In my previous post I talked about moving my home lab onto the MS-A2 MiniPCs. This follow-up digs into the BIOS configuration I ended up with.
By default, the PC boots with stock settings, but for a VMware Cloud Foundation / ESX lab, you get the best experience if you spend 5 minutes tuning the BIOS.
These settings are based on the MS-A2 BIOS and ESX/ESXi builds I was testing at the time. Treat them as lab-proven defaults for this hardware, not a vendor support matrix.
BIOS Settings Summary
| Menu Path | Default Value | Changed Value | Justification |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced -> Trusted Computing -> Security Device Support | Enabled | Disabled | TPM on a MS-A2 does not work on ESX |
| Advanced -> CPU Configuration ->PSS Support | Enabled | – | Leave on; required for power states |
| Advanced -> CPU Configuration -> NX Mode | Enabled | – | Needed for hypervisors, security |
| Advanced -> Onboard Devices -> NVMe RAID mode | Disabled | – | RAID not used in this setup |
| Advanced -> Onboard Devices -> PCIe Port -> WiFi | Enabled | Disabled | WiFi unused in lab; frees PCIe resources |
| Advanced -> PCI SR-IOV | Disabled | Enabled | Required for vSphere SR-IOV NIC functions |
| Advanced -> Driver Health Status | Disabled | Enabled | Better diagnostics if something fails POST |
| Advanced -> ACPI -> Wake Up on LAN | Enabled | – | Leave on to allow remote wake. Closest there is for an OOB power on option |
| Advanced -> ACPI -> Wake Up by RTC | Disabled | – | No need for scheduled RTC power-ons |
| Advanced -> ACPI -> PowerLimit Setting | Balance Mode | Performance Mode | Lab always on, so max performance |
| Advanced -> ACPI -> ERP | Disabled | – | Keeps USB ports powered when off. Had no reason to change this |
| Advanced -> Hardware Monitor -> Fan Mode | Auto | Performance | Keeps airflow up under sustained load |
| Advanced -> Hardware Monitor -> CPU/System/SSD Fan Settings | Auto | – | Fans managed by board; left untouched |
| Advanced -> Network Stack -> Network Stack | Disabled | Enabled | Required for PXE boot lab deployments. Details are in my PXE booting post and the published PXE framework. |
| Advanced -> Network Stack -> IPv4 PXE Support | Disabled | Enabled | PXE for imaging/boot |
| Advanced -> Network Stack -> IPv6 PXE Support | Disabled | – | IPv6 PXE not required in my lab |
| Advanced -> AMD PBS -> Primary Video Adaptor | Ext Graphics (PEG) | Int Graphics (IGD) | No GPU card; use iGPU |
| Advanced -> AMD PBS -> Special Display Features | HybridGraphics | Disabled | Prevents unwanted muxing overhead |
| Advanced -> AMD PBS -> PCIe/GFW Lanes Config | x8 | – | The Intel X710’s in the management hosts are x8 PCIe devices |
| Advanced -> AMD PBS -> GFX Lane Speed | GEN4 | Auto | Avoids link training instability |
| Advanced → AMD PBS → SSD0 Lane Speed | Auto | GEN3 | Iterated settings until stable ESXi NVMe detection |
| Advanced -> AMD PBS -> SSD1 Lane Speed | GEN3 | GEN4 | SSD1 NVMe slot I’m using for NVMe Tiering. Maximum performance required |
| Advanced -> AMD PBS -> SSD2 Lane Speed | GEN3 | GEN4 | SSD2 used for vSAN ESA. Matches capability of Samsung NVMe 990 PRO 4TB device |
| Advanced -> AMD CBS -> Core Performance Boost | Auto | – | Leave CPU boost logic on |
| Advanced -> AMD CBS -> Global C-state Control | Auto | – | Keeps low-power states enabled |
| Advanced -> AMD CBS -> SVM Lock | Auto | Enabled | Required for nested virtualization |
| Advanced -> AMD CBS -> SVM Enable | Auto | Enabled | Required for hypervisors |
| Advanced -> AMD CBS -> IOMMU | Auto | Enabled | Needed for PCI passthrough |
| Advanced -> AMD CBS -> GFX Config -> UMA Frame Buffer Size | 2G | 1G | Save RAM for workloads |
| Advanced -> AMD CBS -> Audio Config → NB Azalia | Enabled | Disabled | No onboard audio needed |
| Advanced -> AMD CBS -> AC Power Loss -> AC Loss Control | Always Off | Always On | Ensures lab powers back on after outage |
| Advanced -> AMD CBS -> SMU Options | Auto | – | No tweaks needed |
| Advanced -> AMD Overclocking | Untouched | – | Stability beats performance tuning |
| Advanced -> Addons -> X710 -> Wake On LAN | Enabled | – | Allows out-of-band wake |
| Advanced -> Addons -> X710 -> Legacy VLAN ID | 0 | – | Default VLAN fine since I use native VLAN for PXE imaging |
| Advanced -> Addons -> X710 -> LLDP Agent | Enabled | Disabled | Allows LLDP packets to pass to ESX |
| Security -> Administrator Password | Not Installed | – | Set later for security, optional in lab |
| Secure Boot -> Secure Boot | Enabled | Disabled | Disabled as a lab convenience while testing install media and PXE flow. ESXi supports Secure Boot in supported configurations |
| Secure Boot v Mode | Standard | – | Left untouched after disabling SB |
| Boot -> Quiet Boot | Ticked | Unticked | I prefer seeing POST details |
The Lowdown…
- Virtualization features (SVM, IOMMU, SR-IOV) should be on for virtualization features.
- Noise vs performance. My MS-A2’s are in a rack in an air-conditioned room so noise is not an issue. However wear your AirPods if they’re going to be in the same room as you work as the background noise may annoy some folks.
- Networking/PXE configuration will allow PXE boot imaging of hosts.
- Secure Boot/TPM disabled since MS-A2’s TPM doesn’t function in ESX.
This BIOS tuning has made the MS-A2 units pretty solid for my VMware lab. The temperatures of the NVMe devices range from 59C-72C depending on load.