motherboard with better CPU fans be possible with a prebuilt? I don't mind getting a motherboard that's better designed for the current CPU. Thanks again

 

[citay]

Well, the motherboard and the CPU cooler are two seperate things. Replacing the motherboard would be a huge hassle, so usually, even with somewhat badly matching hardware like this, i do not tend to recommend it. It's one thing to decide on a good board model when you build a PC or choose a pre-built PC, but swapping the board model after the fact is just taking it a bit too far for most people. The CPU cooler (what you strap on top of the CPU, in the top left corner of the board, to keep it cool), that's a lot easier to replace, but one doesn't make full sense without the other, so to speak. Let's say you installed a better cooler, the board would still hold you back, so too little is gained from one step alone. The best here is to ride it out and make the best of what you have, but learn some lessons for the next purchase.

You have to realize, in a lot of pre-built PCs, they will put good parts where the potential buyers have some knowledge, like decent CPU and GPU models, RAM size and SSD size. Where users tend to have less knowledge, that's where they try to save money to increase their profit margin. So for example motherboard model, RAM kit model / speed, SSD model, PSU model. Most users don't know which huge differences there can be between a cheap and more expensive board model, cheap and more expensive PSU model and so on, to them it's all the same. So it's easy to "bamboozle" them to a degree and make the PC seem nice, purely from having a nice graphics card in there, or a fancy-looking cooler. In the end you have mismatched components, where one part can bottleneck another, things like that.

The best thing is to acquire enough knowledge yourself so you can eventually build your own system, with the help of videos like this for example:

You can then ask on a forum like this where some people may be able to help you select good components (if they know their stuff), and get a well-balanced system in the end. Or if you have to buy a pre-built system, but at a shop where they have a good reputation for it, and you have good options to customize the component selection. Of course you will pay a couple hundred bucks premium there, compared to building it yourself.

Gamers Nexus test pre-built PCs sometimes. Example of a bad one:

Example of a good one: