At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Top notch motion clarity Professional design with significant use of metal Great image quality and color performance Broad adaptive sync support Cons Only 1440p resolution No USB-C HDR isn’t as bright as some OLED monitors Our Verdict The Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF is among the first 500Hz QD-OLED monitors. It doesn’t beat Asus’ take on the concept, but there’s a couple good reasons to buy the Samsung instead. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 Retailer Price $849.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF is an unusual display, not just because it has a 500Hz QD-OLED panel. Though it has a super-high-refresh panel capable of handling world-class competitive esports, the G60SF also delivers a classy design and a matte display coat that maximizes usability in a wide range of lighting. Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 (G60SF) specs and features The Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF, known more simply as the Odyssey OLED G6, is all about the refresh rate, which reaches as high as 500Hz. As of late October 2025, it’s one of just three QD-OLED monitors to provide a 500Hz refresh. The others are the Asus ROG Strix XG27AQDPG, which I’ve previously reviewed, and the MSI MAG 272QP QD-OLED X50. Display size: 26.5-inch 16:9 aspect ratio Native resolution: 2560×1440 Panel type: QD-OLED Refresh rate: 500Hz Adaptive Sync: Yes, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, G-Sync compatible HDR: VESA DisplayHDR 500 Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-B Upstream, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 downstream, 3.5mm audio jack Audio: None Additional features: RGB-LED lighting ring on rear of monitor Price: $999.99 MSRP And it’s really the refresh rate that will carry the Odyssey G60SF to victory, or defeat, because it’s otherwise a typical QD-OLED monitor. It sticks to 1440p resolution and lacks USB-C. The monitor’s MSRP is $999.99, which is $100 more than the Asus alternative. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best gaming monitors for comparison. Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF design The Odyssey OLED G60SF’s design is a win. Samsung switched to a new, more professional look a couple generations ago, and the Odyssey G60SF delivers the best rendition available. The rear of the monitor is made of sleek, silver metal—not plastic, like most competitors—and looks more like a high-end professional monitor than a gaming display. Whether you prefer the Asus or the Samsung depends on the aesthetic you’re going for but, personally, I like the Asus better. Though it’s mostly demure, the G60SF does add some flair with an attractive RGB-LED light ring. The ring can be customized and includes CoreSync, a feature that syncs the LED light with content shown on-screen for a more immersive experience. The LED lights are dim, though, so CoreSync isn’t that noticeable unless your gaming den is very dark. Matthew Smith / Foundry The G60SF is attached to a sturdy stand with a small, flat base that minimizes the space it occupies on your desk. Most competitors have swapped to this style of stand in recent years, but it’s still worth mention, as wider tripod-style stands are still found on some gaming monitors. The stand adjusts for height, tilt, swivel, and can pivot 90 degrees (up to 92 degrees, to be precise) for use in portrait orientation. A 100x100mm VESA mount is also available for use with third-party monitor stands and arms. Most 27-inch gaming monitors in this price range have the same features, but it’s good to see Samsung nail the fundamentals. Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF connectivity and audio The Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF’s connectivity is disappointing, though no more so than its competition. Video connectivity includes two HDMI 2.1 and one DisplayPort 1.4 for a total of three video inputs, which is typical for a gaming monitor. However, the monitor lacks USB-C and instead offers just two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, both driven by a USB-B upstream port. As mentioned, this is typical for a high-refresh gaming OLED. The Asus ROG Strix XG27AQDPG has the same port layout. The MSI MAG 272QP QD-OLED X50 does include a USB-C port, but it has just 15 watts of Power Delivery, which isn’t enough to supply a Windows laptop. Some 4K OLED monitors, like the MSI MPG 272URX, provide USB-C with 65 watts or 90 watts of Power Delivery, which is great if you want to connect a laptop alongside a desktop. The MSI is a 4K 240Hz monitor, so it’s not a direct competitor to the 500Hz Samsung—but it’s something to keep in mind. Speakers are not included. That’s common for a gaming monitor, as most gamers prefer to use a headset or desktop speakers. A 3.5mm audio pass-through is provided. Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF menus The Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF provides an easy-to-use joystick tucked slightly off-center behind the monitor’s right lower lip. It’s used to navigate a legible, well-organized menu system. The font size is slightly smaller than I might prefer, but should be readable for most people. I’m less enthused about the range of image quality options. Unlike the Asus XG27AQDPG, the Samsung G60SF doesn’t provide precisely targeted gamma or color temperature values and has a very slim number of image quality presets. As the SDR testing will show, this doesn’t mean the image quality is worse—but it does make the image quality a bit more annoying to tune. If you want a gamma of 2.4, for example, you can’t switch to that, but instead have to guess which of the provided gamma settings comes close to the gamma value you want to see. Samsung also lacks a Windows app that surfaces all or most monitor features within Windows itself. Most competitors, including Asus and Alienware/Dell, offer software with that functionality. Samsung does provide Samsung Display Manager, but it largely exists for Windows management, not control of monitor features. Matthew Smith / Foundry Together, the sometimes vague menu settings and lack of a Windows app for monitor control put the G60SF at a disadvantage. It’s not an issue if you tend to tune your monitor’s settings once and then never touch them again. But if you often change settings—perhaps because you want an AdobeRGB mode for work, but then a Game mode for play—the G60SF’s limitations could prove annoying. Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF SDR image quality The Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF has (surprise!) a Samsung QD-OLED panel. This type of OLED panel has become the gold standard for OLED monitors, with only LG’s WOLED providing competition. Which is extremely relevant, because some LG WOLED monitors achieve refresh rate up to 480Hz. Indeed, all the monitors I’ve included in the graph below are OLED or WOLED monitors with a refresh rate of 500Hz or 480Hz. Matthew Smith / Foundry The Odyssey G60SF gets off to a good start with an SDR brightness of up to 320 nits, which is a great result for an OLED monitor. As of 2024, a brightness of around 250 nits was more common—but we’re now starting to see 300 nits or more from flagship displays. A higher maximum brightness means the G60SF works better in rooms with bright lighting or many sunlit windows. Samsung’s matte display finish also helps with readability and provides an important reason shoppers might choose the G60SF over a competitor. Most OLED monitors have a glossy finish, which enhances perceived contrast and vibrance, at the cost of increased glare and reflections. The G60SF takes the opposite path, with minimal glare at the cost of reduced perceived contrast and vibrance. Personally, I prefer Samsung’s approach, though your opinion may differ. Keep in mind that the Asus ROG Strix XG27AQDPG, the other 500Hz QD-OLED currently available, has a glossy finish. Matthew Smith / Foundry Next up is contrast, where all the OLED monitors offer identical performance. They have an effectively infinite contrast ratio because they can reach a minimum brightness of zero nits. All of these monitors have an immersive, deep image, and they’re great for watching Netflix or playing darker games, like Path of Exile 2 or the latest Silent Hill. Samsung’s matte display finish helps with readability and provides an important reason shoppers might choose the G60SF over its glossy-finish competitors. As mentioned earlier, the G60SF’s finish has an impact on perceived contrast. This occurs because of how light scatters differently across a matte panel finish as compared to a glossy finish. This doesn’t change the minimum luminance of each panel, however. The practical effect is that the XG27AQPDG may seem to be a bit more contrast rich than the G60SF. I can notice this, but as mentioned, I personally prefer the reduced glare of a matte finish over the enhanced perceived contrast of glossy. Your mileage may vary. Matthew Smith / Foundry Color gamut is a win for the G60SF, which can display up to 100 percent of sRGB, 98 percent of DCI-P3, and 95 percent of AdobeRGB. The Asus ROG Strix XG27AQDPG, which has the same QD-OLED panel, is more or less tied with the G60SF. But competitors with the LG WOLED panel, such as the LG Ultragear 27GX790-AB, Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDP, and Sony M10S, all have a slightly more narrow color gamut at 96 percent of DCI-P3 and 88 to 90 percent of AdobeRGB. With that said, though, all of these monitors have a very wide color gamut, and all of them will generally look vibrant and vivid in colorful content. