Many companies that make motherboards could learn from this example…

Not everyone understands exactly what the settings change. Sometimes all it takes is a little explanation of what the setting changes and how it affects performance. This is the approach Valve is trying to take with the beta version of its latest Steam Deck operating system. Each option is properly explained, the performance impact is explained, and any side effects are noted.

This is something that should be implemented in games, but even there it is very rare that the developer takes the time to do this (sometimes there is not even a short description of what the graphical option does). This should not take much time, as a short description could be written for each option in the menu. It would be a small investment, but a huge relief for gamers, which is why Valve has decided to update Steam Deck, which is making a big splash in the handheld PC market, in software (and will only do so in hardware if it makes sense, Valve says).

On the old BIOSes (suffice it to say, blue background…) there was no room for definitions, but nowadays, in the age of UEFI, that’s no longer an excuse. You could be told not to mess with the settings too much (e.g. don’t mess with the Compute setting on the PCIe connectors of an HP Z workstation…), but you don’t need a degree to figure out the functions of a motherboard or a Steam Deck.

Valve has the money to do this (the success of Steam Deck has led many other companies to enter the handheld PC market; see Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw…) and can put people to work. If the industry takes Gabe Newell’s work seriously, the motherboard manufacturers (MSI, Gigabyte, Asus, Asrock, etc…) will learn from it. After all, it doesn’t reduce performance, it doesn’t reduce FPS, it just gives the user much more transparent (!) information.

Source: PCGamer