Of all things related to PCs, the BIOS/UEFI seems to be the one that most people would rather steer clear of. Most PC users only venture into the BIOS when something has gone terribly wrong, and even then, many would just rather skip it entirely. And I get it—no matter how user-friendly motherboard makers try to make it seem, it’s never as easy as just clicking your way around an operating system.
However, avoiding the BIOS is a real shame. You may be missing out on genuinely useful settings and performance tweaks.
But there’s also a darker side to the BIOS, which is why people tend to steer clear of it. There are certain settings you should almost never touch. Below, we’ll go over both, making this a one-stop shop for all things BIOS.
Your BIOS is super useful, but it’s not a playground
The good tweaks are good, but the bad tweaks can be disastrous
The BIOS (or UEFI) is the low-level software that starts your computer before Windows ever sinks its hands into it. It checks your hardware, starts up your CPU, RAM, storage, fans, and motherboard devices, and then hands things over to the OS. It’s absolutely critical in every sense of the word.
As the BIOS can control settings that the OS can’t touch, it’s used for things that can genuinely boost performance. You’ll use it to set the right memory profile, adjust fan behavior, and more.
But it can also be massively risky. You’re not just changing small settings that can easily be reverted; you’re changing how your PC behaves before anything else even gets the chance to load. Some tweaks are harmless or easy to undo, but others can be a nightmare to deal with.
Quiz
PC motherboard knowledge
Trivia challenge
From BIOS updates to socket compatibility — how well do you really know what sits at the heart of your PC?
BIOSSocketsChipsetsForm FactorsConnectivity
What does UEFI stand for, and what did it replace on modern motherboards?
Correct! UEFI stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface and was designed to overcome the limitations of the old legacy BIOS, including support for drives larger than 2TB and faster boot times. It also introduced a graphical interface and mouse support, making it far more user-friendly than the text-only BIOS menus of the past.
Not quite. UEFI stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, and it replaced legacy BIOS on modern motherboards. It brought major improvements like GPT disk support, faster boot sequences, and a much more capable pre-OS environment.
Which CPU socket type was used by Intel’s 12th and 13th generation Core processors (Alder Lake and Raptor Lake)?
Correct! Intel’s LGA 1700 socket was introduced with 12th-gen Alder Lake CPUs and carried over for 13th-gen Raptor Lake processors. The name refers to the 1,700 contact points on the motherboard that connect to the CPU, and it was a significant redesign from the previous LGA 1200 used by 10th and 11th gen chips.
Not quite. The correct answer is LGA 1700, which debuted with Intel’s 12th-gen Alder Lake platform and was also used for 13th-gen Raptor Lake. LGA 1200 was used by the previous generation (10th and 11th gen), and LGA 1151 goes back even further to the Skylake era.
On a modern AMD motherboard, what is the primary role of the chipset?
Correct! The chipset acts as a hub that manages data flow between the CPU and the rest of the system — including storage controllers, USB ports, PCIe lanes for peripherals, and more. AMD’s modern chipsets like the X670E connect to the CPU via high-speed PCIe lanes, essentially acting as an intelligent traffic controller for your whole system.
Not quite. The chipset’s main job is to manage communication between the CPU and peripheral components like storage, USB, and additional PCIe slots. It doesn’t execute instructions, handle all power delivery alone, or store the BIOS — that’s the job of a dedicated flash chip on the motherboard.
Which motherboard form factor is the largest and is commonly used in high-end desktops and workstations?
Correct! Extended ATX, or E-ATX, is larger than standard ATX and measures roughly 305mm x 330mm. It’s favored in high-end workstations and enthusiast builds because the extra real estate allows for more PCIe slots, better power delivery circuitry, and additional RAM slots — sometimes supporting up to 8 DIMM slots for massive memory configurations.
Not quite. The largest common form factor is Extended ATX (E-ATX), which goes beyond the standard ATX footprint to accommodate more expansion slots, RAM slots, and elaborate VRM designs. Standard ATX is the most popular size, while Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX are progressively smaller options for compact builds.
Why might you need to update a motherboard’s BIOS before installing a newer CPU?
Correct! BIOS updates often include new CPU microcode, which is essential for a motherboard to correctly identify and initialize processors released after the board was manufactured. Without it, the system may fail to POST or behave unstably. This is a critical step when, for example, dropping a newer-gen CPU into an older board that shares the same socket.
Not quite. A BIOS update is needed because it contains updated microcode and CPU support tables that allow the motherboard’s firmware to properly recognize, initialize, and communicate with newer processors. It’s a software-level change, not a physical one, and has nothing to do with voltage limits or fan headers specifically.
What is the maximum theoretical bandwidth of a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot?
Correct! PCIe 5.0 doubles the per-lane bandwidth of PCIe 4.0, delivering approximately 4 GB/s per lane. With 16 lanes in an x16 slot, that adds up to a staggering 64 GB/s of theoretical bandwidth. This level of throughput is especially valuable for the latest high-performance NVMe SSDs and next-generation discrete GPUs.
Not quite. PCIe 5.0 offers roughly 4 GB/s per lane, so an x16 slot delivers approximately 64 GB/s of theoretical bandwidth. PCIe 4.0 x16 tops out at around 32 GB/s, which is why PCIe 5.0 is such a significant leap for cutting-edge storage and graphics workloads.
AMD’s AM5 socket, introduced in 2022, switched from the pin-in-CPU design of AM4 to which configuration?