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend one over the other solely because of the color gamut. But if vivid color is your top priority, the G60SF will do the trick. Matthew Smith / Foundry The G60SF also delivers excellent color accuracy with a very low average color error and no single color showing an error value beyond 2, which is a great result. In general, the image looks incredibly lifelike and shows no obvious inaccuracies. To be honest, all OLED monitors tend to perform well here—but it does seem that the QD-OLED monitors have an edge over the WOLED competition. Gamma and color temperature were a slight miss for the G60SF. The default gamma value was 2.3, slightly off the target of 2.2, which means the image can look a bit darker than it should. Many OLED monitors have this problem, but the Asus XG27AQDPG managed to hit the target gamma of 2.2. The G60SF also displayed a color temperature of 6200K, which is a bit warmer than the target of 6500K. And because the G60SF’s menu has less precise gamma and color temperature options than the Asus, you may have more difficulty tuning these settings than you would with other displays. Sharpness is a weak point, as to be expected for a 1440p OLED display. While sharpness has improved in the latest panels, we’re still talking about a pixel density of about 110 pixels per inch across the 26.5-inch display. That’s not bad, but 4K ups that to roughly 163 pixels per inch, which is a big increase. And, of course, many 4K monitors are available at prices similar to, or less than, the G60SF. Still, the G60SF’s overall image quality is great, as typical for a QD-OLED display. It doesn’t perform any better than its competitors, but also no worse, and the matte display coat gives the G60SF a unique selling point that sets it apart from the alternatives. Samsung Odyssey G60SF HDR image quality I went into the Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF hot off my review of the Asus ROG Strix XG27AQDPG, the other 500Hz QD-OLED currently available. And the Asus was great in HDR, so I expected the same from the Samsung. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed. Matthew Smith / Foundry While I tried to coax the highest brightness possible from the G60SF with the monitor’s Peak Brightness setting and Active HDR tone mapping, the highest sustained brightness I recorded was 678 nits. The Asus, meanwhile, achieved up to 953 nits. It’s also brighter than the G60SF in all HDR scenarios. The difference was large enough that I could easily notice it in subjective viewing. The Asus’ brightness can strike like lightning—sometimes literally, as is the case in the “Into the Storm” scene from Mad Max: Fury Road. The G60SF still looks great, but it didn’t sear my eyes with the same brilliance. With that said, the G60SF’s HDR performance is still decent overall, and comparable to a variety of OLED alternatives. It’s a fine pick for HDR—but definitely not the best. Samsung Odyssey G60SF motion performance But odds are you’re not buying the G60SF for HDR. You’re buying it for motion clarity which, though not technically at odds with HDR, kinda is in practice—because most scenarios where you’d game at 500Hz are not scenarios where you’d want to be using HDR. Motion clarity is what matters most here, and the G60SF delivers. As I said in my review of the Asus ROG Strix XG27AQDPG, and in 480Hz monitors before that, the motion clarity of an ultra-high-refresh OLED really must be seen to be believed. Scrolling test images for a game like DOTA 2 shows that virtually all detail is visible, right down to the names above characters and the ticks in hitpoint bars. Samples of scrolling text also show incredible clarity. The text is nearly as easy to read as when it’s sitting still. To be clear, I don’t think there’s any noticeable difference in clarity between the new 500Hz QD-OLED monitors and the 480Hz LG WOLED monitors from 2024. Still, 500Hz is really something, and players who crave impeccable clarity for competitive esports play are going to love it. Frame pacing will be smooth, as well, if you engage AMD FreeSync Premium Pro or Nvidia G-Sync. Both adaptive sync standards are supported. While the G60SF is great for motion clarity, the Asus XG27AQDPG has an extra feature called Extreme Low Motion Blur. This inserts blank, black frames between existing frames which, due to how humans perceive motion, has the effect of reducing motion blur. ELMB doesn’t work beyond 240Hz, so it doesn’t provide the Asus an absolute motion clarity advantage. However, it does provide slightly improved clarity at lower refresh rates, like 120Hz or 240Hz. That can be helpful, because many games won’t render at a frame rate high enough to exceed 240Hz. That gives Asus an edge in overall motion clarity. It’s a small one, however, and does require that you take the time to activate ELMB, since it doesn’t engage automatically. Should you buy the Samsung Odyssey G60SF? The Samsung Odyssey OLED G60SF is a great choice if you want an OLED monitor with excellent motion clarity. It provides a rich, vibrant, bright 1440p image at up to 500Hz. The G60SF faces only one problem: The Asus ROG Strix XG27AQPDG, which has the same Samsung QD-OLED panel, is slightly better overall. The Asus alternative provides better HDR performance, includes ELMB for better motion clarity at 120Hz and 240Hz refresh rates, and is a bit more feature-rich overall with extras like a tripod mount on the top of the stand and a Windows app for managing monitor features. With that said, I find myself in an odd position as a reviewer because, if I were choosing between these monitors today, I would personally buy the Samsung. I prefer Samsung’s design. I also prefer the matte finish on the Samsung panel over the glossy finish on the Asus. So, while the Asus inarguably offers more features at a lower MSRP, the G60SF is still a great 500Hz monitor—and it might be the one to buy, depending on your preferences. Read...

