Award EliteBIOS, often referred as Award Modular BIOS v4.5x or v4.6x, is a family of versions of AwardBIOS, used on many OEM and retail motherboards from the mid-90s to the early-2000s, and also on some legacy industrial motherboards even well into the 2000s. It was succeeded by AwardBIOS v6.00PG (also known as Award Medallion BIOS) in 1998, however most board manufacturers kept on using EliteBIOS until next year.
Core versions
Various core versions of EliteBIOS do exist. In most cases, the actual core version is reported at the top of the POST screen (which, if a full screen OEM logo is displayed during instead, can often be shown by pressing TAB).
v4.50 (1993 - 1994)
v4.50 is (most likely) the first version of EliteBIOS, released in 1993. While it is not certain (and is also debatable) if v4.50 was ever officially considered as an EliteBIOS version by Award, it is considered by most unofficial sources as a version of it.
Early versions of v4.50 include a blue POST screen similar to the earlier v4.0 and v4.2x POST screens, while later versions introduced the newer black POST screen also used by later versions (although without the Energy Star logo, also called an EPA).
v4.50G (1994 - 1995)
v4.50G is the second version of EliteBIOS, released in 1994 and also used in 1995. It is an updated version of v4.50 with Advanced Power Management (usually) and other Green PC features. Later releases of v4.50G also introduced the EPA in the POST screen.
v4.50GP (1995)
v4.50GP is an updated version of v4.50G with a BIOS extension for support for Plug and Play devices. It is very uncommon and was quickly replaced by v4.50PG.
v4.50PG (1995 - 1996)
v4.50PG is practically the same version as v4.50GP, but renamed.
v4.51PG (1995 - 1999)
v4.51PG is an update to the v4.50PG, although what changes it has brought over v4.50PG are unclear. However, v4.51PG might have introduced the ability to boot from other drives such as CD-ROM drives and from the on-board SCSI controller on motherboards with it.
v4.51G (1995 - 1996)
v4.51G is an uncommon update to the v4.50G. It is basically v4.51PG but without the Plug and Play BIOS extension. It might have been offered for boards with smaller ROM chips (such as 64K), however this is just a theory.
v4.51PGM (1997 - 1999)
v4.51PGM is a variant of v4.51PG. It often has multilanguage support compared to the v4.51PG, although not always.
v4.60PG (1998 - 1999)
v4.60PG is an uncommon core version of EliteBIOS, often used by AOpen and FIC, although the difference between it and the earlier v4.51PG is unknown.
v4.60PGA (1998 - 1999)
v4.60PGA is a variant of v4.60PG, although the difference between it and the v4.60PG or the v4.51PG are unknown. However, the "A" may indicate ACPI support on some boards, although not always.
v4.60PGMA (1999)
v4.60PGMA is a variant of v4.60PGA, often with multilanguage support (although not always), used on a few boards such as the AOpen AX6BC.
v4.51PGN (1999)
v4.51PGN is a variant of v4.51PG, often with PhoenixNet (although not always).
v4.51PGNM (1999)
v4.51PGNM is an uncommon variant of v4.51PGM, often with PhoenixNet (although not always).
v4.60PGN (1999)
v4.60PGN is a variant of v4.60PG, often with PhoenixNet (although not always).