Optimal BIOS Configuration

Configuring the BIOS is something that almost every PC user had to deal with.

However, it's usually full of terms than even some tech-savvy users don't understand.
This lead vendors to provide a way of choosing "Optimal" settings.

I found out that, even after using Gigabyte "Optimized settings", there's a lot to improve !

With the settings here, we'll tune the PC to optimal settings.


The screenshots below show the actual values we'll get after finishing tweaking all our settings.

From the M.I.T screen, we'll start our tweaking...
Here we see the BIOS version we are running, current CPU and Memory frequencies, temperatures and voltages.

Let's get an in-depth view of the M.I.T Current Status...

We'll start from the Advanced Frequency Settings, to adjust the Memory Frequency.
I'll just select XMP to let it configure all clocks (and memory voltage).
When using an i5, the XMP will also adjust the BCLK and Memory Multiplier to suit best values for both CPU and RAM.

It's important to enable all Advanced CPU Core features.
As, once we started tweaking, the BIOS might Disable some settings if we leave them at [Auto].

Here we see that the BIOS read the frequency and voltage values from our RAM's XMP Profile1.
It's also possible to squeeze a bit more by selecting a different value in "Performance Enhance".
We won't be tweaking any timing here.

We can leave voltages at Auto or Normal.
However, as of the F9 BIOS version, there seems to be a disagreement regarding DRAM Voltage, as if we leave it on Auto, our G.Skill Eco (which is 1.35V) RAM will run at 1.44V.
Not a problem (this RAM can safely tolerate up to 1.65V), but we can make it run a bit cooler with this low voltage, so we select 1.3V (or 1.4V).

Just enable these two.

Here we want to make sure CD-ROM/DVD is not in the list of Boot Devices, as it will slow down the boot process...
And if we later need to boot off a CD ? We can always manually invoke the boot menu by hitting the F12 key.

As with most Hackintosh guides, we want to set the SATA controllers to AHCI mode.

Another Hackintosh classic... Enable the HPET and set it to 64-bit.
If you want WoL (Wake on LAN) to work, you'll have to Enable "PME Event Wake Up".

Here we can see the current temperatures and fan speeds.

After setting all this, we'll hit the F10 key to save and reboot.
The we'll reenter the BIOS, to verify all settings are in effect (it has to recognize the SATA devices using the AHCI mode, etc.)

Good Luck !