ASUS OC GUIDE
(ROG Strix)

(My Take)

CPU: Intel 10700k (5.3/4.8Ghz 1.535v)

Board: Asus z490-F GAMING

RAM: 16Gb 4300mhz cl:16/16/30/cr:2

GPU: MSI 2070Super (Max:2100mhz/vRAM:8050mhz)

 Before we start I wanna say that Im a Competetive Gamer so the focus is all core OC & lower latency.

ASUS RAM slots are physically located closer to the CPU which improves latency & helps RAM OC.

Please don't try to cut corners & directly copy the screenshot settings without reading. Some are just to show the options & are part of different OCs. So you will have to actually read first xD

There is a pin on the board that you can switch depending on whether you want better performance or use normal safe settings. At first boot, Asus boards gives you 2 options (F1 & F3). F1 is Normal Settings & F3 is what you want for Overclocking (unlocks the Power Limits automatically). So it asks you when you start the BIOS for the first time (or after resetting CMOS). Thats the 1st thing you should do. Then you can set AI OC Tuner to Manual (sometimes XMP profile can cause instability if you aim for high RAM OC - sometimes it interferes and hinders the OC, so disabling it is something to keep in mind. I always use Manual when RAM OC).

The other two options are 2 XMP profiles. XMP1 loads only the first few timings and leaves the rest to the Motherboard. XMP2 loads the full XMP profile without the help of the board. Sometimes except for frequency & timings, XMP can change BCLK frequency &/or MCE (MultiCore Enhancement). That depends on the motherboard.

The next option is BCLK Frequency. Its one of the most important & fundamental options in the System. BCLK is the internal system clock. It affects the CPU frequency but also affects the clock speed of other parts in the System. In CometLake (10gen) Intel decoupled the DMI/PCIe from the Base Clock to ensure flexibility & potentially better stability when OC (DMI is Direct Media Interface - similar to PCIe. DMI is a link b/w the Chipset & CPU). In some BIOSes is called DMI Clock, in others PCIe ClockIt can be useful but not all boards have this option in their UEFI (so if you have only BCLK on 10gen & up it probably affects DMI/PCIe as well, like its in older generations). So increasing BCLK helps with Internet Adapters & GPUs in that sense (potentially better Hit-Reg). U essentially OC PCIe & RAM along with the CPU that way. It used to even affect the Sata Hard Disks at some point (fun fact: Intel had overclockable SSDs but decided not to release them at the last moment). So when increasing BCLK you should adjust the RAM frequency for stability reasons (or you can aim for max RAM OC). CPU Multiplayer affects only the CPU clock speed while BCLK speeds up almost the whole system. Intel is gradually decoupling BCLK from the other components for the last few generations. Some boards have external Clock Gen which improves the BCLK OC. If you have non-K CPU you can OC it that way if the board have external Clock Gen.

BCLK Spread Spectrum: It reduces electromagnetic interference. Disable to achieve higher clock speeds when overclocking.

ASUS Multicore Enhancements behaves slightly differently in different boards but in general it does one thing. Sets all CPU cores to the highest Turbo Boost speed. Its essentially a 'dumb' overclocking. You should set it to Enable to Remove All Power Limits. 

CPU SVID Support should be disabled if you aim for High OC (usually manual voltage). It disables Adaptive Voltage Mode or AI OC. So you need it enabled if use Adaptive/Offset voltage modes. CPU VID sends requests to the board what voltage is needed for the current load & frequency. And SVID Behavior helps you adjust these voltage requests based on the options which represent different scenarios.

SVID Behavior - AutoTypical Scenario, Trained, Best Case Scenario. It's used for AI Overclock. It adjusts its behavior based on what option you choose. 

