"What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

[gkatsanos]

Hello, I just bought and setup a system based on a GA-Z77X-UD5H

A bit overwhelmed/intimidated of the number of settings in the BIOS, I wonder what does each one of them do.

For example setting TURBO or EXTREME, or the PWM setting to fast or Xtreme.. the Voltage Response.. The Intel Rapid Start setting.. the Network Stack.. (just to name a few)

Is there some detailed guide on how each of those affects real life performance,stability etc?

sidenote: I'm not an overclocker, I'm all for stability and being cool and quiet. Those are my system's specs:

Motherboard	GA-Z77X-UD5H
Motherboard BIOS version	F14
Processor	Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770 / 3.40 GH
Memory	Corsair CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10 16 Go DDR3
Video Card #1	Gigabyte N65TOC-1GI Nvidia GeforceGTX650 Ti 1GB
Hard Drive #1	SAMSUNG SSD 830 128GB
Case	Fractal DEFINE R3 (USB 3.0 version)
Cooler	Dark Rock Advanced C1
Keyboard	logitech unifying wireless
Mouse	logitech unifying wireless
Power Supply	Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 430W
Sound Card	onboard
Monitor	Samsung B2230HD
Operating System	Windows 7 Ultimate - 64bit

[dejanh]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

Hello, I just bought and setup a system based on a GA-Z77X-UD5H

A bit overwhelmed/intimidated of the number of settings in the BIOS, I wonder what does each one of them do.

For example setting TURBO or EXTREME, or the PWM setting to fast or Xtreme.. the Voltage Response.. The Intel Rapid Start setting.. the Network Stack.. (just to name a few)

Is there some detailed guide on how each of those affects real life performance,stability etc?

sidenote: I'm not an overclocker, I'm all for stability and being cool and quiet. Those are my system's specs:

Motherboard	GA-Z77X-UD5H
Motherboard BIOS version	F14
Processor	Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770 / 3.40 GH
Memory	Corsair CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10 16 Go DDR3
Video Card #1	Gigabyte N65TOC-1GI Nvidia GeforceGTX650 Ti 1GB
Hard Drive #1	SAMSUNG SSD 830 128GB
Case	Fractal DEFINE R3 (USB 3.0 version)
Cooler	Dark Rock Advanced C1
Keyboard	logitech unifying wireless
Mouse	logitech unifying wireless
Power Supply	Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 430W
Sound Card	onboard
Monitor	Samsung B2230HD
Operating System	Windows 7 Ultimate - 64bit

Hard to explain all the BIOS settings, but using a 430W PSU to power all of that? Not sure that it's the best idea...

[Vinster]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

with a 430W PSU all you can do is turn it on. with everything at stock settings your at the limit of your power supply

use this calculator; eXtreme Power Supply Calculator

that will tell you the smallest PSU you should be using then you can add your desired overclock then you'll have a better idea what to run... if it calls for a 750W PSU.. get an 850 or 950.

Vin

[gkatsanos]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

Thanks a lot for those replies. My PSU is still in the "return-free" amazon policy so if you really think it's very close or less than required (well the system hasn't done any shutdowns or anything) then I might as well go change it..

Here are my results with the calculator:
System Type: 1 physical CPU
Motherboard: High End - Desktop
CPU Socket: Socket LGA 1155
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3400 MHz Ivy Bridge
CPU Utilization (TDP): 90% TDP
RAM: 2 Sticks DDR3 SDRAM
Video Card 1: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650
PPU: AGEIA PhysX PPU

ATTENTION: FOR PERSONAL, NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY
DRAM SSD: 1 Drive
Flash SSD: 1 Drive
PCI-e x16 Card: 1 Card
USB: 3 Devices
Fan Controller: Yes
Fans
Regular: 2 Fans 120mm;
Keyboard and mouse: Yes
System Load: 90 %

Minimum PSU Wattage: 288 Watts
Recommended Wattage: 338 Watts


I believe I didn't forget something?

Otherwise is there a tool with which you can see how much of the capacity of your PSU you're using? (my PSU is 80% efficient..)
is this included in benchmarking tools?

ps: I have a non K version of the i7 so no overclocking besides these BIOS settings if you tell me more or less what they do?

