Introduction
Many of us who have had PCs for a while already have a workflow on how to setup our system. Diving straight into the UEFI BIOS is already a given but for numerous other folks, many of these are new tasks that they’re sometimes left with to figure out on their own. While its easy for us who know what we’re doing to deal with these things, a majority of PC owners still don’t.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through my personal workflow in setting up a new computer whether it’s for gaming, content creation, and in most cases both then here’s my personal guide in setting up your brand new PC’s motherboard to get you up and running for maximum performance, balanced power and thermals, and maximum power savings.
This article will be focused on ASUS motherboards but I’ll do a follow-up for the boards I have on-hand in a future update. We’ll also be focusing on Intel motherboards initially but I have an active AM5 platform as my primary benchmarking system for GPUs so
This is a continuation of the popular “Optimization” series of Back2Gaming which I have neglected for a good while now but I’m renewing it for this generation.
The series will once again be updated to go thru Windows optimization, SSD optimization, GPU optimization, and more going forward but since I never done motherboards except for Linux, this is a good way to kickstart this series. With that out of the way, read on to find out more!
Who This Guide is For
This guide is intended for users that have no idea where to start in optimizing their setup to get the best performance and value from their system.
This guide is intended to frame performance from a workload perspective. This guide will not cover all applications but should give you enough foundational knowledge to understand which motherboard settings to start changing immediately.
What You Need to Get Started
Any PC made in the last 5 years should be compatible with this guide computers from the last decade or so should adhere to many of the principles shown in this guide. Some understanding of terminologies need to be sorted which we’ll go thru after this section but other than that, this guide will more or else serve as a checklist of the knobs on your mother that can be set to various settings but ultimately will work regardless.
Unless there’s a specific physical knob or feature on the actual motherboard that needs to be toggled, this guide assumes all changes here are done on the BIOS settings and in Windows so you don’t need to open up your PC case to do something.
You also don’t need tools but just in case, a screwdriver that fits your case screws (M3) and the ones for your SSD if you’re using screw-on slot.
Terminologies
- UEFI BIOS (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Basic Input/Output System)
The firmware interface that initializes hardware and boots your operating system. It replaces older legacy BIOS on most modern motherboards. - Chipset
The controller circuitry on the motherboard that handles data flow between the CPU, memory, storage, and peripherals. - CPU (Central Processing Unit)
The “brain” of the computer. Responsible for executing instructions and running the operating system and applications. - VRM (Voltage Regulator Module)
A component on the motherboard responsible for delivering clean, stable power to the CPU and other system parts. - Intel platform
A system running on an Intel processor like the latest Intel Core Ultra 200S processors and running on a compatible chipset. In our test unit, this will be the Intel® Core™ Ultra 285K processor on a motherboard equipped with an Intel Z890 chipset from ASUS - M.2 (PCIe / NVMe Storage Interface)
A compact form factor for SSDs and other devices that connect to the motherboard, offering faster speeds than older SATA drives. - SATA (Serial ATA)
A computer bus interface primarily used for connecting storage devices like 2.5″ SSDs and HDDs. - Benchmark
A test or series of tests used to measure hardware or system performance under various workloads. - Workload Perspective
An approach to performance tuning or evaluation by focusing on the actual tasks (e.g., gaming, content creation) rather than chasing arbitrary benchmark scores. - Power Plan / Balanced Power
Settings (in BIOS or operating system) determining how aggressively a system uses power to balance performance and efficiency. - Thermal Management
Strategies or motherboard features to control temperatures, such as fan curves or CPU cooler settings. - XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) / DOCP
Predefined memory overclock profiles stored in memory modules to quickly and easily boost RAM performance. - Windows Optimization
Tweaks and settings within Windows that improve responsiveness, reduce unnecessary background tasks, and maximize performance. - SSD Optimization
Practices like over-provisioning, ensuring TRIM is enabled, or adjusting Windows power settings that can help maintain optimal SSD performance. - Knobs / Settings
An informal term here referring to the various BIOS or OS-level configurable options (e.g., frequency multipliers, voltage offsets, or Windows power settings). - Overclocking
The process of running your CPU, GPU, or RAM at a higher speed than its default setting to gain extra performance. - IHS (Integrated Heat Spreader)
The metal cover on top of a CPU designed to protect the processor die and assist in heat dissipation. - Heatsink
A metal component (often featuring cooling fins) that absorbs and disperses heat from critical parts like the CPU, GPU, or VRM. - AIO (All-In-One) Cooler
A closed-loop liquid cooling solution where the pump, radiator, and fans come pre-assembled for easy CPU (or GPU) cooling. - Frequency Curve
A representation (often in BIOS or monitoring software) of how a CPU (or GPU) clock speed changes relative to factors like load or temperature. - TDP (Thermal Design Power)
A rating, typically in watts, indicating the maximum amount of heat a CPU or GPU generates under nominal conditions.
