Computers

Tips & Tricks

Basic Input Output System (BIOS)

BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER

The following are settings common to most current BIOS's that can be tweaked for better performance.  If you find a setting here that isn't on your list don't worry. Not all BIOS's are the same.

When you turn on your system the first thing that happens is the CPU runs the BIOS program.  The BIOS performs a 'Power On Self Test' or POST before initialising various clock timings or speeds, the CPU voltage and multiplier, device communication protocols and system memory organisation.  You can access your BIOS settings by hitting the 'F1' or 'Delete' keys during the POST.

WARNING-: Unless you are a confident computer user don't proceed any further. If you decide to continue, have a pen and paper handy and record any changes you make. If you make a change and it has a detrimental effect, or worse still your system refuses to boot at all, restart and enter the BIOS. Undo any changes you made by referring to your notes.

AGP Mode (1x, 2x or 4x)

This setting is dependant upon your AGP video card's capabilities. The higher the settng or number, the better.  GeForce� and ATI Radeon� cards support 4x, TNT2� cards support 2x and older cards may only support 1x. Check your video card documentation for further information if unsure.  PCI video cards are not affected by this setting.

Cache Timing

Sets the speed at which data is read from the L2 cache. Generally, the faster the timing (lower number) the quicker your system runs. How low you can set this number is governed by your motherboard, CPU and L2 cache memory speed.

External (or L2) Cache

Dependent upon your BIOS, this should be set to either enabled or write-back, not disabled.

Internal (or L1) Cache

This setting enables or disables your CPU's internal (built into CPU) cache.  Always leave this enabled unless you want your system running at snail's pace.

RAM  RAS/CAS Latency

Higher quality RAM will permit a lower setting here.  If you experience instability raise the setting one number at a time until your system is again stable.  Buying quality high speed RAM can have a significant impact on system speed, often for minimal extra outlay when compared with total system cost.

S.M.A.R.T. for Hard Disks

Allows your BIOS to monitor hard-disks that support Self Monitoring And Reporting Technology.  Unless you're experiencing hard disk problems leave this set to disabled.

System BIOS Shadowed / Cacheable

If enabled, the System BIOS program code will be copied from slow ROM to your faster RAM.  Your operating system (OS) relies heavily on your BIOS so leave this set to enabled for a significant performance improvement.

Video BIOS Shadowed

If enabled, the Video BIOS program code will be copied from slow ROM to your faster RAM. With this setting enabled, a slight performance improvement should be gained. If however you start to experience system instability, reset to disabled.

Direct Memory Access (DMA)

What? By default IDE devices such as your hard-drive, CD-Rom, DVD etc, communicate with the rest of your computer via the CPU.  By enabling DMA, these devices communicate directly with your RAM and each other, bypassing the CPU in many instances.  By enabling DMA access, system performance can be improved 35-40%.

WHY?  Two reasons. Bypassing the CPU allows it to continue with other tasks uninterrupted. Secondly, think of the CPU as the 'Middle Man' in this instance. Putting it simply, cutting out the 'Middle Man' saves time when DMA enabled devices communicate with system RAM and each other. You will experience the most benefit from this tweak when you run high throughput or RAM intensive applications.

HOW?  Right click 'My Computer', select 'Properties' and click the 'Device Manager' tab.  Expand the 'Disk drives' list, select the first drive from the dropdown list by double-clicking it, click 'Properties' and then the 'Settings' tab. Put a check in the 'DMA' box and close the dialog box by clicking the 'OK' button.  Repeat this procedure for each of your hard-drives and CD-drives.

System.ini

What?  A legacy from Windows 3.11 and Windows 95, the system.ini file still holds many settings and variables required by Windows.  Manually changing a few of these settings may boost performance.

How?  Click Start and select Run.  Type "system.ini" in the textbox and press the enter key.  Scroll down to the section headed '[386Enh]' and add or edit the following lines of blue text.

Pagebuffers=32        (Read/write information is stored in Pagebuffers)

MinTimeSlice=40     (Time in milliseconds before windows runs another virtual machine)

DMABufferSize=64  (Sets the 16 bit DMA buffer size, used by all DMA devices, to the maximum permissible size)

ConservativeSwapFileUsage=1    (In windows 98 only, this setting causes Windows to only use the hard-disk swap file when absolutely neccessary.  If you have 128MB or more of RAM you should notice a significant reduction of hard drive 'thrashing' when reopening programs, files and documents.)

Save and close the file.  These settings will take effect after you restart your system.

 

This page is still under construction  and  was last updated on 16-Oct-2001 05:46 AM .