In a nutshell: MSI has issued a BIOS update for X670 and B650 motherboards featuring a new option that can reportedly slash boot times in half. In lab testing with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, an MSI MAG X670E Tomahawk WiFi board and 32GB (2x 16GB) of Kingston DDR5-6000 memory, MSI was able to reduce boot time (the moment the power button was pressed to the moment the Windows 11 desktop loaded) from 43 seconds to 22 seconds. That's not bad for changing one setting, but is it worth the risk?
MSI's new Memory Context Restore option in the BIOS makes it all possible, but unfortunately the hardware vendor did not have much to say about what the option actually does.
Tom's Hardware points to an Asus forum post from a month ago where a user was discussing using the feature on an ROG Crosshair X670E Hero board. The feature also cropped up in this TechPowerUp forum discussion late last year although in both instances, it appeared to be buried deep in advanced user menus.
Do you have any experience with the Memory Context Restore option on your X670 or B650 board, or does it even sound like an option that you would be interested in? In my younger days, I would go to great lengths to chase even a smidgen of performance. These days, however, I value stability above all else. If my PC takes a couple of extra seconds to boot up but I know it's not going to crash, that's the route I am taking.
Many enthusiasts leave their machines on 24/7, so something like this might not even be worth the hassle or potential stability risk. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Those interested in tinkering with the new setting can grab the latest BIOS update from MSI's website. Simply navigate to your board, click support then look for BIOS under drivers and downloads. A quick check of the board MSI used in its testing reveals the latest BIOS update was released on April 14.