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Aside from its various processor, memory, and device capacity improvements, the new Philips Hue Bridge Pro comes with a killer feature: the ability to turn your existing Hue lights into motion sensors. I’ve been testing this functionality for the past few weeks, and yes, it works. Getting it to work the way I want it to, however, has been a challenge.  First, a little background. Unveiled in September and on sale now, the Philips Hue Bridge Pro packs a faster, quad-core 1.7 GHz Cortex A-35 CPU and a gigabyte of DDR4 SDRAM, which allow the hub to handle more than 150 Hue devices, or roughly three times as many as the standard Hue Bridge.  The new Hue Bridge Pro can also connect to your home network via Wi-Fi, meaning it doesn’t need to be tethered to your router by an ethernet cable. (I’ve been testing the Bridge Pro on Wi-Fi mode and haven’t had any connectivity issues). Those processing and networking improvements make for an impressive upgrade on their own, but the Hue Bridge Pro ($98.99) also boasts another cool feature: MotionAware, which monitors motion-induced disruptions to the Zigbee signals Hue lights use for communication, effectively turning your smart lights into motion sensors. Given that an indoor Hue motion sensor costs $50, the Hue Bridge Pro’s ability to make your Hue lights motion-aware practically pays for itself. MotionAware does have limitations. For starters, there must be at least three MotionAware-capable Hue lights in a given motion zone for the feature to work (you can also add a fourth light if you like). Also, not all Hue lights support MotionAware functionality; Hue says 95 percent of its lights will do the MotionAware trick, but my portable Hue Go table lamps didn’t make the cut, nor did my third-party Zigbee bulbs.  Given that a standard Hue motion sensor costs $50, the Hue Bridge Pro’s ability to make your Hue lights motion-aware practically pays for itself. Aside from the technical limitations, there are some MotionAware features that aren’t free. Namely, if you want your MotionAware motion zones to trigger security alerts, you’ll need to sign up for a Secure MotionAware plan for $1 a month, or $10 a year. (A 30-day free trial is available.) If you simply want MotionAware to turn your lights on and off, that functionality is free, and that’s what I’ve been testing. Setting up a MotionAware motion zone is a simple process. Starting from the Hue app’s Settings menu, you tap on Motion areas, then tap the “+” button; you’ll then see which of your rooms and zones in the Hue app have enough Motion Aware-ready lights for a motion zone.   In my case, I could add motion zones in my kitchen, main bedroom, and office; the dining room wouldn’t work because of the four Hue lights in there, two of them are the non-MotionAware compatible Hue Go portable table lamps, while other areas didn’t have enough Hue lights to create a zone. I elected to create a single motion zone in the kitchen, the most highly trafficked area in our apartment.  Next, you choose which lights to add to the zone; Hue recommends picking lights that are between three and 23 feet apart, and at varying heights. You’ll also want to choose lights that border the general area where you want motion to be detected. Once you pick the Hue lights to include in the motion zone, the Hue app will ask you to leave the area so it can calibrate the lights in the zone; the process takes roughly 20 seconds.  You’ll need at least three MotionAware-capable Hue lights in a room to create a motion zone.Ben Patterson/Foundry Finally, you pick which lights your MotionAware-enabled motion zone will control (you can pick lights in the same room as the motion zone, or in a different room), and then you decide what happens when your new motion zone detects motion—or, on the flip side, when it doesn’t detect motion. (Again, I only tested MotionAware’s ability to control lights, not its security features.)  The Hue app gives you various time slots that allow you to customize the behavior of a motion zone. You start with three time slots, set roughly to morning, evening, and nighttime; you can add more slots as needed, as well as adjust when the slots begin and end, but you can’t designate a different set of time slots for individual days of the week or for the weekend.  