Guide: Update Your Maximus VI Or ASUS Z87 Motherboard With USB BIOS Flashback For Devil's Canyon 4790K, 4690K CPUs

If you've already got or just recently bought a Maximus VI or ASUS Z87 motherboard and have bought a new Intel Core i7 4790K or 4670K 'Devil's Canyon' CPU, or the new Pentium Anniversary Edition G3258 CPU, then it's likely your PC won't boot straight out the box! This is because you need to update the BIOS to the latest version to get support for these new CPUs on the older Z87 platform. All ASUS Z97 motherboards and Maximus VII series come with Devil's Canyon BIOS support built in.

Using the USB BIOS Flashback you can update the Z87 BIOS to the latest version, providing support for Devil's Canyon without first needing an 'original Haswell' CPU. USB BIOS Flashback requires no CPU or memory to perform the update - just the ATX power connector!

Click here for a list of supported models.

ROG forum member Praz provides a very helpful guide to the update process, also shown below:

• Download the latest UEFI BIOS version available for your motherboard from the ASUS website.
• Download the “BIOS Renamer for USB BIOS Flashback and Crashfree BIOS 2” tool, which you’ll find in the “BIOS-Utilities” section of your motherboard’s Support page and rename the BIOS so it can be used with USB BIOS Flashback.
• Copy the renamed UEFI file to an empty FAT32 formatted USB stick.
• The motherboard should be powered down with no CPU or memory installed.
• Connect the USB stick to the proper USB port for use with USB BIOS Flashback (refer to your manual if you don't know which).
• Connect power to the ATX power supply and press the USB BIOS Flashback button until the LED indicator starts blinking. The indicator will continue to blink until the UEFI flash is complete, which will take approximately 1-2 minutes.
• When the update is done turn off the system and remove power. Install the Devil's Canyon CPU and other basic components like memory, heatsink, power connectors and graphics card required to boot the PC.
• Connect power to the system and press the on button.
• The system will boot up and during POST a message will be displayed stating the BIOS is updating again. When this update is finished the system will shut down automatically. This can take 1-2 minutes. This second update is essential - do not turn off the power or reset the system during this time.

At this point all needed updates are complete and the system should be usable with the Haswell Refresh/DC processor.