To access the BIOS, you’ll need to press a specific key, such as F2 or Delete, moments after switching on your computer and before the Windows loading screen appears. The look and layout of each BIOS varies depending on the motherboard manufacturer. Search for your motherboard online or consult the appropriate documentation to determine how to properly update your BIOS. This will allow you to take advantage of any new features or fixes the motherboard manufacturer has released. If you’re interested in manually fine-tuning your system settings and managing every aspect of your overclock, you should do it through the BIOS.īefore you begin the process, be sure to update your BIOS to the latest available version. Overclocking from BIOS, on the other hand, offers the most complete access to all available system performance settings. Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel® XTU), for example, is an easy-to-use option for people who are new to overclocking. You’ll also want to make sure you have the right hardware.īefore attempting BIOS overclocking, it’s worth considering software options that simplify the process.

If you’re new to overclocking and want to learn more about the fundamentals, check out this overclocking overview to get up to speed. This article assumes you have a basic understanding of what overclocking is, and how it works. Because you can change settings such as voltages and frequencies from the BIOS, it is possible to use it to manually overclock your CPU in order to achieve a higher clock speed and potentially better performance. It provides an interface that allows you to configure the hardware installed into your motherboard. BIOS (Basic Input Output System), is the software installed on your motherboard that loads before your operating system.

Msi intel extreme tuning utility