How to build a computer
MY SUPER PC
How To Build A PC - A Computer Building Guide
Rob Williams - contact via the forums
Last Updated: 12/4/2008
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Build A Computer Like My Super PC

EPoX 8RDA+ BIOS Settings

The table below shows the BIOS settings I am using on the EPoX 8RDA+ motherboard. The BIOS is version 04/02/2003 which I flash updated myself using the BIOS flash update procedure I describe on my BIOS Flash Updates And Driver Updates page.

This BIOS optimization guide available from Adrian's Rojak Pot is an excellent general-purpose source for information on BIOS settings.

The BIOS settings I used when My Super PC included the ABIT KR7A motherboard can be found at My Super PC ABIT KR7A BIOS Settings.

Standard CMOS Features

ParameterSettingComments
IDE Primary Master IC35L080AVVA07-0 This is the IBM 120GXP 80GB hard drive. The hard drive and CD-RW should not be on the same IDE since doing so will cause them both to run at the speed of the slower device. The CD-RW is much slower than the hard drive. Placing them on separate IDEs allows them to both run at their maximum speeds.
 IDE Primary Master (sub-menu)
ParameterSettingComments
IDE Primary MasterAuto 
Access ModeAuto 
IDE Primary Slave None  
IDE Secondary Master LITE-ON LTR-40125S This is the Lite-On 40x CD-RW.
IDE Secondary Slave None  
Drive A 1.44M, 3.5 in This is the floppy drive.
Drive B None  
Floppy 3 Mode Support Disabled Floppy 3 is the Japanese standard floppy drive mode. It stores 1.2MB on a 3.5" diskette instead of 1.44MB.
Video EGA/VGA  
Halt On All, But Keyboard Halt on all errors except Keyboard Absent error. This enables the machine to boot without the keyboard plugged in.
Base Memory 640K DOS device drivers, TSRs and any programs to be run, plus their data.
Extended Memory 523264K Memory above 1 MB is known as extended memory, and is not normally usable under DOS.
Total Memory 524288K Base + Upper + Extended = Total Memory.

Advanced BIOS Features

ParameterSettingComments
Virus warning Disabled Symantec Norton Antivirus protects My Super PC.
CPU Internal Cache Enabled Of course.
External Cache Enabled Of course.
Quick Power On Self Test Enabled Skip Power On Self-Tests (POST) for faster boot.
First Boot Device HDD-0 When it's set to HDD-0 the computer does not look to see if there's a floppy disk in the floppy drive from which it should boot. Set this to Floppy for disaster recovery procedures.
Second Boot Device HDD-0 HDD-0 is the only boot device.
Third Boot Device HDD-0 Ditto.
Boot Other Device Disabled Gives the "ok" for the BIOS to try the Second Boot Device and Third Boot Device if the First Boot Device is a "no-go", but My Super PC just boots from the First Boot Device, which is the hard drive so - Disabled.
Swap Floppy Drive Disabled I've only got one floppy drive, so it's going to be A:.
Boot Up Floppy Seek Disabled Skipping this check makes the boot go a bit faster.
Boot Up NumLock Status Off This item is a matter of personal taste.
Gate A20 Option Fast For best performance.
Typematic Rate Setting Enabled  
Typematic Rate (Chars/Sec) 30 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 24, 30
Typematic Delay (Msec) 250 250, 500, 750, 1000. This is the delay, in milliseconds, before the keyboard automatically repeats the keystroke that you have pressed continuously.
Security Option Setup If you have set a password, select whether the password is required every time the System boots, or only when you enter Setup. I don't even have a password set, so it's a moot point.
APIC Mode Disabled Setting to Enabled can cause instabilities. Once the operating system is installed, such as Windows XP in my case, this setting cannot be changed without reinstalling the operating system, regardless of whether the initial setting is Disabled or Enabled. The purpose of setting it to Enabled is to extend the number of IRQ's, which sounds like a real risky proposition. The number of IRQ's should be fine without being extended.
MPS Version Control For OS 1.4 Not changeable with APIC Mode set to Disabled.
OS Select For DRAM > 64MB Non-OS2 IBM's relic.
HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability Disabled It's no use having it set to Enabled unless you're also running software that monitors the S.M.A.R.T. status, and who does? Setting to Disabled will give best performance.
Full Screen LOGO Show Disabled  
Small Logo(EPA) Show Disabled  