Correct! AM5 was a major shift for AMD, moving from PGA — where the pins are on the CPU itself — to LGA, where the pins are on the motherboard socket instead. This mirrors Intel’s long-standing approach and means that if you bend a contact, you’ll be replacing the motherboard rather than the (often cheaper to replace) CPU.
Not quite. AMD’s AM5 socket uses an LGA (Land Grid Array) design, where the pins reside on the motherboard socket rather than the CPU. This was a notable departure from AMD’s traditional PGA approach used on AM4, and it brings AMD’s socket design philosophy more in line with Intel’s.
On Intel motherboards, which chipset tier typically unlocks full CPU overclocking support for K-series processors?
Correct! Intel’s Z-series chipsets are the enthusiast-grade option specifically designed to enable overclocking of unlocked K-suffix processors like the Core i9-13900K. Z-series boards also tend to offer more PCIe lanes, additional M.2 slots, and more robust power delivery compared to the more budget-friendly B and H series counterparts.
Not quite. Intel’s Z-series chipsets (such as Z790 or Z690) are the ones that unlock overclocking for K-series CPUs. B-series boards like the B760 are mid-range and generally do not support CPU overclocking, while H-series and Q-series boards are aimed at mainstream and business users respectively, without enthusiast overclocking features.
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4 BIOS settings you should change right now
Get yourself some more performance for free
Venturing into the BIOS can be fantastic if you know what you’re doing. Once you’re there, here are some tweaks that are genuinely worth making.
1. Enable XMP or EXPO for your RAM
Your RAM may not be running at the speed printed on the box (it can almost feel like a CPU bottleneck sometimes), which is where XMP and EXPO come in. These are memory profiles stored on the RAM itself. Enabling them tells your motherboard to use the advertised speeds, timings, and voltages. You can usually find this near the top of the BIOS, often under names like XMP, EXPO, DOCP, A-XMP, or memory profile.
Keep in mind that this is still technically an overclock, so if your PC becomes unstable, you need to dial it back.
2. Turn on Resizable BAR or Smart Access Memory
Resizable BAR, or Smart Access Memory, lets your CPU access more of your GPU’s VRAM at once instead of working with it in smaller chunks. You’ll usually find it somewhere in the PCIe, advanced, or chipset section of the BIOS. This isn’t a magic fps button, but it can improve performance in some games. Your CPU, GPU, motherboard, and BIOS all need to support it for it to work.
3. Set a sensible fan curve
A fan curve tells your PC how fast to spin its fans at different temperatures. Changing it can make your system cooler. In the BIOS, you’ll usually find this under hardware monitor, fan control, Smart Fan, Q-Fan, or similar settings. From there, have fun tweaking the fans on a fan-by-fan level, choosing PWM or DC mode, and adjusting how aggressively the fans can ramp up.
- Dimensions
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120x120x25 mm
- Voltage
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12V
While you’re tweaking the BIOS, why not update your PC fans first? Noctua’s are always top-notch, and these are also known for being quiet.
4. Enable TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot
TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot are security features (no surprise there, I guess) that matter a lot if you’re using Windows 11 or plan to upgrade to it. Enabling them can help your PC meet Windows 11 requirements and support certain security features, and some games with anti-cheat systems may also expect them to be switched on. The risk is that Secure Boot can be awkward on older Windows installs, especially if the system was installed in Legacy mode instead of UEFI mode.
4 BIOS settings you should never touch without a plan
These settings spell trouble if you’re not ready for the results
The BIOS controls many aspects of your PC, and some of those aspects should never be tweaked without knowing the end results. Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, I’d recommend steering clear of the below.
1. Manual CPU voltage
Overclocking can give you some serious performance gains, but if you’re not careful, it can quite literally destroy your CPU. Manual CPU voltage is exactly what it sounds like: it lets you control how much voltage your processor receives. You’ll often find it surrounded by other tempting performance controls, but if you’re not a seasoned overclocker, I recommend staying away. If you do want to make changes, do it in tiny, tiny, tiny increments and turn back if it backfires.
2. BCLK/base clock
The base clock, often called BCLK, affects the base frequency your system uses to derive other speeds, and that’s what makes it tricky. Changing it can increase performance in some very specific overclocking scenarios, but on many systems, it can also affect more than just the CPU, which means you might run into instability issues.
3. SATA mode or storage controller mode
SATA mode, storage controller mode, Intel RST, RAID, and AHCI settings all control how your motherboard talks to storage drives. Changing them after Windows is installed can stop your PC from booting properly. There are valid reasons to change this when setting up RAID, troubleshooting storage, or installing the OS in a specific configuration, but it’s not a casual performance tweak you should bother with.
4. Secure Boot keys and TPM clearing
Enabling TPM or Secure Boot is one thing; clearing TPM data or messing with Secure Boot keys is something else entirely. These options may sound harmless because you’ll find them next to useful settings. They’re not harmless.
Clearing the TPM can interfere with encryption, sign-in features, and other security tools, while changing or deleting Secure Boot keys can stop your system from trusting the software it needs to boot.
The best BIOS tweak is knowing what you’re doing
It can be tedious, but it’s worth it
I totally get why many people think twice before entering the BIOS. Honestly, I think it’s the best course of action. Just like following outdated Wi-Fi optimization advice can get you stuck with no internet connection, tweaking the wrong BIOS settings can majorly backfire, so playing it safe is good. Avoiding it entirely is not the way to do it, though.
Free performance is great until it becomes troubleshooting
I hope that the settings described above help you squeeze some extra free performance out of your PC. However, if you’re not exactly sure what each setting does, it’s always better to leave it and do a bit more reading, as the BIOS/UEFI contains some settings that are very difficult to undo.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
