Computer components such as processors, GPUs, and RAM have a standard performance rating on paper. However, manufacturers are actually pretty conservative when it comes to deciding how fast their components should run.
They maintain the stability of the entire product line, which means that high-performance samples don’t perform as well as they could. With a little tweaking, you can get significant free performance from these components.
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How is it? Many of these settings must be done in the BIOS, the main firmware on your computer’s motherboard. While modern BIOS interfaces are much more user-friendly, they can still be intimidating. Below are the 5 best customization utilities that can help.
MSI Afterburner
MSI is one of the leading hardware manufacturers in the world. They manufacture virtually every component of a computer you can think of, as well as entire systems. MSI graphics cards are highly respected too, but even if you don’t have an MSI-made card, you still need to take a serious look at MSI Afterburner, their internal GPU overclocking utility.
Despite being an MSI branded product, it is open to anyone with a compatible GPU. Afterburner is considered the best GPU overclocking utility in Windows. There’s even an Android app that lets you control your GPU from your phone!
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Afterburner is very easy to use and supports the latest technology, including the advanced auto-overclocking features found in some cards. The app itself offers a variety of skins to choose from to suit almost any custom gaming PC setup.
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You can customize almost any aspect of your card, from voltage to clock speed. Afterburner also has robust on-screen display features, so you can control your map in-game by testing new settings. You can also create detailed custom fan profiles to ensure the perfect balance of noise, heat and performance. Many have tried, but now Afterburner is still king of the hill when it comes to GPU overclocking
CPU-Z & GPU Z
These two free informational configuration utilities won’t let you customize any of your components, but they are still a critical part of any system developer’s arsenal.
Each respective application provides you with detailed system information, much of which you need to know before you can strategize overclocking or otherwise tweak these components.
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In the case of CPU-Z (by CPUID), you will get accurate information about your processor model, as well as its actual voltage and clock frequency. On our test system, for example, Windows reports that the processor is clocked at 3.5 GHz, but CPU-Z correctly shows that it is actually running at nearly 4.3 GHz, which we overclocked it to.
You can also get detailed information about your motherboard and what firmware is installed on it. CPU-Z is also an ideal utility for getting information about memory settings so you can check if BIOS changes have actually taken effect.
CPU-Z (from TechPowerup!) Does the same for your GPU. You can get accurate and detailed information about all the characteristics of your GPU, as well as data from all sensors of the card in real time. It’s a great diagnostic tool and, like CPU-Z, is a good first stop before you actually touch anything in terms of GPU settings.
AMD Ryzen Master
AMD is once again keeping pace with the times, and Intel is licking its wounds with the release of the latest Ryzen processors. Finally, AMD is competing with Intel processors in terms of instructions per clock, while providing more cores per processor at very reasonable prices.
This doesn’t mean that you should be happy with the performance your Ryzen chip gives out of the box. If you’re in luck with the processor lottery and have a headroom, you can reap significant benefits from AMD’s latest energy efficient 7nm manufacturing process.
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As it turns out, it’s no surprise that AMD themselves know more about improving the performance of their hardware than anyone else. AMD Ryzen Master Tuning Utility is the easiest way to get the most out of your processor. Unlike Intel, AMD does not lock the clock multiplier on their Ryzen processors. This means that you can freely set the clock speed without affecting anything else.
AMD offers amazing customization options here. Depending on what you are doing, you can have four different performance presets for your processor. So you can have a high noise and heat preset that quickly digests video encoding, and a quiet mode that won’t hurt your ears while watching a movie. This is without a doubt the most civilized way to overclock AMD’s latest technology.
Intel Extreme Tuneup Utility
This utility from Intel is the official overclocking utility that allows you to tune your processor from Windows. This is actually a bit odd considering how strongly the company was against overclocking in the early days. This practice is now widespread, and Intel decided to go with the flow.
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Unlike AMD, Intel only unlocks the clock speed multiplier on enthusiast chips. Typically, model numbers end in “K”. This means that not many people will find this utility useful in terms of overclocking. However, you can still adjust other settings for your Intel processor, such as voltage. For example, lower CPU voltage in a laptop can increase battery life without necessarily affecting stability.
By the way, the tuning utility has built-in stress tests and performance tests, so you can make sure that the changes you make are stable. Making changes directly to the BIOS is still the preferred overclocking method for professionals, but utilities such as this make this expensive crystal much easier to use.
Ryzen DRAM Calculator
The last tuning utility on our list is designed specifically for tuning DRAM modules on Ryzen systems, but it’s actually useful for any modern computer that uses DRAM This is practically all of them.
Tuning the performance metrics of your computer’s RAM is quite difficult as there are many factors to tune. The DRAM Calculator selects the optimal combination of settings for your RAM modules to make them perform to their potential.
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If you are using a Ryzen system, the program will tell you which settings to use. However, it turned out that the suggested settings also work for Intel systems. Just use non-AMD information to configure DRAM and you will benefit greatly too.
The DRAM calculator really makes RAM setup easy. You don’t need to know what “RAS” or “CAS” is, just enter the suggested numbers and get the benefit.
Pedal on Metal
The art of tuning PC performance can be incredibly frustrating and rewarding. What started out as black art only for the most computer geeks is not as convenient as we would like.
These six tuning utilities are much of the reason almost anyone can overclock their computers to 11, and if you feel the need for speed there is no longer an excuse to hold back.
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