Advanced Chipset Features

.
ParameterSettingComments
System Performance Expert This value lets you make whatever changes you like.
CPU Clock Ratio Default  
FSB Frequency 166 MHz The value for FSB Frequency should correspond to the FSB of the processor in the system:
  • a value of 100 MHz for a 200 FSB processor
  • a value of 133 MHz for a 266 FSB processor
  • a value of 166 MHz for a 333 FSB processor
  • a value of 200 MHz for a 400 FSB processor

  • If you don't know the FSB of the processor (it should be plainly stated as part of the product description when it's purchased) then you may be able to determine it from the numbers on the processor core as described on my Processor page.
    CPU Interface Aggressive  
    Memory Frequency 100% Adjust this so that the next setting has the right value for the type of RAM being used.
    Resulting Frequency 166MHz The value for Resulting Frequency should correspond to the type of RAM in the system:
  • a value of 100 MHz for PC1600 RAM
  • a value of 133 MHz for PC2100 RAM
  • a value of 166 MHz for PC2700 RAM
  • a value of 200 MHz for PC3200 RAM
  • Memory Timings Optimal This value causes the next set of parameters to become set to the recommended most stable settings for the type of RAM installed. If you instead use a value of Expert here then you can tweak the next set of parameters. But I've tried that and it always caused instability, so I'll stick with the Optimal settings which are stable.
    T(RAS) 7 Active to precharge. The following values are recommended to improve stability with no real los of performance. A value of 7 for PC2700 memory, a value of 6 for PC2100 memory and a value of 5 for PC2100 memory. The value of 7 is automatically set by the BIOS by setting Memory Timings to Optimal.
    T(RCD) 3 Active to CMD.
    T(RP) 3  
    CAS Latency 2.5  
    FSB Spread Spectrum Disabled  
    AGP Spread Spectrum Disabled  
    AGP Aperture Size (MB) 64M The BIOS optimization guide reference from Adrian's Rojak Pot above provides a great description of how this should be set and why. A value of 64MB is best for most configurations.
    AGP Frequency 66 MHz This is the only correct value, so use this even over other allowable values such as Auto.
    AGP 8X Support Enabled If you don't have an 8X AGP video card then set this to Disabled.
    AGP Fast Write Capability Enabled  
    CPU Thermal-Throttling Disabled If your CPU runs hot then you can try using different values here.
    System BIOS Cacheable Disabled This feature is only valid when the system BIOS (F0000-FFFFF) is shadowed. It greatly speeds up accesses to the system BIOS. However, this does not translate into much better system performance because the OS does not need to access the system BIOS much. As such, it would be a waste of L2 cache bandwidth to cache the system BIOS instead of data that are more critical to the system's performance. In addition, if any program writes into this memory area, it will result in a system crash.
    Video BIOS Cacheable Disabled Set to Disabled for best performance. That may sound backwards from what you'd expect. But yes, Disabled.

