Benefits of BIOS Optimization?

[UpstartXT]

Hey guys-

Last spring I researched heavily on these forums to find a great gaming computer for a good value. I was extremely happy with the results and everything worked perfectly and building the system went off pretty much without a hitch.

I had originally gone into the bios before installing Vista and disabled the onboard sound (I have a sound card), manually set memory timings and voltages, and later after the install I screwed around with a mild overclock to about 3.5 ghz, as well as shutting off features like the auto-cpu-throttle thing and fan-throttle thing. Recently my computer has gotten blue screens and even failed to boot (I had to put it only one stick and jump the CMOS to even get it to boot). I since have loaded optimized defaults, and Vista installed generic drivers for the new hardware that I had had disabled.

Can I just leave it like this to get the most stable system? Stability is very important to me and I do not like getting blue screens! Should I just leave it with the optimized defaults, or are there major things that I at the very least should do in my BIOS (Such as disabling the CPU throttling feature, or disabling the onboard sound)?

Besides stability, speed is very important to me as this is a pure gaming rig.


Specs:
EVGA 750i FTW Motherboard
2x G-Skill 2GB DDR2-1000
2x EVGA 8800 GTS 512 (G92)
Corsair HX620
Seagate SATA 650 GB HD
Auzentech XFi Sound Card

 

[Blain]

* Are you feeding your power hungry memory enough voltage?
* If you're still OCing, are you feeding your other MB components enough voltage?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think that the only real tweak that anyone should have to do in BIOS, after loading optimized defaults, is to manually set the memory timings (5-5-5-15), and voltage (1.8v).

If you plan on overclocking, then disable C1E and EIST, and then set your FSB speed, FSBRAM ratios, and your vcore voltage manually. Advanced overclocks may require tweaking more settings.

 

[UpstartXT]

Thanks for the quick reply guys! The onboard sound was creating a conflict with my sound card I think, so I went back and changed that. I also manually set the correct FSB as well as memory timings and voltage (I set it to 2.0 volts, is that too much for that G-Skill RAM stock?). Lastly, I turned off every energy saving or spread thing I could possibly find. However, when I run CPU-Z just to double check everything once in Vista, the "Core Speed" box keeps changing from 3000 mhz (what it should be) to 2000 mhz to 1999 mhz and back and forth in no particular order, changing every 1-4 seconds. What is going on here/does it matter?

 

[Blain]

Let the memory timings self adjust to SPD.
If you have the G.Skill F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ, you'll need 2.0-2.1v
If you're running the G.Skill F2-8000CL5D-4GBPI, you'll need 2.1v
You might want to bump your DIMM voltage up to 2.1v

1.8v is the DDR2 standard. But several companies slam more voltage to their products to get them stable at high clock rates.
The problem is that higher voltage decreases a modules lifespan.
So enjoy them while they last! :laugh:

 

[UpstartXT]

I have the 4GBPQ so I will maybe try upping to 2.1v for that extra stability.

Haha, well I buy into that whole thing that they suggest on these forums: buy good value, mid-range computers every couple of years instead of a monster expensive one every 4-5, so I predict I will be buying a new rig in a couple of years anyway (and therefore replacing the RAM so the shorter life isn't as huge a problem).

 

[UpstartXT]

Anyone know why my Core Speed is all over the place in CPU-Z though?