For each time slot, you then choose what happens when motion is detected, and what happens after a set period (anywhere between a minute to 60 minutes) of no motion being detected.   Picking what happens when motion is detected is fairly straightforward; you can choose any light scene (either a preset Hue scene or one you’ve customized), or choose “Last on state” or “Do nothing.” For what happens after no motion is detected, the choices are far more limited: just “Off,” “Do nothing,” or “Return to previous state.”  Aside from those settings, each time slot offers a “Do not disturb” option that will prevent your motion zone from altering the behavior of lights that are already on. There’s also an overall “Daylight settings” option that will keep your motion zones from triggering your lights during daylight hours.  As for the actual performance of Hue’s MotionAware technology, I found it to work more or less as advertised. My kitchen lights reliably detected motion whenever I or my family members walked into the area, and sensed that activity had ceased once we left the room.  There were several occasions when the lights would turn off after we’d been sitting at the kitchen table for too long (a common foible for motion sensors in general), but upping the MotionAware sensitivity setting cut down on those instances. Boosting the sensitivity up too high will put your motion zone on a hair trigger, of course.  The Hue app lets you create different time slots for your motion zones (left) as well as what happens when motion is detected (center) or not detected (right). Ben Patterson/Foundry But while I was satisfied with the basic MotionAware performance, I was less happy with the design of Hue’s motion zone settings, which I found needlessly complicated and nitpicky.   My main complaint is the inability to have a motion zone trigger a light scene when your MotionAware lights stop detecting motion—namely, I like my under-cabinet Hue light strip to stay on during the day even when my overhead Hue lights are off.   Theoretically, this could be achieved with the “Return to previous state” option, but picking that setting led to unpredictable results, depending on what the “previous state” actually was. Maybe it was just my failure to comprehend the “previous state” concept, but I eventually gave up and settled for the “Off” option.  Then there’s the matter of disabling motion detection for certain time slots—for example, I don’t want my kitchen lights automatically turning off while we’re eating breakfast in the morning. Hue’s MotionAware-enabled motion zones do work. How they work could use some tweaking. Again, selecting the “Do nothing” for both the “When motion is detected” and “After” settings should effectively motion control of your lights for a given time slot, but I still ran into instances where the lights would unexpectedly dim or turn off during the breakfast time slot.   I don’t think there’s anything broken on the Hue app or with my MotionAware-enabled motion zone zone; instead, it’s probably a case of user error (mine). But the fact that I’m having trouble getting my motion-controlled Hue lights to do what I want them to do—and I consider myself to be a reasonably savvy Hue user—indicates that Hue’s motion settings interface needs a rethink.  I have two main suggestions: first, allow users to pick lighting scenes to be triggered when motion is no longer detected, and second, let us deactivate a motion zone time slot with a simple tap, rather than having to dip into a time slot and adjust multiple settings. I’d also like separate time slots for the weekend, but let’s start with the first two changes.  To be clear, I think MotionAware is a terrific new feature for the Hue Bridge Pro, and as I’ve said, it could be a big money saver for those who want multiple Hue motion zones in their homes. And yes, the motion sensing does work. But if you ask me, how it works could use some tweaking. This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart lights. Read...