    Integrated Peripherals

    ParameterSettingComments
    OnChip IDE Channel0 Enabled Enables the first IDE interface, which for My Super PC has the hard drive on the primary.
    Primary Master PIO Auto Set all of these to Auto and let the BIOS determine if each drive is capable of DMA support, and its respective PIO mode.
    Primary Slave PIO Auto Ditto.
    Primary Master UDMA Auto Ditto.
    Primary Slave UDMA Auto Ditto.
    OnChip IDE Channel1 Enabled For the second IDE interface, which for My Super PC has the CD-RW on the primary.
    Secondary Master PIO Auto  
    Secondary Slave PIO Auto  
    Secondary Master UDMA Auto  
    Secondary Slave UDMA Auto  
    IDE Prefetch Mode Enabled For best performance.
    Init Display First Onboard/AGP Set to AGP if your primary display is your AGP adapter, or to PCI if the primary display is a PCI video card.
    OnChip USB V1.1+V2.0 EPoX 8RDA+ supports both USB V1.1 and the newer, faster USB V2.0.
    USB Keyboard Support Disabled I'm not using a USB keyboard and mouse.
    Enhance USB Compatibility Disabled
    AC97 Speaker At POST Disabled This is something that was added later, and with a default value of Disabled, so my guess is there was some problem with it being enabled during the Power On Self Test. I don't see any reason to enable it anyway, so I'll leave it Disabled.
    AC97 Audio Auto It can be set to a value of Disabled if you decide to use an add-on sound card.
    MAC Lan(nVIDIA) Disabled I'm not using the on-board LAN to connect to the internet. Looks like some kind of Apple Computer thing though, doesn't it?
    Machine MAC(NV) Address Disabled I don't need to enter a MAC address since I'm not using the on-board LAN.
    MAC(NV) Address Input Press Enter You'd go into this sub-menu to enter the MAC address if you are using it.
    OnChip 1394 Auto Enables the built-in support for FireWire (IEEE 1394). I don't actually have any FireWire devices at the moment, but this could come in handy in the future.
    1394 GUID Disabled  
    1394 GUID Input Press Enter  
    IDE DMA transfer access Enabled  
    IDE HDD Block Mode Enabled For best hard drive performance. Windows NT 4.0 users should set this to Disabled unless they can confirm they have been updated with a Service Pack that will work with it.
    POWER ON Function BUTTON ONLY  
    KB Power ON Password enter Since I only use the power button to turn on My Super PC, this parameter is not applicable.
    Hot Key Power ON Ctrl-F1 Ditto.
    Onboard FDC Controller Enabled Enables the Floppy Disk Controller.
    Onboard Serial Port 1 3F8/IRQ4 Standard
    Onboard Serial Port 2 2F8/IRQ3 Standard
    UART Mode Select Normal If you are using an infra-red device then you would set this to the infra-red mode of the device. Since I don't have any infra-red devices, this values configures the second serial port as just a plain, normal serial port. And the next 4 parameters are not used since they have to do with infra-red settings.
    RxD , TxD Active Hi,Lo  
    IR Transmission Delay Enabled  
    IR2 Duplex Mode Half  
    Use IR Pins IR-Rx2Tx2  
    Onboard Parallel Port 378/IRQ7 Standard.
    Parallel Port Mode SPP Set this to SPP unless you have a device or printer that specifically requires use of ECP/EPP modes such as a parallel port scanner, zip drive, etc.
    EPP Mode Select EPP1.9 Not changeable since Parallel Port Mode is set to SPP.
    EPP Mode Use DMA 3 Ditto.
    PWRON After PWR-Fail Off  
    Game Port Address 201 Standard.
    Midi Port Address 330 Standard.
    Midi Port IRQ 10 Standard.

    Power Management Setup

    ParameterSettingComments
    ACPI Function Enabled  
    ACPI Suspend Type S1(POS)  
    Power Management User Define My Super PC does not use the Suspend power saving mode.
    Video Off Method DPMS Support Use this setting if you have a PnP capable monitor.
    HDD Power Down Disabled  
    HDD Down In Suspend Disabled  
    Soft-Off By PWRBTN Instant-Off You don't want slow death.
    WOL(PME#) From Soft-Off Disabled I don't use soft power off, so I don't need any kind of wake-up signal.
    WOR(RI#) From Soft-Off Disabled Ditto.
    USB Resume from S3/S4 Disabled Ditto.
    Power-On by Alarm Disabled Ditto.
    Time of Alarm 0: 0: 0  

