Intel DZ77GA-70K, Performance Tuning Manual, Page: 5 / 35

Intel DZ77GA-70K / DZ77RE-75K Desktop Board Performance Tuning Guide
5
1 Introduction
Performance tuning of Intel
®
Desktop Board DZ77GA-70K enables useful gains that
can enhance overall system performance for gaming, video editing, computation,
performance benchmarking, and other uses. Performance tuning can be done using
the board BIOS or the Intel
®
Extreme Tuning Utility.
The Intel Extreme Tuning Utility was developed for the user wanting performance
benefits while minimizing their time and involvement in the tuning process. A brief
introduction to this utility is provided in Section 1.1. Even those not considering use of
the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility for performance tuning will find the system monitoring
and stress testing features included with this software to be
useful.
This remainder of this guide focuses on using the BIOS for performance tuning of Intel
Desktop Board DZ77GA-70K. The main performance tuning focus areas include the
Intel
®
Core™ processors and the memory subsystem. The procedures and examples
included in this guide are for reference only and may not work in all situations and
system configurations.
The board is designed with a number of enhancements to support performance tuning
while protecting the user from overheating or damaging board components. These
enhancements include:
 Fan speed control — the processor and system fan speeds automatically increase
when elevated temperatures are sensed.
 Processor thermal protection — the electrical current applied to the processor is
automatically reduced when the thermal protection temperature set point is
reached.
 Processor voltage regulator heat sinks — these provide increased cooling capability
to the voltage regulation system components.
 Six-phase processor voltage regulator — component stress is reduced since overall
electrical load is distributed among six phases.
 Processor voltage regulator thermal protection — the voltage regulator current is
automatically reduced when the thermal protection temperature set point is
reached.
1.1 Intel
®
Extreme Tuning Utility
The Intel Extreme Tuning Utility software allows performance tuning and monitoring of
critical system parameters in a run-time environment on Intel Desktop Boards using
the Intel
®
X58, Intel
®
P55, and Intel
®
Z77 Express Chipsets. Additionally, the Intel
Extreme Tuning Utility is a gr
eat tool for monitoring
most Intel desktop board-based
systems and is available for download at
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/software/xtu/
Although beyond the scope of this guide, the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility Center is
another valuable resource for performance tuning.