Since the BIOS might have the biggest effect (Overclocking (OC)/Underclocking (UC) & Undervolting (UV) wise) on your hardware/OS you should know what each toggle really does, every single setting is explained in the BIOS Compendium, this is basically is a must read before you even think about changing something.
Don't waste your time Googleing or searching for YouTube Video's, better read the mentioned guide, it's the best explanation and the most detailed one you can get. It regulary gets updates.
Use the following advice as per own needs (!), please do keep in mind that e.g. disabling Hyper-Threading (HT) increases the overall security since it reduce the possible attack surface however, at the same time it decreases the performance on e.g. using VM because it cripples the IPC performance drastically on Intel systems. The mentioned settings are only basic examples, it's necessary to review all BIOS settings manually and make a decision yourself, the BIOS Kompendium helps you since it explains every toggle with much details.
- Reset BIOS to "optimal defaults", some (not all) BIOS/vendors providing such an option, the "stock" settings are simply not optimized.
- Disable Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX), there is overall no benefit using it and it slightly affects the CPU performance (if used).
Disable High Precision Event Timer (HPET)because it's not needed after Windows April Update Build 1803 you can check the current status via: bcdedit /enum- Disable CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E), EIST (SpeedStep) & Cool'n'Quiet (if present and in case you want to overclock)
- Disable C-State such as CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E), C3, C6, C7, C8 (if you like to OC). Set Package C-State Limit if available to a low cstate values such as C2 or C0/C1 (lowest). nabling the CPU States causes the CPU to enter a low-power mode when the CPU is idle, this is only wanted in case you like to safe energy. The deeper the C-State (C6, C7, C8) the more latency is introduced due to the time it takes to restore the active power state.
- Set any Fast Boot Settings to
OFF: Fast boot in bios means that the PC ignores USB devices except for mouse/kb at startup. Windows 10 own "Fast Startup" is enough, however if you use FDE or if you disabled "hibernation" globally, then turn it off. - Disable Intel's Hyper-threading (optional but recommend due to security reasons)
- Set "Performance Enhance/Mode" to higher than "Standard" for faster memory timings
- Enable Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
- Set Gigabyte's Robust Graphics Booster (R.G.B) or PEG Link higher than the default, mostly "Auto".
- Set CPU PLL Voltage to the most conservative option (Normal), this will improve your overclock reliability. More doesn't traduce to better for this setting.
- Disable SecureBoot (not recommend, it has security implications on both sides!)
- CPU/PCI-E Clock Drive, CPU/MCH Clock Skew: keep them to the lowest possible (lower is better)!
- Enable Turbo Boost: Intel Turbo Boost Technology allows processor cores to run faster than the rated operating frequency if they’re operating below power, current, and temperature specification limits. Disabling this feature will reduce power usage but will reduce the system's maximum achievable performance under some workloads.
- Disable any Active State Power Management (ASPM)/Aggressive Link Power Management (ALPM) settings: Whenever such features are enabled it will automatically support low-power states which we do not want in a game session.
- Set your SATA disk controlled mode to AHCI: Starting with Vista AHCI is supported and should be enabled to avoid system drive boot issues.
- Set your Primary Display Output to your dedicated graphics card if present, disable the iGPU (integrated dedicated GPU) unless you really need it (in case your GPU is broken and you have no other option).