If you built your own computer or bought a prebuilt one and ran some benchmarks, you might have noticed that the scores are different from others with similar hardware configurations. You might think you got the wrong parts, or put them together incorrectly, but that might not be the problem. What you should do instead is head into your computer's BIOS, as devices often ship with an optimized set of defaults that don't represent the actual full performance you can achieve. That's mainly to ensure the PC will boot for the first time when put together, but with a few tweaks, you can gain back that added capacity for peak performance.

7 Overclock your RAM

Changing XMP/DOCP/EXPO settings is an instant performance boost

If your computer isn't performing as well as you think it should, the first thing to check is whether your RAM is set up correctly in BIOS. After all, if you've bought the best RAM for gaming, you want to be sure that you're getting your money's worth. By default, motherboards are set to use default JEDEC profiles, which are usually lower than the speeds and latency timings that your RAM was advertised to have. This is one of the most common PC building mistakes, but it doesn't take long to put right.

To ensure you're not sacrificing performance, go to the BIOS and find the section that mentions RAM settings. If you've got an Intel system, you'll be looking for XMP or sometimes A-XMP. You should always try Profile 1 to begin with, since that's the settings for the frequency and timings your RAM was marketed to run at. For AMD systems, it will be DOCP, EOCP, or possibly EXPO if you've got an AM5 build.

6 Update to the latest version

Bug fixes and performance improvements happen all the time

Your BIOS is an important part of your computer's overall performance, and keeping it up to date is important. You don't have to install every update, but it's worth checking the manufacturer's website every so often to see if there's anything new. Pay attention to keywords like stability, optimization, or compatibility, all of which mean potential performance increases for your hardware. Manufacturers often add expanded features with BIOS updates or the ability to run faster RAM, so keeping things updated pays off.

Sometimes this is a trade-off with security, as we've seen BIOS updates for issues like Meltdown or Spectre reduce the overall performance of the system when applied. The decision to stay safe or gain a few extra FPS is yours, although I'm a firm believer in updating for security-based fixes, whatever the device and potential reduction in performance. Even if you don't think you will get targeted, the risk isn't worth it.

5 Disable any unused features or devices

Everything takes resources, so reduce the load

The BIOS has a huge number of other settings for onboard devices, and while unused devices won't take much in the way of resources, they still take up address space that could be used for other things. Find the page in your BIOS that says something like Integrated Peripherals, and see which things you can turn off. If you have a dedicated graphics card, you can safely disable the iGPU, for example.

Other things you can disable if you're not using them include the HD Audio Controller if your headphones or DAC is USB-based, SATA controllers if you only have NVMe storage installed, or network adapters if you know you're only using one of them. When optimizing for peak performance, any little edge you can find will help, so turn off any devices you know you won't be using on your motherboard.

4 Undervolt and overclock your CPU

Go for it

Your motherboard BIOS also sets a standard set of defaults for your CPU, which has a standard set of clock speeds for general usage, and a set of boost clocks for when under load. These are set up so that every CPU will run out of the box. But, depending on your particular piece of silicon, you might be able to achieve more performance by adjusting this. Almost every modern CPU can be overclocked and undervolted, which will give you higher clocks while using less energy to do so.

I prefer to start with undervolting my CPU, for a couple of reasons. First, reducing the voltage used reduces the heat generated by the processor. This means your cooling system doesn't have to work as hard, which means less fan noise. It also enables the boost algorithms of the CPU to work for higher clocks, and you might find that once you undervolt, your boost clocks reach the level of performance that you're after, and you don't need to do the next steps. If you want a little more consistent performance than boost clocks, then you can overclock your CPU as well and could gain a 15-25% boost to performance. Check out our other articles below for more information about adjusting these parameters.

3 Change fan curves

Get control of your temperatures and noise

Heat is not your friend when optimizing for performance, and another BIOS setting you should tweak is the fan controls. Whether you want to adjust the speed of the fans controlling your CPU's temperature or the case fans supplying airflow to the whole case, it's important to change these to suit the tasks you perform. Again, the default BIOS settings are not tuned to the CPU you chose, or to the environment around your PC. It's up to you to go into BIOS once you've built your PC and play around with the settings until you find a combination you like that balances fan noise and temperature control.

2 Optimize any newly installed components

Sometimes you don't want things set to auto

Computer BIOS settings are shipped with a whole raft of automatic default configurations. That's handy for building, because it means you can add components without having to worry about whether the BIOS is set up properly. But, there are many devices you'll want to manually change the settings for once you've installed them. The best graphics cards run better when they get enough PCIe lanes, but sometimes they won't get their full allocation. The same goes for the best M.2 SSDs or their PCIe 5.0 brethren, both of which perform their best when set to use x4 lanes instead of x2, which is what your motherboard might try to allocate.

To fix this, look for the PCIe Subsystem Settings in your BIOS. It might not be called this exactly; that's what MSI uses on its BIOS, but it could be slightly different for other manufacturers. Find the settings that correspond with the slot your GPU is in and the ones for any M.2 SSDs. Set the GPU to Gen4, and set any M.2 settings to their highest, which is usually x4. That will ensure your chipset allocates enough lanes to your devices for their peak performance to shine.

1 Activate Resizable BAR

If your hardware is recent, this gives you better gaming performance

Modern computers come with innovative features like Resizable BAR, which improves gaming performance by enabling a single setting. This relatively new feature works on both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards (where it's known as Smart Access Memory or SAM), and improves communication between your CPU and graphics card. It allows the CPU to access the entire VRAM allocation, instead of the previous method of accessing 256MB chunks at a time. You can gain up to 12% performance uplift on Nvidia cards and 15% for AMD cards, although real-world performance gains are likely to be lower than this.

Depending on your motherboard manufacturer, the setting for Resizable BAR could be in different places. MSI puts it on the PCIe Subsystem Settings page, while Asus has it at the top of the main page. Other manufacturers will likely differ, so check your manual. A minor performance boost from just a few seconds of work is awesome and will provide better performance as more games are designed to take advantage of it.

Now your BIOS is optimized for performance

Unless the company that built your PC already optimized the BIOS/UEFI, you could be leaving performance on the table by not changing these settings. Once you're done, you'll have better performance, better temperatures, and either lower fan noise or better air flow. That way, all you need to worry about is what game you're going to play next.