AVX Ratio should be 0 for gaming. 1 lowers the CPU Frequency with -100mhz, 2 with -200mhz etc. These days the games use AVX so there are scenarios that you can set it to 1 if you are not stable. Let's say you have games with & without AVX but that's your max OC & you crash in the AVX game. Its easier to set 1 instead of using OC software or going in BIOS to change CPU Ratio or BIOS profiles every time you playThat way you can have normal OC for Desktop use & non-AVX games and -100mhz lower clock on AVX ones. There is a possibility in some situations AVX instruction of 1 for ex. to be just as fast as 100mhz higher CPU Frequency (or faster).


CPU Core Ratio - Sync All Cores (Lazy OC as I call it). DRAM Odd Ratio & DRAM Frequency Ratio better left on default or like its the screenshot, unless you know what u r doing. We're talking about DDR4 RAM here. DDR5 OC is different.

Ring Down -Disabled. That lowers the CPU Cache speed depending on your temps & voltage use.

Max CPU Cache Ratio - Also called Ring or Uncore. The highest stable frequency. You dont really need to set Min CPU Cache Ratio if you want more traditional OC (Multiplayer & Voltage + disable all C-States. No variable voltage like Offset or Adaptive Mode). 

PS: CPU Cache or Ring- Its the same voltage: The Ring Bus is the Internal CPU Bus that connects the different Cores, the main highway (so to speak) that connects the whole chip. The other is the cache frequency. Ideally the Cache Ratio should be the same or -1 lower than the CPU Ratio but usually CPU Core Frequency & CPU Cache Frequency difference is bigger. Some ppl use -300mhz less than the CPU Frequency. Usually the Cache Frequency requires more voltage after a certain threshold. For max Competitive Gaming performance & responsiveness, the cache should be as high as possible while being stable.
Older Intel chips kept CPU Core & CPU Cache Frequency 1:1. Its obvious why intel decoupled them. That allowed higher CPU Frequency (which brings more performance) & can add stability, also allowing lower voltage. 
I used my 2500k for 6-7+years on 4.8Ghz (1:1) on 1.425v. 4.9Ghz 1.495v was also 100% game stable with no degradation (I even played on 5Ghz, but unstable on Air. 5.1 was 97C). 

Addressing misconception/misinformation:
So if someone tells you that 1.4-1.45v is too high he doesn't speak from experience. Google Search is not experience. 
Intel's recommendation for a Maximum 24/7 (every day) CPU voltage (for 9th & 10th Gen) is 1.520v. (& that IMO is a conservative assessment because they have to take into account the worse chips. The same principle as the Motherboard vendors Auto voltage option in BIOS applies too high voltage for the frequency). These Chips (9th & 10th Gen) are built more robust & can take slightly higher voltages than the previous Intel series. Although I will be careful with 8gen or lower & won't go above 1.45-1.5v (under load) for daily use (u still can play games on 1.5-1.55v for 2-4 hours as long as temps are good (below 70-80C) but you go into the danger zone (depends on board, cooling & chip quality). Keep the CPU Fans on 80% or 100% when gamingThere are bad/faulty chips that can be damaged so you just have to watch your stats & values for such signs before attempting high OC (I know that's easier said than done). You have to be an experienced user in this case.

So to recap: Keep your temps below 75-80CCPU Fans preferably on 100% when gaming (especially on Air Coolers). Gaming on 1.5+v for a few hours is not a problem if you follow these recommendations. With that said you should be careful when dealing with high voltages. Especially above 6 cores. Skylake architecture (6-10Gen) was meant to be 6 cores max so its easier to fry a chip. Well, the chance is the board to die first is higher. 

Extreme Overvoltage is for extreme OC. It will allow higher voltage limits. So you dont really need it enabled if you are on water on air cooling.

BCLK Aware Adaptive Voltage - Disabled for traditional OC (meaning Mltiplayer & Voltage + disable all C-States - No variable voltage like Offset or Adaptive Mode etc.). 

CPU Core/Cache Voltage - Auto, Manual, Offset, Adaptive Modes. Most ppl use Manual. Usually people use Maunal at first when want to find the max OC voltage. After you find the max voltage you can switch to Offset if you want, it has many benefits but Manual is more stable on aggressive OC. I set my BIOS in a way that I can switch b/w Balanced mode when on Desktop & High-Performance mode when play games.

