BIOS
The Z690 Carbon WiFi boots up into its Click BIOS 5 right into its EZ mode which has important information up top like your CPU temperature, BIOS version, memory capacity, and the CPU model. They also have the CPU and memory clock speeds in a large font in the top left. One click overclocking for the CPU is right below that and the XMP profiles for the memory can be turned on there as well. Then they have drag and drop boot priority where you can quickly change what your boot device order is. There are a few options on the left that let you flip through CPU, memory, storage, and fan information to see information on those. Then down at the bottom, they have a few quick options like being able to turn off the RGB lighting and the debug screen on the motherboard as well as M-Flash for updating your firmware. Basically, MSI has a majority of the options that most people would want to get into all on this one page while not confusing people with more detailed BIOS options that could cause damage if you don’t know what you are doing.
Once you click up top for the advanced mode, you get into their traditional BIOS. The top section is still the same with the CPU temperature, clock speeds, XMP, and boot options. But From below that you have pages you can open to get into motherboard settings, overclocking settings, the M-Flash again, hardware monitor, and a page for overclocking profiles.
The motherboards settings option when opened up is broken down into system status, advanced, boot, and security. You can also save and exit here as well or up in the top right corner of any page. The system status page just breaks down more detailed information on your motherboard including the serial number. They have a list of the SATA and M.2 ports and if anything is hooked up to them and even information on your CPU ID. This is also where you can set the system time. Most options are all packed into the advanced tab. They break things down by subsystem so anything with the PCI slots is all in the top option for example. All of the onboard video options are on one page and things like anything USB also has its own tab. The boot tab has a few bootup options like fast boot and options to set if your number lock is on or off when you boot up. Then below that, you have the more traditional boot order menu as well as the hard drive boot order as well for when you have more than one hard drive. The security tab gets into trusted platform settings which can be important now that Windows 11 requires it, chassis intrusion settings, and secure boot options for setting a BIOS password and turning on encryption.
The overclocking settings option is where most people who are diving into the advanced settings will spend more time. They start off right at the top with the OC explorer mode option which lets you pick how deep you want to go into overclocking options. Then right at the top are both P and E core ratios. You have to go down a little farther to get into base clock settings. Don’t skip out on the advanced CPU configuration though, this is where you can turn the P and E cores completely on and off and more importantly set your turbo boost options as well as setting your power limits. The long and short duration power limits should most likely be out in the main overclocking settings as these make a huge difference in cooling performance. There is the CPU Cooler tuning option at least which lets you pick from an unlimited wattage or 241w and 288w options depending on your air cooler capabilities. Back on the main page below the base clock settings, they have all of the memory overclocking settings including fine detail control in the advanced page. Then below that, they have all of the CPU power settings.
The overclocking profile page on the right is where you can backup your current overclocking settings and switch to other profiles that you have made. Then the hardware monitor opens up its own program. It does show the temperatures across the CPU and motherboard as well as voltages. This is also where you get into fan control settings to create a fan profile or to set them all to full speed. You can also fine-tune the fan step up or step down times to help cut down on the quick fan spin ups that make fan noise more obvious.
