Ultimate gaming booster guide

Ultimate Windows 7 (8) OS gaming optimization guide (advanced but simple)

From:http://ultimatewindows7gamingoptimization.blogspot.com/

          Introduction: (It's not necessary to read, but advisable)

     First of all, this is simple but yet rich tutorial that will try to cover most important thing you should know about OS (Operating System) gaming optimizations. Without wasting your time, we will cover some basic questions now. Is this guide for you? Well, only you can answer this question, if you are gamer (casual or pro), and you want to improve your PC gaming experience as much as you can, than, it is for you. Real gamers do not play with v-sync, but even if you do, this can be useful for you. Target is, to get smoothest experience as you can, it doesn't matter what hardware you are using (as long as it's capable for running games you want). Also, bare on mind, that there isn't only one tweak that you can do to improve your experience overall, but combination of tweaks is what brings the magic. Keep on mind that those tweaks will not necessarily give you FPS (frames per second) boost, but overall smoother (lag free) experience. One thing i must point out also, that there is quite a bit of people thinking their system preforming well, it is personal perception, and you should take even your own perception with reserve.


Read Final Words at the end of this page before doing any changes to your system. This guide will be constantly updated with new findings.


          Basic Hardware Settings: (important)

     First things first, you have to make sure your hardware is fully stable. Test it with tools available online (such as Prime95, Mem test etc.). Assuming you all ready did that, one thing you should know is, if you experience any sort of lag (in single player) that can mean you way overclocked your system, and even if is Prime95 stable, it doesn't fit your goal, bring back everything to stock speeds, bring back all voltages to default (do not undervolt or overvolt), and later, when you see results of tweaks collected here, start your way up with overclock etc. Undervolting / Overclocking your components (especially CPU and GPU) can introduce lag/stutter in your game experience, even if is Prime95 stable, or artifacts free.

     Overvolting: Overvolting can lead towards unstable system env. In games especially, when components are overvolted too much, it can be detected as "small stutter".

     Undervolting: Undervolting can be useful in cases where BIOS overvolt components at default (Auto) values. In some cases undervolting can introduce lag in game experience if voltages are not tuned/synchronized.

     Hardware limitations: Motherboard is most important part in your PC. If your motherboard is rated at TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 125W for example, and your CPU is 125W, you have very little or no room for overclocking. But, if your CPU is rated at lower TDP, it doesn't automatically means you can overclock it, bare on mind that lower end motherboards in most (if not all) cases are designed for lower TDP, and those specifications are just on paper. RAM is also critical component in system, it also depends on CPU IMC (Integrated Memory Controller), do not exceed those specifications! GPU is in most cases sensitive to frequency change, and VRAM freq. change. For best experience, leave it at stock speed. Overclocking can be fun, but doing overclocking just for sake of it doesn't make any sense. Look carefully at specifications of your components and see if is possible to overclock, but DO NOT OVERCLOCK if there is no need for it!


          BIOS Settings: (important)

     There are mixed results with this, but, as gamer, you don't care for power consumption. Go to your BIOS settings, disable all power saving features (C1E, EuP 20xx, core state, green power etc. etc.), you can enable them, on stable systems it should not have any influence and it will keep your components cool, but it can cause all sorts of things on some systems. It is different from system to system, and you can consult your Motherboard manual if you are not sure how to do it. For gaming, if your CPU supports it (AMD CPU's) make sure memory controller is running in Ganged mode. On some systems bank interleaving can cause lag, you can disable it if necessary. Depending from your system, you can read online tutorials connected strictly to your hardware.

        GPU hardware MODs for PCIe: (can be important, good for troubleshooting):

      Warning, improper handeling on hardware base can damage your GPU, if all tweaks are done properly, you don't need this! Use as last resort, or for troubleshooting only!

      In order to see if there is any difference (before tweaking system, but also after), you can try to set GPU to work in 8x (or 4x for troubleshooting) mode, on some boards you can choose modes in advanced options (depending on BIOS, consult motherboard manual), on some you can't, if you can't choose mode, here is the hardware way to force GPU to work in desired mode.

       Isolate one pin from both sides as follows:

       For 4x mode, isolate 33rd contact (counted from monitor connector side) on GPU.
       For 8x mode, isolate 50th contact (counted from monitor connector side) on GPU.

The best way to isolate contact is by using thin sort of duct tape materials, after you decide to remove isolation, clean the GPU contact with alcohol to reamove sticky surface and prevent smear of PCIe slot, here is an EXAMPLE FOR x8 MODE. You can keep using GPU in desired mode (x8, x4 is too slow) if is benefitial.