Thermal Velocity Boost:

TVB Voltage Optimizations is a useful option. Enable in most cases, disable on Max OC & your temps often exceeds 70C. Optimizes the voltage based on CPU temps. It lowers the voltage when you have thermal headroom.

V-Max Stress will lower the frequency if the voltage is too high & the CPU reaches a certain temp. its explained well in the Bios.

Overclocking TVB: Has several options. Can add extra +100 or 200mhz when the CPU temp is below 70C. Works for Manual but it works better with Adaptive OC. Auto is also a not bad option. You can disable it too. You can disable these options but leave TVB Voltage Optimizations enabled in most cases (unless you have good voltage & temps or it stabilizes the OC). Enabled gives you extra options to lower the frequency with 100mhz if the temp goes above a certain threshold. There are 2 temp options which means u can potentially lower the CPU Frequency with 200mhz if the CPU temp exceeds both temp values you set.

CPU Core Voltage Override:

When setting CPU voltage keep in mind your LoadLineCalibration Level. On some Levels the voltage will increase, on others will decrease based n the load.

For reference. These are just for a general orientation: 5Ghz is around 1.15-1.2-1.3v/ 5.1ghz: around 1.250-1.3-1.35v/ 5.2Ghz: around 1.30-1.4v / 5.3Ghz: around 1.4-1.5+v (Cache takes more voltage than Core Frequency after certain threshold so also depends on that too. Lower Core Frequency could be stable at higher Cache Frequency & the opposite). If your 5ghz OC is stable at 1.2v or lower under load you have a very good chip. My 7600k at 5Ghz uses 1.25v & its pretty good Overclocker (5.3Ghz on 1.39v). These are relevant for most "Core I" Chips, especially for Skylake & newer. Intel 10 & 11 Gen can endure higher voltages than previous CPUs, 11Gen in particular. Alder Lake is different architecture, it should use lower voltages but the heat is on a very small area so its hard to cool. I dont have experience with 10nm yet since its still new so thats as far as I will comment on this. I can also say that by disabling the E-Cores you can increase the P-Core Cache Frequency higher.

I think here is a good place to talk about the Info area on the right (Hardware Monitor). Based on your CPU VID it calculates your CPU on the different frequencies. It can be surprisingly accurate up to a certain voltage. Not always, especially when go for higher OC. You can use it as a general guide. The SP number shows yur CPU "quality" so to speak. Again, its based on the CPU VID, its not set in stone but its a good indicator for moderate OC. For some CPUs can be accurate for others not so much. That's why you can use the Optimism Scale in AI Features section to adjust it. 76 is not bad but not good too. above 80 are the good chips. Keep in mind that it calculates only the Core Frequency voltage. You can see the Cache has separate predictions. More expensive boards & laptops have CPU & Cache voltage options separately (although they share the same rail). 

CPU VCCIO & VCCSA (CPU System Agent) voltages: Usually I keep CPU VCCSA slightly higher or the same as VCCIO, that's not a rule but try to keep similar voltages. Actually depends on Core/Cache/RAM frequencies. If u have a lower CPU Core OC u can keep a lower VCCSA voltage. Since Intel 9th gen the CPUs became more power restricted so many times you can have better OC with lower voltage. That applies to most voltages. A sweet spot.

For up to 8th Gen max recommended daily voltages for both is 1.25-1.3v (higher gets in the dangerous territory). 9th & 10th Gen are more robust and can be set to a slightly higher voltage (if u have a good board & can cool it) but for 24/7 I wouldn't go above 1.35-1.38v. 11gen even can be set to 1.45-1.5v with good board & cooling, above 1.4 is still potentially dangerous. They can improve stability when OC. VCCIO helps with cache & RAM OC. They both do but it has a bigger impact. Helps more for CPU OC. Intel separated the VCCSA into 2 Voltages since 11Gen. You need to tweak only one of them & leave the other to basically Default.