[Vinster]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

ok, for some reason I thought that GPU required a 450+W psu but checking again it takes it's power from the PCIe port and not an external source ya, I guess that PSU will do for your system but if you want to upgrade your GPU while having that PSU you will most likely have to upgrade it.

and if you want stable with cool and quiet, leave it as it... (Stable and Quiet) or (Stable and Overclocked) pick one.

Vin

[gkatsanos]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

There's a 530 PSU for 10 Euros more so maybe I'll go for it..

But otherwise noone said a word about the bios settings... Is there some kind of sticky or document or Gigabyte advanced guide or something that explains what the settings do?..
I mean at least this PWM thingie.. Is it some kind of "soft" overclocking? (that doesn't impact temperature etc?)

And to get a quicker POST? Intel Rapid Start?

[Vinster]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

There are a million things that can be done.

start with the manual that came with your motherboard, in there describes every setting that is available in your BIOS. also Google is your friend, search for the specific items that you are questioning and read up on it.

you can also look in this thread, that is stickied at the top of this section; http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte...ity-tools.html

there you will find tools to verify the stability of the system.

the ones I'd highlight are

- Prime95, Linx and Intel Burn Test for running your CPU at 100%
- CPU-Z for confirming your CPU and memory configuration
- Heaven benchmark for running your GPU at 100%
- GPU-Z for confirming your video configuration
- for temperature monitoring use HWmonitor or coretemp or realtemp.. I prefer HWmonitor personally.

I'm not just going to throw you some numbers without you having a base of understanding on what you own. This is because every system is different and numbers from one system could blow yours up if you don't understand what you are getting your self into

to get a quicker post, put your system to sleep instead of shutting it down... on the power on button press to windows should be about 5 seconds.

Vin

[Conners]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

Heck like my wife says... better to be oversized size than not. LOL! Which actually means if you plan on doing nothing else (adding hardware) then you may be fine.

[gkatsanos]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

If I run Prime95 on a stress test for like 10 hours... and the pc remains OK can this mean something for my PSU too?
Basically I'm asking how can I be sure my PSU (430) can handle a full load usage of all components of my machine? (stock) (calculators aside)

thanks!

[wazza300]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

For example setting TURBO or EXTREME, or the PWM setting to fast or Xtreme.. the Voltage Response

those tighten up the secondary ram timings,pwm speeds up the voltage regulator response i think not too sure,it will help when the pc switches from idle to full speed clocks

i think youll be ok with that psu provided you dont overclock anything,for peice of mind you can buy a larger wattage if you want

[gkatsanos]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

For example setting TURBO or EXTREME, or the PWM setting to fast or Xtreme.. the Voltage Response

those tighten up the secondary ram timings,pwm speeds up the voltage regulator response i think not too sure,it will help when the pc switches from idle to full speed clocks

i think youll be ok with that psu provided you dont overclock anything,for peice of mind you can buy a larger wattage if you want

because I might add a hard drive... and more ram...

and if you get more powerful PSU then the fan works at lower RPM I guess so it's more quiet, right?

[wazza300]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

because I might add a hard drive... and more ram...

and if you get more powerful PSU then the fan works at lower RPM I guess so it's more quiet, right?

yeah it will put less stress on the psu,but it depends on your case,if its midi atx then it will run hotter than if in a full size atx case,hdd's and ram dont use much juice though,gpu's and cpu's or overclocking use the most power,you want a 500-600w imo,i run my z68 pc @4.5ghz with a 600w just fine

[gkatsanos]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

yeah it will put less stress on the psu,but it depends on your case,if its midi atx then it will run hotter than if in a full size atx case,hdd's and ram dont use much juice though,gpu's and cpu's or overclocking use the most power,you want a 500-600w imo,i run my z68 pc @4.5ghz with a 600w just fine

it's a midi... why are you saying it will run hotter compared to before?

[wazza300]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

it's a midi... why are you saying it will run hotter compared to before?

i meant your current psu,as its lower wattage so would work harder than a higher wattage psu would,and the case size and airflow will also affect this,with a bigger psu it will be working less hard

[gkatsanos]

Re: "What does this button do?" : Explaining real-life impact of BIOS settings

i meant your current psu,as its lower wattage so would work harder than a higher wattage psu would,and the case size and airflow will also affect this,with a bigger psu it will be working less hard

but I guess the only real way to test how much of its power isused is this device that you have to buy...