Gaming Performance
Before we begin, here is our test setup:
Intel x ASUS LGA 1851 Test Setup
- Processor: Intel® Core™ Ultra 285K
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix Z890-A GAMING WIFI
- Cooling: ASUS ROG Strix LC III 360 ARGB White Edition
- Memory: Lexar ARES DDR5-7200 32GB
- Storage (SSD): Lexar NM790 Gen4 M.2 SSD
- Power Supply: ROG Loki SFX-L 1000W 80 PLUS Platinum
- Case: ASUS TUF GAMING GT-502 Horizon White Dual Chamber chassis
- Graphics Card: ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4090 OC
As a gaming website, a large majority of our readers are gamers. It’s in the name after all and our core philosophy is rooted in the enthusiast overclocking scene back in later 2000s and early 2010s where overclocking really meant you get something more than what you paid for. Today, we live in a world where overclocking is now sold as a feature and thus, the concept of which doesn’t have the same value to it as before. Still, we’ll touch a bit on that a bit later on this article but for now let’s talk about the gaming experience.
What Affects Gaming Performance
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
The GPU is, for most games, the single most important piece of hardware and given the market climate right now, its undoutably is price-wise. It handles the rendering of 3D graphics, effects, and anything else that appears on youe monitor. Games with lots of visual details, high-resolution textures, and advanced lighting (ray tracing/path tracing) or shading rely heavily on the GPU. If you’re aiming for higher resolutions (1440p or 4K) or higher refresh rates (144Hz all the way to 540hz), a more powerful GPU is crucial to gebnerate all those frames or handle those heavy scenes. Overclocking the GPU can squeeze out more frames, but modern GPUs often come factory-overclocked, lowering the potential gain from manual tweaking.
Key takeaway: If you’re experiencing low frame rates or stuttering in visually complex games, upgrading your GPU is often the first consideration.
CPU (Central Processing Unit)
The CPU is the brains of the entire system, coordinating game logic, physics calculations, AI, and general system tasks. While many modern games are GPU-bound at higher resolutions, certain titles (notably simulation games, strategy titles, or those with highly detailed worlds) lean more on the CPU. A CPU that can handle multi-threaded workloads well, or simply run at high frequencies, will help ensure the smoothest gameplay with minimal bottlenecks although its been proven you can slightly get an advantage by putting a ton of fast memory on-die.
Key takeaway: In CPU-bound scenarios—like large open-world games or heavily modded titles—having a capable processor can increase overall frame rates and reduce stutter.
Motherboard
Although motherboards don’t directly boost game frame rates on their own, they play a pivotal role by enabling stable power delivery to both CPU and RAM. A robust motherboard chipset supports advanced features like PCIe Gen 4/5 lanes for faster graphics or storage, and better VRMs for smoother power regulation, which helps if you plan to overclock your CPU or memory. The motherboard’s BIOS often has numerous tuning options that can impact gaming performance, stability, and responsiveness. In this article, we’ll also talk about how motherboard’s are tuned for their specific tier for
Key takeaway: A good motherboard ensures you can fully unlock the potential of your CPU and RAM, providing a more reliable gaming experience and facilitating better overclocking headroom.