DRAM Voltage: Highest daily voltage according to Intel is 1.65v but its recommended to stay below 1.6v because of instability problems & degradation. My RAM OC is 1.52-1.54, depending on the timings. When OC the RAM I recommend setting a higher DRAM voltage to ensure the voltage is not a problem & will boot. Find your max OC, then lower & fine-tune it. Some boards have a special option to boot at higher voltage & lower it when Windows loads, some dont. 

PLL Termination Voltage-Auto. Can be lowered or increased a bit but better dont touch it.

PCH Core Voltage is the chipset voltage. Set it a bit higher or lower or leave Auto. I might add or remove 0.010v (1.06000v or 1.04000v).

DIGI+ VRM Options: 


Some guides completely skip these options, its obvious some ppl dont know what to do with them. Thats why burn CPUs.



CPU Load Line Callibration:  Thats one of the options preventing the vdroop. On this board I have 7 Levels (Screenshot Above). Recommended is 4 (I assume it's best for optimal V/F Curve OC). I use Level 5, 6 & 7, depending on my overclocks. In my case these are the best options. On some boards the levels are inverted. The lowest option is the highest VRM Level (ex. Asus & AsRock). There are several scenarios most ppl look for. CPU voltage to be slightly lower when under load and maybe around 0.025-35mv higher when idle (5 Level on this board). The other is to find the setting that gives you the "flattest voltage". To have the same or similar voltage under load and idle, less voltage fluctuation (6 Level). The 3rd option is to slightly increase the voltage under load. On this board when under load on highest Level 7 is around +0.025-44mv under load (+25mv on lower CPU load & around +44mv under heavy CPU load). At least on this board. More expensive Boards with more CPU LLC Levels will have tighter voltage differences, more precise options. The VRM is working more on higher Levels (Level 7 is 100% VRM load for ex.). Lower Levels have less load on the VRM & bigger voltage fluctuation. So 5 will apply less stress on the VRM than 7 but 7 can potentially stabilize unstable OC if thats your last option left. Id say in this case Level 5 is the best option. The voltage will lower under load. That way you have some room & potentially help with the transient response. The voltage under load is what matters not in Idle. There is another VRM option- the VRM Switching Frequency. The higher the better but it also uses more voltage so thats why you need good VRM cooling. If its not good enough you can put a 40-50mm fan on the VRM. On the very High-End boards, it can be 800kHz+ (maybe higher). The XOC Overclockers say they dont see big difference from its default settings. But they dont care about responsiveness or latency. They are optimizing for throughput which has a negative impact on latency. Higher frequency should help responsiveness. Also the transient response is a factor & helps for CPU stability, especially on high clocks.

CPU Current Capability: MAX (170% in this case). It doesnt mean you will use that much. Its just a power limit, it doesn add more. 

Power Duty Control: For more serious OC you can leave it on Extreme if temps allow it. T.Probe is the VRM sensor in this case. ASUS also give you an additional T.Probe sensor you can attach to the board and can put with wherever you want to test the temps. You can use it to watch VRM, Chipset or GPU VRM, Case Air Temp etc.,its a useful Enthusiast feature. So both options are balancing the VRM. T.Probe is balancing based on the VRM Temps & Extreme balance is based on the current (every Phase individually).

Power Phase Control: You eighter can leave it on Auto or Standard (how many VRM Phases are used depends on the CPU) but Standard is for normal use or V/F Curve OC, or if you want a higher OC set to Extreme (it fully utilizes the VRM-full Phase Mode). You can use both Power Options (Duty & Phase) on Extreme 24/7 if your VRM temps are good. My VRM temps barely get 40-45C on Heavy OC, around 55C in the Summer so I use Extreme.

Synch ACDC LoadLine With VRM Loadline: This can help with V/F Curve OC & Adaptive/Offline Mode. I advise to not enable that unless you know what its for and how it works. Can add stability. But I think that Synch could have a negative effect to ensure stability. 

