Help setting up GA-Z77X-UD3H BIOS please!

[ratchet]

I've recently purchased the GA-Z77X-UD3H motherboard and an Intel Core i5 3570K processor as I wanted the Intel 4000 integrated graphics.  I'm building my first PC at the young age of 64.  Thus I have no interest in ever gaming or overclocking.  Having said that, I admit this system, including 8gb (2x4) of RAM is overkill for my needs!

While gathering my parts I came to realize that there seems to be a correlation between motherboard features, price and the number and type of connections.  I wanted internal SATA III, USB 3.0 and a number of fan headers.  Most if not all "H" boards were quickly ruled out as were many of the lower priced "Z" boards.  So I had to purchase a board with many features I'll never use.

I'll enable AHCI when I first power the build, as I'm going to be using a SSD.  Will many of the features designed for overclockers be enabled/disabled by default?   Given that I'll never overclock or game, what BIOS settings would you recommend I enable/disable?  Thank you!

[pdicamillo]

The recommended starting point for the BIOS settings is to load the optimized default settings. Those setting include AHCI being enabled, and don't specify any CPU overclocking. There is one memory setting you may want to change. The memory Performance Enhance setting defaults to Turbo. There is a lot of confusion about that setting, but as far I can tell, the most conservative setting is to change it to Normal, and that's what I do.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi and welcome.

Yes I agree. Just load Optimised BIOS Defaults, disable the full screen logo and set the Primary Boot Drive to your SSD and you should almost be there. You don't say what memory you are using but if it is anything above 1333mhz speed chances are it will have a XMP attached. This just sets it up to run at full speed. Just go to the memory setting and enable this setting. It should then say Profile 1.

There are other settings you can play with but they are the most important from your view. As you say make sure that you enable AHCI before running setup for the OS.