Cooling
Cooling solutions, whether air coolers, AIO liquid coolers, or custom loops, maintain stable operating temperatures for your CPU and, indirectly, your GPU. If either component overheats, thermal throttling occurs, which means they’ll scale back performance to reduce heat. Quality cooling ensures your CPU or GPU can run at its peak boost clock speeds, especially in longer gaming sessions.
Key takeaway: Good cooling prevents performance dips caused by high temperatures, allowing your system to sustain higher clock speeds throughout extended play.
RAM (Random Access Memory)
RAM serves as a super-fast workspace for your system. When you load a game, much of its data sits in RAM to be accessed quickly. The more RAM you have, and the faster it is (in both clock speeds and timings), the less often your system needs to fetch data from slower storage drives. For gaming, 16GB is a solid baseline for most modern titles, while 32GB can help future-proof and handle heavier multitasking. When used with the motherboard’s XMP/DOCP settings, faster RAM speeds can lead to slight performance benefits in games that respond well to increased memory bandwidth.
Key takeaway: Adequate and fast RAM reduces bottlenecks, helping maintain smooth performance in memory-intensive games.
SSD (Solid State Drive)
SSDs significantly improve game load times and reduce stuttering caused by texture streaming. Having a game installed on an NVMe-based M.2 SSD, for example, means levels load quicker, textures pop in faster, and the system is more responsive overall. While an SSD won’t necessarily make your games run at higher frame rates, it cuts down on waiting, making your entire gaming experience feel snappier.
Key takeaway: Faster storage speeds up load times and reduces the risk of storage-induced hitches during gameplay.
Network
For online gaming, network hardware—like Ethernet adapters, Wi-Fi modules, and routers—becomes critical. Low latency (ping) and stable connectivity matter more than raw download/upload speeds. Motherboards often feature built-in LAN with advanced features like “GameFirst” or other traffic-shaping technologies. Some also include Wi-Fi 6/6E or 7 for better wireless performance.
Key takeaway: A stable, low-latency connection ensures smooth online gaming and helps avoid lag spikes or disconnects.
UEFI BIOS Setup
When powering on your PC you’re encountered by the loading screen but before this we have the initial BIOS screen where we can access the UEFI BIOS options.
You’ll occasionally receive miscellaneous messages here like “BIOS has reset” over time but on first start, the message will usually throw a “NEW CPU detected…”. In most cases like this, your motherboard settings would’ve reset and you will need to set up the BIOS. In this case, our ASUS motherboard will tell us to enter the BIOS by pressing F1 but DEL or F2 are usually other key options to enter the BIOS setup screen.
Depending on your motherboard, your UEFI BIOS setup screen will likely differ. For ASUS ROG motherboards, they’re usually set to enter into Advanced mode as seen above but it also has a beginner-friendly EZ Mode which which allows fast, 1-click access to most of the options we’re going to cover. That said, I won’t be using EZ Mode in this guide as the screen omits a lot of the changes needed.
Its also important to note some differences in terminologies here. Most brands will have their own technologies and their own setup screen layout so let me know in the comment if you need to understand your BIOS.
ASUS’ setup screen is text-heavy but this is the case in all other motherboards. The UEFI BIOS menu is largely a menu of all the things you can toggle on the board and motherboard makers will sort them in various ways. For ASUS, they put all performance tuning options on the AI Tweaker tab which houses controls for CPU, Memory, Voltages, Frequency, AI tuning, etc.
Intel motherboards from the LGA1700 and LGA1851 era that support the Intel Core 12th-, 13th-, and 14th- processors as well as the newer Core Ultra series processors will now have the option of choosing between Intel baseline presets and the motherboard makers performance profile. Some motherboards may go purely with Intel specs but most gaming and performance motherboards from ASUS will allow you to choose between Intel and ASUS settings.
These settings affect the power limits at which your Intel CPU operates and in most cases, it will have an effect in overall performance. By default, Intel performance sets a lower TDP target so clock speeds are lower and boost clocks are more conservative. Pushing Extreme profile bump it up to longer times that the boost frequency is at work which in most cases causes the CPU to operate much hotter.
It is highly advisable to have very decent cooling when running 250W Extreme profiles or even ASUS’ Advance OC Profile but your system can go even higher.