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Minisforum, a manufacturer of desktop mini PCs, said that it’s raising prices due to an increase in “raw material” component costs. The culprits appear to be rising DRAM and flash memory prices, where the market is beginning to worry and act upon possible shortages. Last night, Minisforum posted a notice on X (via Tom’s Hardware) stating the company would implement a “slight price adjustment due to rising global material costs.” Notably, the company stated that the “barebone (bare system) models and products without DDR5 memory and/or SSD will not be affected by this adjustment currently.” The company did not say how much prices would be affected, and whether the price hikes were a short-term adjustment or simply an overall increase. For now, other mini PC makers (as well as laptop and desktop PC makers) haven’t followed suit, leaving open the question of whether or not Minisforum’s decision was an isolated one or whether it’s the proverbial canary in the coal mine, signaling disaster. There’s evidence to believe that the latter might be the case. Memory and storage makers began sounding alarm bells earlier this year, and the volatile component market has responded. Growth rates in the PC market have stuttered throughout 2025, but the demand for additional memory and storage by AI companies has been insatiable, driving prices higher and faster. For example, TrendForce, which watches the short-term “spot” market in Asia, recently reported that the price of a 16Gbit DDR4-3200 DRAM chip has spiked by 15.9 percent in just a week. That isn’t helped by the fact that DDR4 memory production is winding down, limiting the available supply. Simple economics says that prices will increase as a result. “Module houses with inventory are now holding back, further pushing prices up rapidly,” the firm said. “From the buyers’ perspective, even though the demand for consumer electronics has not notably recovered, there is a strong incentive to maintain safe inventory levels due to expectations of large and ongoing price hikes.” Flash memory for SSDs hasn’t escaped, either — the market appears to be panicking a bit, grabbing available flash memory just to have it on hand, which further deteriorates market conditions. “Due to low availability of spots, as well as the general market consensus on further room for increment in 4Q25, buyers are now leaning towards seizing products to preserve their inventory, which further intensified the constraints of spots,” TrendForce wrote. Spots of 512Gb TLC wafers rose by 27.96 percent this week, arriving at $4.576, the firm found. (Remember, these are 512Gbit chips, so eight of them would be needed to create a 512GB flash drive. And with flash drives now easily topping two terabytes and more, all of these price increases add up.) It’s all a little unnerving, especially as we look ahead into the holidays and traditional Black Friday sales. Will other PC makers follow Minisforum’s lead? Between the shortages caused by hyperscalers and other AI companies, it’s starting to look like holiday deals may be harder to find in 2025. Read...

No one who assembles a PC or sets up a new computer can avoid the BIOS or UEFI. That’s where you define the basics, from the boot sequence and memory profiles to security features like Secure Boot. Modern UEFI interfaces are graphical, can be operated using a mouse, and are much more convenient than legacy BIOS text menus… but they can still be daunting for first-time users. If you’re reluctant to dive into your PC’s BIOS/UEFI, have no fear! These tips will get you familiar and comfortable in no time. How to boot into BIOS/UEFI settings Mark Hachman / Foundry In order to boot into BIOS/UEFI, you have to press a key (or a combination of keys) during the startup process. If you aren’t quick enough, or if you press the wrong keys, you’ll end up in Windows. The exact key(s) you need to press depend on your motherboard’s manufacturer, but most of them use one of the following standardized keys: Delete, F2, F10, or F12. The correct key is often displayed on the screen for a brief moment with the motherboard logo, and it’s best to press the key several times as soon as you see it. However, there’s also an alternative way in Windows 11: open Settings > System > Recovery, scroll down to the Recovery options and look for “Advanced startup,” then click the button labeled Restart now. There you can directly call up the UEFI firmware settings. Step 1: Update your BIOS/UEFI Before you even start fine-tuning, you should update your BIOS/UEFI to the latest version. New versions often bring better RAM compatibility, extend CPU support, and/or fix security vulnerabilities. Download the update from the manufacturer’s website. (Pay attention to the exact model of your motherboard.) It will usually come as a ZIP file, which you can unzip and copy to a USB flash drive. Then, you should be able to find the update function in the BIOS under “EZ Flash,” “M-Flash,” or similar. (If you can’t find it, run a web search for instructions on how to update your particular motherboard.) Important: Make sure your PC doesn’t crash, restart, or shut down during a BIOS/UEFI update. Also, refrain from experimenting with overclocking or unstable power supplies while updating. Also, avoid the update if there’s an impending thunderstorm or if there are known power fluctuations affecting your area/house. Step 2: Set language and interface Many modern UEFI menus offer a graphical view, and some of them even let you interact using mouse controls. You’ll usually find the language setting directly in the main menu or under a tab labeled “General Settings.” Always