Boot Voltages are the voltage that the PC will start. When Windows starts loading it goes back to normal. You need to know what you really doing to use them. I mentioned it before. It can help to boot with certain OC & use lower voltage after that. Some settings need slightly higher voltage on Boot to be stable. So thats what these options are for.

Internal CPU Power Management (AI Tweaker): 

Max CPU Core Temperature: Set to Max temp if you have a good CPU Cooler. You see the screenshot above. 

You can copy the screenshot above without the Package Power Time Window option (I would leave it on Auto when OC unless u have a reason). On all slots just type 9999999999 and hit enter. It will auto-set to Max Power Limit (PL) value. This will increase your power usage a lot, you have to keep that in mind. But will run faster.

CPU Core/Cache Current LimitMax: Current max Limit. The CPU wont use that much power. Its basically make it unrestricted.

Long Duration Package Power Limit(PL2-241W by defaultThe Max power is allowed to use when the CPU is in Turbo Boost. You can increase the max power usage from here when OC.

Short Duration Package Power Limit: (PL1-125W by default) Base frequency power usage.

Package Power Time Window: Default Boost time window is 56sec in PL2. When CPU Boosts it increases the power usage. After that time it lowers back to Base Frequency. Thats stock CPU behavior. 

IA AC/DC LoadLine: Thats the Voltage Loadline Calibration. It sends data about the VRM design, quality & other characteristics so the CPU can better adjust the vdroop (when the voltage fluctuates - idle/load). Leave it on Auto if your voltage is Manual when OC. This is for a different kind of OC with V/F Point Offset. With the latest Intel CPUs its the better way for the overall highest, well-rounded OC.

RealTime Memory Timing: is if you want to adjust RAM timings with a program in Windows.

FCLK Frequency on max (1Ghz). Directly affects RAM Speed stability & performance. It can improve communication b/w CPU Cores, Cache, Memory Controller ect. So it can affect RAM OC. Lowering it can add stability to RAM &/or CPU Cache. You can increase it at the end of the RAM OC after you find your best stable RAM Speed & Timings. To get a better perspective on Ryzen CPUs it controls the Infinity Fabric but we're talking about Intel now. If your RAM OC is unstable, setting FCLK to 800mhz or even 400mhz can help with stability but at the cost of some performance & responsiveness.

DRAM VTT Voltage is always half of the DRAM Voltage. It does that automatically. Sometimes slightly lower than half DRAM settings can have a positive effect on the RAM stability when OC.

PVD Ratio Threshold : This is recommended to set lower if you do high BCLK OC. The default divider is 15 so lower than that. That can add stability when OC BCLK.

The rest of the options can be left on Auto. They can be more needed in Extreme OC but still have an effect on high OC. You can choose to set PLL options on the lowest voltage to save some power. Usually its fine. The lowest should be 0.900v on most. Sometimes the opposite works. To set it slightly higher. Dont go above 1.1-1.2v on PLL Options. CPU StandBy Voltage can be increased to help stability. Im not sure if helps with V/F Curve  OC or in general.


This section is more useful for AI Overclocking

Package Temperature Threshold: From here you can limit the CPU Temp. If you use AI OC for ex.

Optimism Scale. The motherboard tries to predict the voltage on certain OC based on the CPU VID voltage. You can feel how much voltage your CPU is using and if its better to increase to higher than 100%. You can have it on 120% for ex. & that way it will predict your voltages better. They test lots of chips & can somewhat predict & have some idea what voltage you should have on that frequency. Its not 100% accurate but its a good feature to point some people in the general direction. Also helps you visualize.

If you use Auto AI OC you can set RegulateTemperature Threshold to 75-85C if you use AI OC. The others are pretty straightforward.

Hardware PrefetcherThis stores data & instructions that can repeat to the L2 CPU Cache (instead of deleting it or copying from the RAM). Its much faster, reduces latency.

Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch: When the CPU receives data from the cache, it can also prefetch the next 64-byte cache line because there’s a high probability the CPU requires the next cache line as well. You should keep both Prefetcher options enabled. Especially on old CPUs. Could be Disabled for Servers.

Sometimes Disabling Prefetch options can add some stability to CPU Cache OC. These days both Prefetchers can be disabled but they still help in certain repetitive workloads. In the past they had a positive effect in Gaming. My 2500k ran with around -30FPS less with them disabled in BF3.

Intel Virtualization Technology- Disable for Gaming. Its for Virtual Machines & Security.

Hyperthreading - Should be Enabled in 99% of the time including games. No reason to Disable it on Intel CPUs. Ryzen SMT is a different thing. Telling people to disable Hyperthreading on Intel CPUs is Stupid unless it's a light game that utilizes fewer threads than the CPU has. Or you are a "Competitive Latency Monitor player" LOL :D That program is not a gaming benchmark and doesn't show the real scope of that feature. Ryzen SMT is still not mature enough (especially Zen 1 & 2) & can be disabled in some situations but this depends on every game individually, it's not a rule.

Per-Core Hyperthreading : U can disable Logical Cores individually. That can help with weak Cores for ex. Disabling the HT can help with OC stability. Thats viable if you have more cores than the Game/Benchmark uses and/or it gives you a higher frequency that helps in the game more than 1-2 Logical Cores. More useful in Competitive XOC. I believe that feature was introduced in Intel 10 Gen.

MonitorMWait: Its an instruction that hints the CPU to enter an optimized state (C-State). It has two main usages: address-range monitoring & advanced power management. The Thermal Monitor option also has to be enabled to work. It also disables the C-states Option in my board so safe to say you need these two enabled if use C-States. If you disable all C-States you can disable them.

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CPU Power Management Control:

I will show two ways of setting these options here. 

First:

Intel Speed Step- Auto

Intel SpeedShift-Disable

TurboMode- Always Enabled.

C-States - Enabled. All C-States Disabled with exception of C0/C1

Thermal Monitor -Enabled. 

DualTauBoost-Disabled. This should give you longer TurboBoost (Useful on Non K CPUs)

MonitorMWait: Enable

CPU VID Enabled (this could improve CPU OC if disabled)

TVB Voltage Optimizations also could be Enabled (Can be both)

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Second:

Intel Speed Step- Disable

Intel SpeedShift-Disable

TurboMode- Always Enabled.

C-States - Disable. All C-States Disabled .

Thermal Monitor -Disabled. 

DualTauBoost-Disabled.

MonitorMWait: Disable

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VT-d: This is Directed I/O Virtualization Technology. Without this, features like Direct Cache Access & NetDMA wont work. Its useful in Virtual Environments.

Memory Remap - Allows you to use previously unusable RAM portion so you can use all of your RAM.

Somewhere in these options is GPU Clock Gating. Its a power-saving feature. Disable it.

Primary Display for most people to Auto or PEG. PEG is your Dedicated GPU. Auto can fix some compatibility issues, especially when tweaking. You can also choose to disable the integrated iGPU or use it as 2nd monitor. Ideal for power-saving. Windows have options in Settings Panel to choose it for multimedia like video/audio player, Internet Browser or something else. It will boost that way the performance on normal everyday Desktop use. Especially useful in laptops & some programs. Enabled iGPU can lower your max OC so if you aim for that you should Disable it. If you want to use iGPU as well, you can use Auto settings here & enable iGPU Multi-Monitor

PEG Port Configuration: PCIe Slots (PCIEx16_1 Link Speed) - Gen3/4 (highest) only on the populated slot-upper slot/#1 slot. This is the link with your Discrete Video Card. You can fix crashes or Dx Errors on high/unstable GPU OC by setting it to Auto so the system can adjust on the fly. It will stay Gen 3 or Gen 4 when on Auto. U can check that with GPU-Z.

