BIOS Settings vs OS Software

[Sov13t]

Hello gents:

In the middle of building my new system (in sig)...

Want to see the consensus here on working with BIOS directly or through the software that various motherboard manufacturers now provide. It is my understanding that working with the BIOS directly yields better and more precise results than software solutions. Is this the case?

Thanks in advance!

Have been a 'lurker' of Overclockers for a long time, best resource on the web!

[thideras]

It is better to change settings in the BIOS since you won't crash out your Windows install and possibly damage it. If it freezes at POST, you just reset the CMOS.

[Metlcub]

Go Bios to OC. Not only can software crash your system, you can usually get a better more stable OC in bios then Software.

[txus.palacios]

Short answer. BIOS tuning is always better than software tuning.

Long answer. BBBBBIIIIIOOOOOSSSSS tttttuuuuunnnnniiiiinnnnnggggg iiiiisssss aaaaalllllwwwwwaaaaayyyyysssss bbbbbeeeeettttteeeeerrrrr ttttthhhhhaaaaannnnn sssssoooooffffftttttwwwwwaaaaarrrrreeeee tttttuuuuunnnnniiiiinnnnnggggg. :D

You can blow up your Windows installation with OC software, you don't get the same "precision" with BIOS software, and, at least, I do have some little fear of using Windows software to tweak something. What if something goes wrong and the program has a bug and instead of applying 1.39v you tried to apply 1.93v. :3

[MongGrel]

Yeah, OS tweaking I used to do a little bit of but if I was doing that just playing around I'd write the settings I liked down then went and changed them in the BIOS.

In general, doing it in the OS makes me twitch a bit. I generally do everything in the BIOS these days myself :)

[v3nes]

What about turbo V? It's like a fly on overclocking, you don't modify bios until you apply settings. It's nice because you can actually see how system behave after modification before you change any setting in bios. Can this can harm my system too?

[thideras]

What about turbo V? It's like a fly on overclocking, you don't modify bios until you apply settings. It's nice because you can actually see how system behave after modification before you change any setting in bios. Can this can harm my system too?You can't really damage your hardware without insane voltage, which is usually restricted on most motherboards. The problem with overclocking in Windows is you are running the operating system with possibly unstable settings. There is a real chance that you could corrupt your Windows install.

[caddi daddi]

real overclocking happens in the bios, software is for monitoring and testing.