About No Limits and ASUS AI OC
Traditionally, Intel CPUs have been very friendly to BCLK-based, and for unlocked K-type CPUs, the CPU multiplier OC. That has changed over the years and while it is still doable, we’ve mostly been thermally limited in achieving peak performance. That said, if power and heat are manageable and the user wants to eke out some more performance, most motherboards just rely on unrestricted boosting to give you that extra bump in performance but be warned, this requires ample cooling and trust in your system.
WARNING! Removing limits and applying overclock can cause excess heat which can reduce performance if not managed properly. It’s highly recommended to carefully understand your system’s base behavior and limit before proceeding.
When we say base performance, its to get an idea of how your system performs in one profile versus another. In my case, after enabling XMP I do stress test and benchmark with OCCT Stress Test. The key things to monitor here are the clock speed and power for both the CPU and GPU. In the case of the CPU, with Intel’s default performance profile the CPU limit is quite managebale on most large air coolers and 240mm or larger AIO liquid coolers.
For Extreme and ASUS AI OC and Limits Removed, its recommended to have a very powerful 360mm or 420mm AIO at least with the only other options are exotic custom cooling and extreme modifications to your system such as delidding WHICH WILL VOID YOUR CPU WARRANTY.
Speaking of AI OC and cooling, press F11 in the ASUS UEFI BIOS will call up the AI OC feature which allows the motherboard to put its settings based on pre-analyzed information. To get the best results, its best to use the system before performing AI OC so the motherboard can get a feel of your CPU and cooling.
Under the AI Features menu, you can choose details on how the cooler profiling behaves but by default, I recommend just keeping it as is if you don’t understand the feature yet.
Power Saving Features
An interesting sub-niche in the enthusiast market are homelab DIYers who use their personal PCs as their multi-use home servers by using many of the available freeware and premium solutions to setup a VM server like Proxmox, a NAS with TrueNAS, and a whole lot more with the combination of both. Some users who set these on-premise services like to keep them up 24/7 and using readily available consumer units including older PCs as their hosts so it is a perfect opportunity to show the CPU-only system draw of our test unit as well as showing how motherboard settings influence the system.
Newer Intel CPUs can reach C10 states where the system is put in a very low power state but is still operational. This state mixed with various other power-saving features on ASUS motherboards can help bring down power draw significantly allowing very low power draw despite multiple VMs and services active which is perfect for a high-availability server. As the GPU doesn’t play much of a role here except for very niche scenarios e.g. a GPU-accelerated HandBrake service or something similar, we’re ignoring the GPU in our power draw measurement later in this guide.
ASUS motherboards allow control of onboard devices like audio, Bluetooth, Thunderbolt, and connected devices and also disabling Intel Turbo features to fully run in low power mode. Depending on which SKU processor you have, some processors can go as low as below 10W on idle for the full system and this is extremely impressive.
Gaming Performance Settings
In the charts below, we focus on two games: Cyberpunk 2077 and Counter-Strike 2. We selected these 2 to highlight the performance of a game in a AAA game scenario as well as an esports title. An important to note is that a game will also affect performance in very predictable patterns including intention for mass adoption most evident in esports games and cinematic experience common in AAA titles.
Games like Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3, Hogwarts Legacy, modern Final Fantasy series, etc. are focused on bringing vivid visual experiences on-top of their gameplay. These games are very reliant on their presentation and are very taxing on the GPU. In cases of open-world games with a living map like the Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Wilds, the CPU also gets taxed besides also managing what the GPU works on.
If you’re after the most performance, you want the system to be tuned to perform at its best. In our test system we test out our focus games at 1080p and 144op to show the difference of the difference BIOS UEFI settings that influence performance directly.
First, the performance charts:
We can see an immediate spike in performance after enabling XMP. While DDR5 is quite at base JEDEC, going from DDR5-4800 to DDR5-7200 on our test system immediately yields results as baseline stock versus baseline with XMP shows. Afterward, we start seeing slightly diminishing returns. With the differences between each configuration mostly within tolerances.
That said, its evident we have to enable our XMP memory profile to get the best performance for gaming but depending on the CPU, an overclock would not be needed and sticking with a profile that gives the best power and temprature benefit would mean more in terms of the power bills.