So there are 2 separate options that you can choose the link generation. GPU (PEG) & Chipset (PCH). Since 10Gen DMI (Direct Memory Interface. Its the link b/w CPU & Chipset. Important. Can even speed up networking #Blink/Nudge xDis decoupled from the Base Clock & you can adjust it separately from the base clock, which gives you more flexibility & potential OC & performance gains. Unfortunately there is no such option on this motherboard. 

PCH Storage Configuration: Just copy the settings and here I disable the Sata slots that are not in use- its not a big thing, u dont need to do it if you dont care. U can also leave S.M.A.R.T. Self Test can alarm you if your disk is about to fail so you can have time to make a backup. Up to you. If you have only NVMe & dont have SATA disk you can disable the SATA Controller. From here you can enable RAID support. Hot Plug means you can plug in/out the disk (similar to USB drives) without the risk of losing the data. A good example is if you have an external disk.

Aggressive LPM Support is a power-saving feature. I think it means Low Power Management or similar.

PTT (Platform Trust Technology): You can On/Off the TPM (Trusted Platform Module). So its a security feature. If you install Windows 11 that is recommended to be enabled. Ofc. there are ways to Install Win11 without it. Its related to TPM 2.0. Im not gonna talk about the compatibility options here.

Above 4G Decoding: That's the RAM reserved for the CPU (for a period of time) when working with video memory. It allows you to work with GPU vRAM. So it increases the RAM reserved for the CPU when accessing the video memory. It has to be Enabled in order to Enable Re-Size Bar Support (u need to have at least RTX3000 or Rx6000 to work). AMD named it SAM (Smart Access Memory)Thats a PCIe feature & its nothing new. I think its important to know that enabling Re-Size Bar can increase or lower FPS but usually its normal to have less FPS with better input lag. Unfortunately, I haven't seen such test, only generic benchmarks presenting FPS numbers that don't show the whole picture. So with this feature, I think you can have a slightly lower FPS but better latency. Thats the usual trade-off. Disable Sr-IOV Support. Its a virtual option. If you have a Server or work with Virtual Machines you will know what to do with it. Not for Gaming.

Legacy USB Support- Enable. XHCI Hand-Off is a workaround in case the OS doesnt have native support. XHCI is supported by Windows 10/11 so the intent is that u can disable it. I imagine XHCI On could improve the driver's behavior. I haven't tested it though.

Mass Storage Devices is your USB Flash Drive so leave SanDisk on Auto.

USB Single Port Control: The same as with the Sata links. You can disable USB ports that you dont use. For ex. I dont use USB Type C. No need to waste energy you might need elsewhere. Could help with Max CPU OC in rare cases (if you disable enough ports, RGB & other power wasters), depends on the board so its not sure that will work, just something u can do. You can leave only the USB ports that u r actually using & disable the rest. This option is useful in troubleshooting. Since we talk about USB I'll mention that the best USB ports for Mouse & Keyboard are usually the top 2 ports. If you have BiosFlachBack USB Port you can use it for the mouse. In many cases that's the best route to the CPU. 

Onboard Device Configuration: Same thinking here. Disable what you're not using. U can disable LED & other lights - Stealth Mode. The only useful feature is to change its color when CPU temp gets too high (above certain temp u set).

Be careful how many M.2 You're using and how many PCIe lanes the CPU & the Chipset have. Some people use less lanes for the GPU & run in PCIEx8 or Gen2 instead of Gen3 exactly because use too many NVME SSDs. That can lead to poor GPU performance. I would leave M.2 options on Auto so they can configure on the fly. Also set PEG option (I showed earlier) on PCIe Gen3 (Gen4 if u have. But if you experiencing "Dx Errors" when gaming you can try setting PEG on Auto). It usually gets Dx errors when GPU OC is unstable.

Sensors: Same mentality. Disable everything you dont use.

FANs & Pumps have DC & PWM mode. If u r not certain which one is the fan leave it on Auto. PWM is more advanced & can use lower voltage which lowers Fan Speed & Noise.

