First set the instance memory. When SQL spins up it tries to grab all of the memory you allocated to it right off the bat. If you have multiple instances on the same server you should plan for each of them having their own memory space. After adding up the gigabytes used by your SQL instances you still need to allow some gigs for the operating system -- here is a useful guideline for what to allow.
The next option to set is the maximum degree of parallelism (so called maxDOP). I like to set this to less than half the CPUs on the box, usually considerably less. Look at it this way: if you have multiple long-running queries (running bulk updates or aggregations) at the same time, each one will take up the maxDOP number of processors until you reach the total count, after which new queries will signal-wait until a previous one finishes or gets swapped out. On an 8 CPU box 2 or 3 maxDOP is usually plenty.
Next (for SQL2012 or lower) I like to check that the "Instant File Initialization" option is turned on from the operating system. Unless you're running some high-security dB on crappy attached storage, you should always have this turned on.
Lastly you'll need to allocate sufficient space and file duplicity on tempDB. I've heard folks say that you should create a tempDB file for each CPU, but I prefer to start with 3 mdf files, and then monitor it for stalls (see this post about monitoring file IO); after that increase the count as necessary. How you size them depends greatly on how the instance is used: instances where large BI aggregations run need substantial tempDB space. See this post where I have more to say about sizing tempDB.
After an instance has been up and running for a while run this query that shows total waits:
WITH [Waits] ASTake a look at the top one or two waits on your instance and then do a bit of online research to discover the cause, and then fix it! There, you've now done the bulk of your instance tuning.
(SELECT
[wait_type],
[wait_time_ms] / 1000.0 AS [WaitS],
([wait_time_ms] - [signal_wait_time_ms]) / 1000.0 AS [ResourceS],
[signal_wait_time_ms] / 1000.0 AS [SignalS],
[waiting_tasks_count] AS [WaitCount],
100.0 * [wait_time_ms] / SUM ([wait_time_ms]) OVER() AS [Percentage],
ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY [wait_time_ms] DESC) AS [RowNum]
FROM sys.dm_os_wait_stats
WHERE [wait_type] NOT IN (
N'BROKER_EVENTHANDLER', N'BROKER_RECEIVE_WAITFOR',
N'BROKER_TASK_STOP', N'BROKER_TO_FLUSH',
N'BROKER_TRANSMITTER', N'CHECKPOINT_QUEUE',
N'CHKPT', N'CLR_AUTO_EVENT',
N'CLR_MANUAL_EVENT', N'CLR_SEMAPHORE',
N'DBMIRROR_DBM_EVENT', N'DBMIRROR_EVENTS_QUEUE',
N'DBMIRROR_WORKER_QUEUE', N'DBMIRRORING_CMD',
N'DIRTY_PAGE_POLL', N'DISPATCHER_QUEUE_SEMAPHORE',
N'EXECSYNC', N'FSAGENT',
N'FT_IFTS_SCHEDULER_IDLE_WAIT', N'FT_IFTSHC_MUTEX',
N'HADR_CLUSAPI_CALL', N'HADR_FILESTREAM_IOMGR_IOCOMPLETION',
N'HADR_LOGCAPTURE_WAIT', N'HADR_NOTIFICATION_DEQUEUE',
N'HADR_TIMER_TASK', N'HADR_WORK_QUEUE',
N'KSOURCE_WAKEUP', N'LAZYWRITER_SLEEP',
N'LOGMGR_QUEUE', N'ONDEMAND_TASK_QUEUE',
N'PWAIT_ALL_COMPONENTS_INITIALIZED',
N'QDS_PERSIST_TASK_MAIN_LOOP_SLEEP',
N'QDS_CLEANUP_STALE_QUERIES_TASK_MAIN_LOOP_SLEEP',
N'REQUEST_FOR_DEADLOCK_SEARCH', N'RESOURCE_QUEUE',
N'SERVER_IDLE_CHECK', N'SLEEP_BPOOL_FLUSH',
N'SLEEP_DBSTARTUP', N'SLEEP_DCOMSTARTUP',
N'SLEEP_MASTERDBREADY', N'SLEEP_MASTERMDREADY',
N'SLEEP_MASTERUPGRADED', N'SLEEP_MSDBSTARTUP',
N'SLEEP_SYSTEMTASK', N'SLEEP_TASK',
N'SLEEP_TEMPDBSTARTUP', N'SNI_HTTP_ACCEPT',
N'SP_SERVER_DIAGNOSTICS_SLEEP', N'SQLTRACE_BUFFER_FLUSH',
N'SQLTRACE_INCREMENTAL_FLUSH_SLEEP',
N'SQLTRACE_WAIT_ENTRIES', N'WAIT_FOR_RESULTS',
N'WAITFOR', N'WAITFOR_TASKSHUTDOWN',
N'WAIT_XTP_HOST_WAIT', N'WAIT_XTP_OFFLINE_CKPT_NEW_LOG',
N'WAIT_XTP_CKPT_CLOSE', N'XE_DISPATCHER_JOIN',
N'XE_DISPATCHER_WAIT', N'XE_TIMER_EVENT')
AND [waiting_tasks_count] > 0
)
SELECT
MAX ([W1].[wait_type]) AS [WaitType],
CAST (MAX ([W1].[WaitS]) AS DECIMAL (16,2)) AS [Wait_S],
CAST (MAX ([W1].[ResourceS]) AS DECIMAL (16,2)) AS [Resource_S],
CAST (MAX ([W1].[SignalS]) AS DECIMAL (16,2)) AS [Signal_S],
MAX ([W1].[WaitCount]) AS [WaitCount],
CAST (MAX ([W1].[Percentage]) AS DECIMAL (5,2)) AS [Percentage],
CAST ((MAX ([W1].[WaitS]) / MAX ([W1].[WaitCount])) AS DECIMAL (16,4)) AS [AvgWait_S],
CAST ((MAX ([W1].[ResourceS]) / MAX ([W1].[WaitCount])) AS DECIMAL (16,4)) AS [AvgRes_S],
CAST ((MAX ([W1].[SignalS]) / MAX ([W1].[WaitCount])) AS DECIMAL (16,4)) AS [AvgSig_S]
FROM [Waits] AS [W1]
INNER JOIN [Waits] AS [W2]
ON [W2].[RowNum] <= [W1].[RowNum]
GROUP BY [W1].[RowNum]
HAVING SUM ([W2].[Percentage]) - MAX ([W1].[Percentage]) < 95; -- percentage threshold
GO