    PnP/PCI Configurations

    ParameterSettingComments
    Reset Configuration Data Disabled Normally leave this Disabled. But if, for example, you add a new card and the subsequent system reconfiguration causes a serious conflict of resources (maybe the OS won't boot) then setting this to Enabled is a solution to be considered.
    Resources Controlled By Auto (ESCD) Let the BIOS figure out IRQ's and DMA channels.
    IRQ Resources Press Enter Inaccessible since I've selected a value of Auto for the previous pararmeter.
    PCI/VGA Palette Snoop Disabled The VGA "palette" is the set of colors that are in use by the videocard when it is in 256-color mode. Since there are thousands of colors and only 256 can be used in that mode, a palette containing the current colors is used. Some special VGA cards, high-end hardware MPEG decoders, etc. need to be able to look at the video card's VGA palette to determine what colors are currently in use. Enabling this feature turns on this palette "snoop". This option is only very rarely needed. It should be left at "Disabled" unless a video device specifically requires the setting enabled upon installation.
    Assign IRQ for VGA Enabled Set to Yes if you are using an AGP video card.
    PCI Latency Tmer(CLK) 32 A value of 32 is typically used, but other values may provide better performance depending on the PCI usage in a particular computer. The only way to know for sure is to try the different values and see how it impacts performance.
    INT Pin 1 Assignment Auto The more the BIOS automatically figures out the IRQ settings the better I like it.
    INT Pin 2 Assignment Auto Ditto.
    INT Pin 3 Assignment Auto Ditto.
    INT Pin 4 Assignment Auto Ditto.

    PC Health Status

    ParameterSettingComments
    Show PC Health in POST Disabled  
    CPU Warning Temperature Disabled Once I've built the computer and verified it's temperatures are acceptable, I stop worrying about it. If you do want to keep tabs on your computer's temperature then a better approach is to use a utility such as Motherboard Monitor.
    Shutdown Temperature Disabled Ditto.

    Power BIOS Features

    ParameterSettingComments
    CPU Voltage Regulator Default  
    AGP Voltage Regulator 1.5V  
    DIMM Voltage Regulator 2.63V  


    Next: Build A Computer Like My Super PC - Assemble

    My complete recommendations for building a computer with quality components at unbeatable prices is on my home page at Build A Computer Like My Super PC - Cost To Build A Computer. Here again are the recommendations for a motherboard!
    Description Where I Would Get It Today Today's Price Comments

    Motherboards - Intel Socket LGA775
    Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4
    Newegg
    $219.99 Free shipping! Clicking the link takes you directly to it. This solid Gigabyte motherboard for socket LGA775 (Intel) processors is featured rich, in a take no prisoners kind of way.

    Bundles, Barebone Kits
    AMD Bundles
    TigerDirect
    Varies Clicking the link takes you directly to the page for bundles and systems. All of the components in My Super PC were purchased separately so that I got exactly what I wanted. But if you come across a bundle you like then you can be sure that all of the components are compatible. Bundles typically include at least the processor and motherboard, but can include much more.
    Intel Bundles
    TigerDirect
    Varies Clicking the link takes you directly to Intel bundles and systems.
    Combo Deals
    Newegg
    Varies Clicking the link takes you directly to the combo deals page. Once there you can search by category, such as "AMD Motherboards" and brand, such as "ASUS".



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      Introduction/Cost To Build A Computer
      Computer Building Price Considerations
      faq: OEM Definition
      Case And Power Supply
      Processor
      Motherboard
      RAM
      Video Card
      Sound Card
      Hard Drive
      faq: Can I Use My Old Hard Drive With A New Computer?
      CD-ROM And CD-RW
      DVD
      Change The Front Panel On The DVD RW
      Flat Panel LCD Monitor
      Other Computer Hardware
      Windows Operating System
      Firewall
      Sharing Cable Modem or DSL
      CPU Cooler And Case Fans
      Overclocking
      How Fast Is It?
      Assemble
      What Problems Were There?
      More About How To Get A Cheap Computer With Top Quality And High Performance
      Changes For A Game Computer And Enjoying Computer Games
      Changes For A Computer With MP3 Music As A Priority
      Media Center PC
      Help And Support
      faq: How Can I Tell What I Already Have In My Computer?

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