change the language first so that you can find your way around more easily later. Some motherboards also offer a “Simple view” for beginners and an “Advanced mode” for fine-tuning. Step 3: Customize the boot sequence In order to install Windows on a PC, the PC must be bootable from a USB flash drive. That means you might have to re-order the boot sequence so that if the system detects a plugged-in USB drive, it first tries to boot off of it before moving on to the internal SSD (for example). You can do this in the BIOS/UEFI by navigating to the appropriate section and dragging the USB flash drive option to the top. After Windows is installed, make sure to change the order back and select the Windows Boot Manager or your system hard drive as the first boot device. Tip: If your PC doesn’t reliably recognize your USB drive at startup, try deactivating “Fastboot Mode.” Step 4: Optimize working memory Foundry By default, RAM often only runs at base clock rate. Activate the appropriate profile in the UEFI—depending on the manufacturer, this is called XMP (Intel), DOCP (Asus/AMD), or EXPO (AMD). This allows your RAM to utilize the full speed for which it’s designed without you having to manually overclock. You can usually find this option on the main page of the UEFI menu or under a tab such as “AI Tweaker” (for Asus), “OC” (for Gigabyte), or “Advanced Memory Settings.” Step 5: Set the fan and temperatures You can adjust fan curves under menu items such as “Q-Fan” or “Smart Fan Control,” which allows you to determine how loudly or quietly your PC fans run in everyday use. A steeper curve (i.e., faster at higher temperatures) is recommended for gaming while a flat curve (i.e., remain slow even when temperatures rise slightly) is more suitable for office or home server use, ensuring peace and quiet. Step 6: Optimize energy and performance Many motherboards offer power-saving features such as “C-States” (reduces the CPU voltage when idle) or “ErP ready” (reduces power consumption when switched off). If you need more power, activate Turbo Boost (Intel) or Precision Boost Overdrive (AMD). The latter ensures higher clock rates, but requires good cooling. Note: The combination of power-saving features and aggressive performance options can lead to instability on cheaper motherboards. If your PC crashes frequently after making such changes, switch Turbo Boost/PBO/C-States off again as a test. Step 7: Check security settings In order for Windows 11 to be installed, certain security features must be active in the BIOS/UEFI. If they’re missing, the setup will be canceled or even refuse to start. The two most important options are: Enable Secure Boot: Ensures that only boot loaders signed by Microsoft are loaded. Without Secure Boot, malware could be installed before the operating system starts. As a security measure, Windows 11 will refuse to install without Secure Boot. Enable TPM 2.0: Referred to as “fTPM” (AMD) or “PTT” (Intel) depending on the manufacturer. TPM 2.0 stores cryptographic keys securely in the system. Windows 11 will refuse to install without it. It’s also worth taking a look at the extended security options: BitLocker support: With TPM enabled, hard drive encryption such as BitLocker can be used without additional effort. This protects your data in the events of theft or loss of the computer. Supervisor/BIOS password: Protects the firmware settings from unauthorized access. Lock interfaces: Some motherboards allow you to deactivate USB ports or network adapters directly in the UEFI. This is practical for particularly sensitive environments where access to external devices needs to be restricted for security reasons. Step 8: Other advanced features If your PC is still running stably after all of the above tweaks, it’s now worth taking a look at some additional options: SATA/NVMe mode: For single SSDs and HDDs, AHCI is the standard. This ensures full performance and TRIM support. RAID is only worthwhile if you want to use several drives for purposes of data mirroring (RAID 1) or performance (RAID 0). Importantly, this setting must be defined before Windows is installed, as changing it later can lead to startup errors. Learn more about RAID setups and multiple drives working together. Activate virtualization: Features such as Intel VT-x and AMD-V make it possible to run virtual machines efficiently. If you want to use Hyper-V, VirtualBox, or VMware, you should switch this option on. Without virtualization activated, many things will still run but with significantly reduced performance. IOMMU/SR-IOV (optional): This feature is interesting for advanced users who want to use device passthrough or special virtualization scenarios. Tip: Even if you don’t need virtualization immediately, you can activate the feature directly now. This will save you having to search the BIOS later if you ever end up experimenting with virtual machines. Get comfortable with your BIOS/UEFI In short, the BIOS/UEFI is the control center of your PC. Just a few settings—such as RAM profile, boot sequence, and Secure Boot—can make a world of difference between a system that’s limping along versus a system that’s stable, fast, and secure. If you feel like it, you can eventually try your hand at fine-tuning the deeper settings, from individual fan curves to overclocking. But even without experimenting, with the right BIOS/UEFI settings, your new PC will now be ready to start and optimally prepared. Good to know: You only need to make most BIOS/UEFI adjustments once. After that, your computer will run permanently with the optimum settings without needing any annoying readjustments. Read...

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