Quickly press [Delete] as your computer starts up to enter your PC’s BIOS. This is where you set your system for better performance—no matter what OS you’re running.
Flashers
Before anything else, if your BIOS version is over a year or two old, chances are your motherboard manufacturer has released an updated version that will significantly increase performance and stability. If the flashing process is interrupted, your motherboard will be rendered useless: flashing is therefore not for the faint hearted. Get your system assembler to update your BIOS.
Basic BIOS tweaks
Here are some generic BIOS tips to increase performance. The gains are limited, but the tweaks aren’t as risky as over clocking.
Hack Your BIOS For Faster Startups
Most people don’t realise that you can also speed up the time your computers to get to Windows.
Quick Power On Self Test (POST) When you choose this option, your system runs an abbreviated POST rather than the normal
Single Boot Device
Firstly, set the First Boot Device to your C: drive and disable the Second, Third and Other boot devices. On the rare occasions when you need to boot from a floppy or CD, a deft move on [Delete], and changing the First Boot Device option to Floppy or CD will remedy the situation.
Quickening Read Command
Change the ‘CAS Latency Time’ from 3 to 2—this reduces the amount of time your RAM waits before it starts a ‘read’ command.
Stop Delaying Signals
Change the ‘RAS-to-CAS Delay’ and the ‘RAS Pre- charge Time’ to 2—this reduces the delay between signals and lets the memory refresh faster.
Stop looking for viruses
Make sure that the boot up virus checking option is disabled to increase boot times significantly.
Boot Up Floppy Seek
Disable this option. When it’s enabled, your system spends a few extra seconds looking for your floppy drive, a relatively pointless procedure, especially considering how infrequently you use your floppy drive.
Got a Graphics Card – No Problem
If you have a graphics card with over 16 MB of memory, disable ‘Video RAM Cacheable’. Set the initial display card as either PCI or AGP, and not ‘Auto’, depending on the configuration of your graphics card and Disable the Video BIOS Shadow.
Disable ‘Memory Hole’. Disable ‘Passive Release’. Disable ‘Delayed Transaction’. Choose PCI or AGP for ‘Init Display First’, as per your display card. Set the KBC Input Clock to 16 MHz. This setting is related to the Super I/O chip. The AGP Aperture size determines how much of your system RAM is shared with your graphics card, to help it function smoothly. Set it according to the amount of RAM on your system: If you have 128 MB or more, set it to 64 MB or 32 MB. If you have less than 128 MB of RAM, set this to half or quarter the amount of RAM you have—if you have 96 MB, set this to 48 MB, or 24 MB, etc. Make sure you allot at least 16 MB to the graphics card.
Boot Delay
Some systems let you delay booting after you turn on your PC so that your hard drive gets a chance to start spinning before boot up. Most likely, you don ‘t need to have this boot delay, so turn it off. If you run into problems, however, you can always turn it back on again.