        Drivers: (important)

      Make sure you are using proper drivers for your components, sometimes, newer drivers aren't better. Every component have it's own driver, and it is different for all. If it works properly, there is no need for change. In some cases, Beta drivers are better for specific things than actual WHQL drivers.


         OS Power Settings:  (important)

      In Windows, go to the Control Panel, Power Options (switch from category view, or search for it) and set "High Performance" power plan. Other advanced options in power settings are optional, and you can change them to your own preference. If you disabled hibernation before, make sure you disable timers for it.

      AMD/ATI users: Ulps can cause problems with both single and multi GPU configurations. It is always wise do disable it no matter what you use. In order to disable it, do the following:

      Go to the regeistry editor (run command, type: "regedit") and search (CTRL+F) for "EnableUlps" and set it to "0", repeat search (with F3 key) and change all entries till search trough the registry is finished.

      This should improve 2D and 3D performance at higher resolutions with lower frame rate.


         Core Parking: (important)

      There are few different ways of doing this, assuming you have multi core processor, it doesn't matter if you have dual or quad etc. processor, it doesn't matter if it has only real cores or use SMP (Intel HT or AMD newer gen.) it is very important to do this. Here is very simple little program (UnparkCPU) for you that will disable core parking easily.

      http://www.coderbag.com/Programming-C/Disable-CPU-Core-Parking-Utility

      Follow instructions on that page, or simply download program, click "Check Status" then "Unpark All" and you are set.

      You can also double check this by downloading another application at this page: http://bitsum.com/about_cpu_core_parking.php , there are two versions x64 and x86, use version for your system, follow instructions on that page, or simply select power profile you use (in this case "High Performance" profile) and click disable for both (On AC and on battery), Apply, OK.

      You can do both methods, it will do no harm, or you can do it via registry, but this is easier and it works. I do prefer first one, and there is significant improvement even on dual real cores CPU's. Do both methods, just in case.

      WIndows 8 ONLY: It is connected how Windows manage processor time, here is how to disable dynamic tick. Run command prompt (right click, run as administrator) and enter following line: "bcdedit /set disabledynamictick yes". It can improve performance, and it can solve some freezing problems. However, it can bring some strange anomalies, and make problem even worse, in that case use command "bcdedit /set disabledynamictick no" or "bcdedit /deletevalue disabledynamictick".

       For Intel users, if disabling core parking don't make any difference, try disabling Hyper Threading in BIOS. But disabling core parking should help, anyway, test it.


         Write-caching: (important)

      It doesn't matter what drive you use, SSD or HDD, you should do this for all your drives.

      Go to the Control Panel, System (or right click on Computer icon on Desktop, select Properties), select "Device Manager", expand "Disk drives" and you will see list of your drives. Right click on one drive, select "Properties", click on "Policies" tab, and tick both options on "Enable write caching on the device" and "Turn off Windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device". You should enable both options (ticking them) and for all drives, it is very important.

      What this do for your system, is putting less stress to your system RAM by writing directly to the drive cache, it's not important how much RAM you have, because those are small operations constantly occupying your system RAM bandwidth.

      EXAMPLE

          HPET (High Precision Event Timer): (important)

       On newer systems, leave it at enabled. On older systems, or if you have problems with HPET do as follows under system devices, and disable it in BIOS. It is possible for HPET to create lag, if that happens to you, disable it. You need to test it on your own.



         System Devices: (ONLY FOR SOME AMD SYSTEMS)


       Under "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\System" (or right click on Computer, select Properties), go to the "Device Manager" then expand "System devices". Depending on hardware configuration this can be very helpful to get constant latency and perfect smooth gameplay. Devices that should be disabled (if something goes wrong hit F8 at windows boot, select "Last known good configuration").


        Because every hardware is different, there could be devices with different names, install chipset drivers in "normal" way, and just keep MS drivers connected with your hardware as it is (anything with AMD name). Also keep on mind that if something don't work after this (remote etc.) you can easily bring it back, DON"T TOUCH PCI HOST BRIDGE ETC.

        For Stable Systems with AMD GPU's:

       Disable ONLY this devices (if you don't use HPET from BIOS):

High precision event timer (if you don't use HPET)

       Enable Catalyst Control Center to work at System startup (and while gaming = all the time) and disable the following:

       In services:
AMD FUEL Service

       In Catalyst Control Center:

Surface format optimization = OFF
Texture Filtering Quality = High Quality


    Disable ULPS:

Go to the regeistry editor (run command, type: "regedit") and search (CTRL+F) for "EnableUlps" and set it to "0", repeat search (with F3 key) and change all entries till search trough the registry is finished.

