What BIOS settings should I tweak to maximize performance?

What are some BIOS settings that I should tweak to maximize performance of a dual-CPU workstation (if I don't care about power consumption)? I have an ASUS Z8NA-D6.

update

I have two Xeon x5670s on the mobo. A newer Corsair Force SSD. 16Gig Ram at 1333 (unbuffered ECC). That's about it. This is a computational warhorse. It just cranks on numbers all day (my own programs). The reason I've posted this is because I upgraded from two Xeon E5520s and I was expecting a bigger bump than I got. The mobo has a lots of things I can tweak but I have no idea what to tweak to maximize CPU performance.

SFun28

Posted 2012-08-02T04:08:58.823

Reputation: 389

1It might help a bit to talk about your other settings, current hardware - not just the motherboard, sort of work you're using the system for and any bottlenecks you are facing. – Journeyman Geek – 2012-08-02T09:04:10.250

Journeyman - good advice. I updated the post. – SFun28 – 2012-08-02T13:24:21.167

Answers

Depending on how much risk you want to take, you could overclock your processors (generates more heat, consumes more power, goes fast, and may break your processor).

Additionally, if you are running VMs (Virtual Machines) make sure that setting is enabled (if available).

Make sure your RAM is all clocked at the same rate (overclocking for RAM is also possible, but has the same risks as for the CPU). One stick of slow RAM can kill the RAM R/W rate for all of your memory.

soandos

Posted 2012-08-02T04:08:58.823

Reputation: 22 744

1Unfortunately this mobo doesn't allow overclocking. I turned off the VM feature because I'm not using VMs. I've updated my post with more info - could you have a look? much appreciated! – SFun28 – 2012-08-02T13:26:41.427

You can disable IDE and enable AHCI mode for hard disks. AHCI supports NCQ. It can help in some situation. I would also disable some cpu related switches and in general everything you don't need.

Gigamegs

Posted 2012-08-02T04:08:58.823

Reputation: 1 784

The motherboard mentioned is a Dual CPU Server motherboard with 14 SATA ports and 2 banks of 3xDDR3 slots.

The board is probably setup with that in mind - pure I/O should be very quick and the board should be very reliable, but it is probably not very well setup for overclocking and the strain that can put on capacitors or other components.

HaydnWVN

Posted 2012-08-02T04:08:58.823

Reputation: 3 192

yeah...it seems there is very little overclocking potential. – SFun28 – 2012-08-02T13:21:03.680

HaydnWVN - thanks for your insight. I updated the post with more info, could you take a look? I thought I'd get more horsepower out of my new CPUs, that's why I thought to post about mobo tweaks. – SFun28 – 2012-08-02T13:27:29.103