diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4a5bd16..13ba5a1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ Hardware requirements
 ---
 * Disk space: 300 GB (235GB for Bitcoin blockchain + some room)
   * Bitcoin Core pruning is not supported at the moment because it's not supported by c-lightning. It's possible to use pruning but you need to know what you're doing.
-* RAM: 2GB of memory
+* RAM: 2GB of memory. ECC memory is better.
 
 Tested hardware includes [pcengine's apu2c4](https://pcengines.ch/apu2c4.htm)
 
diff --git a/docs/install.md b/docs/install.md
index e8f78b0..4fe05f1 100644
--- a/docs/install.md
+++ b/docs/install.md
@@ -125,6 +125,15 @@ See [usage.md](usage.md) for usage instructions, such as how to update.
 
 Tutorial: install and configure NixOS for nix-bitcoin on your own hardware
 ---
+
+## 0. Preparation
+
+1. Optional: Make sure you have the latest firmware for your system (BIOS, microcode updates).
+
+2. Optional: Disable Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) in the BIOS
+
+    Researchers recommend disabling (SMT), also known as Hyper-Threading Technology in the Intel® world to significantly reduce the impact of speculative exacution-based attacks (https://mdsattacks.com/).
+
 ## 1. NixOS installation
 
 This is borrowed from the [NixOS manual](https://nixos.org/nixos/manual/index.html#ch-installation). Look there for more information.