Content Creation
The same settings apply for content creation as with gaming but depending on the application, you may want to focus on what you want to min-max.
An Important Reminder on Stability
While it is highly preferred to not have a crashing PC there will be factors that affect this and this ensures we mitigate all of that. In the case of content creation especially client-facing multimedia projects, in most cases its better to have guaranteed render time rather than a faster one.
While games can visually show glitches or outright crash during gameplay, losses usually don’t equate to significant financial losses. For content creation like long video projects, nightly builds, VFX and 3D renders can have long processing times for their final output and while on sophisticiated firms there are workflows that have dedicated systems for these outputs, those running their own systems need to have a reliable system that won’t crash in the middle of a compile or render.
That said, it’s highly recommended to run these systems at non-overclocked settings to minimize the risk of instability BUT this is completely up to the user.
In most cases motherboard out-of-box settings are fine as long as you have decent cooling so going with a cooler that can handle at least 400W TDP is a good option to go for in keeping your multimedia system stable. But again, its important to weight the consequence of a reset if a crash happens midway through a process so tread lightly. While a 10 minute render is nothing a 50 hour render is crashing 40 hours in is not something a lot of can deal with especially under tight deadlines and weekly viz updates.
Now on to the scores:
Unlike in gaming, multimedia applications will be affected by other faster components more dramatically. In this test which combines
Power Saving Features
There will be situations where users want maximum power savings as stated in an earlier section but to quickly summarize, these are uses where you need to leave the PC running while still doing some work. This can be IoT services or entertainment services for your home but ultimately, this requires leaving your PC on. In cases like this, you’d want the system to be drawing as low as possible so with the CPU-only loaded and our system draw logged from our power meter, here’s our measurements loading with OCCT Extreme CPU stress test (AVX2):
This is an unimaginably torturous CPU test and you will never run into these kinds of workloads with exceptions of CPU renderers which is why it’s important to stress your PC first if you plan to work with content creation. Back to power draw though, I added a Maximum Power Saving profile which is the system dropped to its bare minimum with no RGB, no onboard devices, no CPU Turbo, and set to reach C10 states. Windows 11 won’t really put the system in very low power unlike a Linux setup but you get the idea.
At standard profiles, the system draw on idle are nearly uniform but having the option to cut power draw from onboard devices drops our idle power draw to 54W. While disable Turbo limits our CPU to 90W, this is completely a user decision, I can freely leave Turbo up and have the benefit of low idle draw but kicking back-up to higher Turbo can be a bit jerky sometimes and is not really a good experience for daily use.
Moving over to the other side of meter we have ASUS Advance OC Profile with All Limits removed which allows our CPU to boost all the way and push 360W of power on the CPU alone, pushing our PSU to sip 505W from the wall. This also pushing temperatures past 100*C so if that makes you queasy, you can ease on the gas a bit and drop back to Intel Performance mode or ASUS Advance OC profile’s 90*C limit.
Closing Thoughts
By now, you’ve seen how diving into the UEFI BIOS can unlock new horizons for both gaming and content creation. Whether you lean toward maximum performance, balanced power management, or ultralow consumption, today’s motherboards offer plenty of “knobs” to fine-tune and mold your PC to your exact needs.
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Start with the Basics: Ensure your system is stable at its default or XMP settings before pushing to “No Limits” or advanced overclocking.
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Cool & Power-Conscious: Keep an eye on thermals to avoid throttling and maintain smooth performance. Consider whether you really need 360 W+ CPU usage or if a lower-power mode suits your workflow better.
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Stability Over Speed (When It Counts): Don’t let a 10% gain in speed cost you hours of frustration in lost renders or crashed games. Always weigh the real-world trade-offs of overclocking.
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Know Your Needs: Gamers aiming for higher FPS may push the system more aggressively. Creators handling long renders or critical workloads might keep things conservative. Your usage should guide the BIOS tweaks.
And last one – Stay Tuned: This is just one installment of the Back2Gaming “Optimization” series, and more deep dives on Windows, SSDs, and GPU tuning are on the horizon.
