Eliminate deadweight: Turn off unused functions, such as the motherboard's sound chip (Screenshot M).

The motherboard sound chip may never be used. If you install a PCI sound card, or never use your PC's audio functions, deactivate sound chips on the motherboard. This increases overall system performance and stability.

In the "Integrated Peripherals" menu, set the value for the "AC97 Audio Select"option to "Disabled" (as shown in Screenshot M).

34. Turn Off The Game Port

Only those who need an older joystick, or who use the game port as a MIDI interface, really need to dedicate two I/O ports and an IRQ to their PC's game port. (Even if you use a joystick, on many newer systems, USB used instead anyway.) All others users can simply deactivate this port.

Here's how: From the "Integrated Peripherals" menu, set the value for the "Game Port" option to "Disabled".

35. Deactivate Onboard-LAN Functions

Some motherboards come equipped with two network interfaces, but as a rule, most users need only one, and can turn the other one off. Even a defective interface should be turned off. This increases system performance and stability.

From the "Integrated Peripherals" menu, simply set the value for the "Onboard Intel LAN" option to "Disabled".