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This guide is a compilation of information found on the internet to boost performance on low end machines and streamline high end ones.
Many of these changes shut down un-needed processes or limit certain mainstream functionality for better gaming. In some cases things like network discovery ( seeing other computers on your home network ) are shut off completely to allow for a performance gain. These things should not be done lightly and should be reviewed by someone you consider a guru for YOUR computer. These settings I do indeed use, have used, or plan to use.
The settings work across multiple versions of windows and closely resemble other guides across the internet. Some settings are windows version specific ( IE: windows 7 only ) and a little common sense will point out to you which ones are.
Preface
Before we begin there are some important things to note:
- Doing anything listed below has a chance of causing computer issues.
- You are agreeing automatically that I am not held responsible for anything that may or may not happen to your computer by following this guide.
- If you skipped over this bold red lettering and did it anyway, that's not my problem, you should read before you just do something.
- All of the information here whole or in part is the collective works of other people. I am simply reformatting it and posting in an easy to read manner.
- This guide is intended for Windows 7/Vista/XP users. It covers beginner, intermediate and advanced features to clean your PC, streamline it, and remove any unwanted services that Windows may choose to start up by itself
- The guide is aimed at the low-mid ranged system, although people with high end systems have reported performance increases as well
- All usage of this guide is undertaken purely by the user at his/her own discretion. I will not be held liable for any errors or failure to boot scenarios that may occur as a result of following this guide.
- While most of this guide is specifically for Windows 7, the same tweaks and changes (most of them) can be made to XP and Vista as well.
- Win 7 is Engineered for speed. It might not seem like it to some people, but believe it or not, considerable attention has been given by Microsoft to making Win 7 faster than any other Microsoft OS.
- It is faster than Vista, and MUCH faster than Win xp, but on a basic install and day to day use, most people dont see it.
- This guide is designed for you to achieve faster Boot times, faster read/write times, and generally to give you a much faster and smoother experience with Windows 7, allowing your system to use the extra resources to power your games.
- I can personally guarantee that if you follow this and implement the recommendations on your PC, you will see a performance gain. Before you do however, please read the guide in full and make sure you understand it before you attempt any configuration changes.
Min requirements for Win 7
- 1GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
- 1GB of main memory
- 16GB of available disk space
- Support for DX9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)
- A DVD – R/W drive
Min requirements for Win XP
- Pentium 233-megahertz (MHz) processor or faster (300 MHz is recommended)
- At least 64 megabytes (MB) of RAM (128 MB is recommended)
- At least 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available space on the hard disk
- CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive[/size]
Notice how it states a DX 9 Graphics card.. Please note that you don't need a DX9 or above card for this guide, as our aim is to achieve performance, and not the sparkly effects. Also note, that after you complete the implementations in this guide, you can always turn on the effects you like, but at a performance loss.
Credits
Below are my credit sources for this guide:
- https://insider.windows.com/ I cannot link directly to the list presented within the insider program, but it's a post by windowsismybish describing the windows kernel
- http://www.displayfusion.com/Compare/ Display fusion for multiple window performance gains for people without cpu limiters
- https://www.codecademy.com/ Through their learning program I was able to understand exactly how packet transfers can speed up game performance
- http://www.leatrix.com/ Leatrix Latency Tool. Using this program allows for a quick regsitry edit that will increase game performance at the loss of web surfing performance
- http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=1198 Renegadeimp on the swtor forums for an in depth guide on exactly what to do
- http://www.tenforums.com/ the general guides section has a ton of stuff some of which is incorporated into this guide set
