[TUTORIAL] Bios Optimisation Thread

Enter The Setup Menu

*Shortly after you power up your PC, you'll see the post screen. Your PC is checking its memory, detecting its IDE devices, and so on. Watch the screen for instructions on how to enter the SETUP in most cases, you can hit the delete key to enter the BIOS setup menu, although some computers require you to hit F2 or another key. Not every BIOS setup utility will have the settings we discuss here:

You might have more or less control over your BIOS than indicated here. After changing each setting, boot up and run a current 3d title to test your system stability. If it crashes return the setting you change back to its original setting.

SPEED BOOTUP:

Leaf through your BIOS menu and find the page with an option labeled QUICK POST or QUICK POWER ON SELF TEST. Make sure it's enabled; this reduces the amount of time the PC takes to test itself before it loads your operating system. Then find the page with bootup options, and make sure your hard drive is the first boot device. You can always change this if you need to boot a floppy or a CD-ROM.

TWEAK MEMORY SETTINGS:

Find the page with memory settings, including CAS latency and DRAM Command Rate. Lowe the CAS Latency to 2 and set the DRAM Command RATE to 1. Check whether your system is stable. If it isn't, use trial and error to see if you can keep one of these settings. Turn off ECC, even if your memory is ECC compliant and check for stability.

GO TURBO:

Often faster settings compromise system stability. Use the fastest mod and see if your system remains stable. If it doesn't back down one mode at a time until you find the stable preset.

REDUCE AGP SETTINGS:

Set the AGP Aperture Size to half of your systems main memory; e.g If you have 256MB of RAM, set AGP Aperture to 128MB. Run a benchmark such as 3DMark2001 (free for download at futuremark.com) and then bench the other settings to find the sweet spot. Make sure AGP fast Write is enabled and the AGP Mode and is 4x for 8x. depending on your card and motherboard).

CLEAN UP ODDS AND ENDS:

Turn off any BIOS catching options and BIOS shadow options. Disable built-in peripherals you're not using, such as an onboard LAN adapter, sound codec, or RAID controller. Turn off the virus detector and use Norton Antivirus instead. Make sure CPU L1 and L2 caches are both enabled.

SIDE NOTE: I found this tutorial in a magazine and thought I would share. I didn't write this nor take blame if you do it wrong.

I sorta stuffed my comp once fiddling with the BIOS. But i fixed it. And now I can fiddle more by reading this!

heh, my bios is cranked about as high as itll go... any higher totally comprimises system stability (i had my 1.4 athlon jacked up to 1.9 at one time... my comp ran for about 10 mins at a time before it restarted )

Thanks, Wolfy I'll give this a shot later when I'm not making graphics.

np

sweet, pinned and retagged

Read that in an old PCGamer, Jun 2002 probably.