Use intel ME firmware ME_Intel_v12.0.85.1869 or else CPU will overheat very fast and core voltage will not be stable system will crash playing games if you do not update to this ME firmware version right after you flash this BIOS Flash this with FPT_v12.0.x http://members.iinet.net.au/~michaeldd/FPT_v12.0.x.zip. im currently using this very bios i modified and tweaked myself and its perfect CPU stability compared to stock F10 on the website hope you our thankful use this command with FPT in a windows command prompt thermal as administrator, make a install.bat file open with notepad to edit it and enter this command exactly the way i said and it will force flash any bios file you tell it to will not update backup bios chip so incase it goes wrong which it won’t if you use my bios image i made stable put on root c drive open CMD as admin then to command ‘cd C:’ then it will say your on C:\ then do these commands one by one dont do the last greset one until it says it successfully verified all 16MB of flash memory
fpt -SAVEMAC -f <DowngradeBIOSName>.bin "Bios should be erasing flash and reprograming it make sure pc doesn’t shut off. works on windows 11 dev preview after it shows green operation saying it worked and verified all blocks type type this command to reset to finish the installing of the modded bios type fpt -greset now your system will restart a few times dont do anything until it boots info your OS without you touching anything it will turbn off and on about 5 times but its resetting everything cmos and all that’s why it is doing that. after it boots normally go onto your bios and check Intel RST version under raid menu it should says 18.31 Ethernet is updated too forced rom to get the best performance
after this go into windows and use FPT_v12.0.x to update ME firmware to latest one with these latest microcode’s for CPU the needs to be the same for fully operational CPU and correct readouts temp sensors. lookup online on ASUS ROG page for latest ME firmware for z390 you’ll find the firmware i am talking about download it and use the tools in the zip to install it it includes a install.bat file to make it easy. Trust me your temps will be way lower CPU GPU everything all voltages have been fixed by this combination of ME firmware latest and also latest CPU Microcode’s. I have gained 15c cooler same cooler setup just by doing this before it would overvoltage the CPU with the wrong ME firmware.
Edit by Fernando: Thread title customized and shortened EDIT: v12.0.90 ME firmwaree is out link attached do this after bios complete flash and reebooted 4 times resettings cmos before updating ME
Also, don’t forget this board has DualBIOS, so after you flash the main BIOS with FPT you may want to flash the backup BIOS to the same version using Efiflash.
@GlitchyHack Same as @chinobino , i wonder if EC Microcodes performance is lower or better. i want to do this on a Z390 A Pro latest bios (EA microcodes).
@chinobino No prob it was a nice find i have tested some newer CPU microcodes not sure if it was EC or not but it would no boot anything no usb no drives anything would just restart everything it tried to boot anything but i could enter the bios just fine. Link me with some microcodes i can try always looking for better performance and better cooling / voltage regulation. EDIT: Also thanks for providing the updated versions of the intel programming tool Nice! Also already flashed backup bios to same modded F10 version, i downgraded to F8 then used Q Flash to update both as it doesn’t check to see if its modded or not let’s it go through, only difference is the checksum is different obviously.
Edit by Fernando: Unneeded fully quoted post replaced by directly addressing and unneeded double post merged (to save space)
F23 Modded CPU Microcode for i9 9900k Updated to 2021-11-24 and more added more options in the biios that were hidden this is the bios mod you need for your z390 gaming x download it and use FPT intel programming flash tool to flash this bios. then dont forget to update to newest ME firmware after you get back into windows then reboot after it does so on its own after the update now you have all latest cpu microcodes + all other roms updated combination with the new me firmware will give your processor better sesults in power managment under load on auto bios settings instead of tweaking all day. of course this me firmware update is also a security update but you can see performance increase on 4.7GHz 8 cores
Edit by Fernando: The fully quoted start post has been put by me into a "spoiler" (to save space and for better readability). There is never a need to completely quote a voluminous text (Forum Rule #15).