Fast Pumps & Fast FANs usually use DC (also older ones). They're usually cheaper because dont have this voltage granularity as PWM. PWM FANs can run slightly faster when set on DC mode (which usually uses higher voltage).

I wont be talking about Monitor Section for now, its has a lot of options but once you get it its the same for every FAN Option.  In general its a way to fine-tune your FAN speed above (or below) certain temps. Its for advanced users who want to have 1 setting for all scenarios. Most users use Auto or Manual.

On this BIOS F6 shows you 
quick FAN settings. I would use this to configure my FANS. Its easier to understand. There are options that Fine-tunes your fans voltage individually for every fan (on the different speeds).

I highly recommend using all fans on 100% when Gaming, OC or use the computer for other intensive workloads. Gaming is not considered an intensive task because of the way it works with load fluctuation. But if you have high Overclock 100% FANs can give you an extra 10-15C over Auto. Adds stability & prevents overheating. Auto cant increase the fans quick enough.


Boot Option Priority: Simple. Just set the disk you want to boot from on Boot Option #1. U can disable the others to speed up the boot a little bit.

Secure Boot (OS Type): Here you can use both options depending on what Windows you use. For Windows 11 use Windows UEFI Mode. You can use it in Win1o too if you want so. Usually gets disabled. 

CSM (Compatibility Support Module) as well. That should be enabled for OS's that doesnt support UEFI. So its a compatibility option for older Windows versions. A legacy feature that emulates the old BIOS environment.

Boot Configuration: Fast Boot - ENABLED. Dont listen to anybody who tells you to disable that (unless it's a specific situation with USB device. I would disable it only when installing new Windows). The only thing it does is speed up Windows boot by skipping some checks & enabling USB Ports few sec. later when Windows boots instead of when loading the BIOS. Its a way to shorten the boot times. THAT'S IT. No weird mouse behavior or anything. It wont affect your mouse in Windows.

Some boards have 2 options: Fast & Faster/est or Ultra Fast (different boards have different names for it). The 2nd option is tricky because lowers the boot times so fast that you have to spam the Del/F2 button very fast to enter in the BIOS (but its doable). If you cant enter in BIOS u can use Flex Key or clear the CMOS (but it will reset your BIOS settings to default, just save your settings to a profile before that). This board has only one (Fast) option (The 2nd option is probably reserved for more expensive boards (Or Asus dont include it).

I laugh my ass off when seeing some "Twitter Gurus" disable Boot Logo Display for "faster boot times" & then disable Fast Boot :D LMAO. It does nothing to the mouse or "mouse feel" xD Thats the problem with today's Internet. Too much info & you don't know whats true or not. If u wanna read fake news go to Facebook, otherwise keep reading.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000006699/intel-nuc.html

You can set POST Report to the lowest value to help with boot times further (1 sec. when Boot Logo Display is disabled & 0 sec. when enabled). 


I haven't saw anyone talk about Flexkey so I will do it. Usually that's your PC Case Reset Key. If you dont use it you can assign it a different task so when you press it goes directly into the BIOS/UEFI without the need to press/spam Del key on boot. Thats useful when you set Fast Boot to the Fastest option (again, this board has only one option but some have two - 2nd one is even Faster). BTW I have included that ability in my GPU Booster program. Im waiting for some 16 year old "developer" to copy me now (cause thats what they do).

Please leave a comment if you learned something new or if you think I got something wrong or to clarify something.

Bonus: Since we're talking about Overclocking using Liquid Metal is a must with today's CPUs for max OC. The easiest way to remove old L.Metal residue is with acetone & a hard brush. I use WD-40  & scotch (I believe its called). You can re-use the l.metal when changing it. You can suck back the remaining liquid metal in liquid form with the syringe & re-use that part of it (its as good as new). Only the liquid stuff, not the dried ones.

Explanation Of Some Of The Bios Options:

Link to AsRock z170 BIOS Settings Guide:


 

EASY





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