        EnableCrossFireAutoLink is above it, in most cases it is better to leave it at default (1),
        DisableDMACopy = 1, only for unstable systems, otherwise leave it at 0, it can cause lag, in thet case, bring it back to 0.

        This can be very important for some systems, however, I reccomend using Standard Microsoft driver for chipsets where it is named as "PCI bus" as AMD driver, installing AMD Pci Bus driver from GPU drivers:

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=373501


     For Unstable Systems (not needed for majority of systems, may cause lag with some GPU's and/or drivers and driver configuration, if this helps that means something si wrong with system, probably motherboard or bad BIOS settings):

     Best thing is to manualy search for conflicts in resources, but, this would be most likely the case:

       DISABLED (select View, click "Show hidden devices"):

AMD IOMMU Device
ATI I/O Communication Processor PCI Bus Controller
ATI I/O Communication Processor SMBus Controller
Composite Bus Enumerator
Direct memory access controller
High precision event timer
Microsoft System Management BIOS Driver
Motherboard resources (all)
Numeric data processor
Programmable interrupt controller
System board (all)
System timer
Terminal Server Keyboard Driver
Terminal Server mouse Driver
UMBus Root Bus Enumerator

 Device bellow should stay ENABLED (if present):

AMD PCI Express (3GIO) Filter Driver


          It should look something like this (depending on PC): EXAMPLE


         Windows MSI mode: (can be very important, advanced)

       http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=378044

          It should look something like this (depending on PC):EXAMPLE
          For PCI-to-PCI bridge use MSI mode just for those who ahve devices in MSI mode on them (don't use MSI mode if device on specific bridge do not support/use it, dor example, if sound card do not use it, don't use for that bridge, just for one where GPU is - assuming GPU use MSI mode).


         DMA Mode: (it can be very important for unstable systems)


      Using Standard Microsoft AHCI 1.0 driver (for AMD systems), and disabling DMA for all drives (SSD, HDD) except CD/DVD's:

        EXAMPLE

       Do not disable it on stable systems, test to see difference. If this options makes some difference, you have problem with system instability, probably connected with voltages of CPU-NB, NB and/or RAM, some (or all) of those voltages are too high, you can potentialy solve this problem by reducing voltages or updating BIOS, but it is more connected with BIOS or poorly designed motherboard (in that case, only replacing motherboard can help).

         Indexing: (relevant, advisable, you should do this)

      You should do this, thought I'm not sure if there is much benefits of doing so, because i never used it before. Indexing is more relevant to searching trough Windows files and folders structure, it can speed up process, but assumable at the cost of occupying system with small writes from time to time. You, as gamer, should disable this.

      Right click on partition in "Computer" (My Computer), select "Properties", untick/uncheck "Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" when asked, do it for all files and subfolders (2nd option), if prompted "can't bla bla.." click on IGNORE ALL, do this for all of your drives/partitions. One note, if two partitions are on the same drive, it should disable automatically on another partition on the same drive (ex. if you do it for C: partition, while C: and D: partitions are on the same drive, it should be done automatically for D: also, double check it anyway).

      This can take some time to finish, depending from files structure and capacity.

          Preferech and Superfetch: (relevant, advisable, you should do this)

       Again, your aim is gaming performance, don't make compromise, also, it is not relevant if you use SSD or HDD, gain is there. You should do this, and here is how, type "regedit" in run command (or search for it) and do this:

       Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

       Look for "EnablePrefetcher" and "EnableSuperfetch", and set value to 0 for both. Also, type "services.msc" in run (or search for it, or go trough administrative tools) find service called "Superfetch" and set it to disabled by double clicking on service and choosing option from drop down menu.


          Windows features: (relevant, advisable, you should do this)

        Now, this is more complicated, it really depends for what you use your system except gaming, and how you use it. I will go one by one, go to the Control Panel, Programs and Features and click on "Turn Windows features on or off":

        Remote Differential Compression - Disable this (untick/uncheck).

        Print and Document Services - By default, two options are ticked/checked, "Internet Printing Client" and "Windows Fax and Scan", if you don't use printer, fax or scanner, and you do not plan to use it in future (tho, you can always enable it back) you should disable (untick) this. If however, you do use printer etc. but do not use network or internet printing, you can untick that option, but leave another one.

        Media Features - Same as above, if you don't use those features, it is safe to turn it off, however, if you use just Windows Media Player for example, you can leave just that and untick rest.

        Tablet PC Components - Most of the gamers do not use tablet, so, if you don't, disable that feature.

        Windows Gadget Platform - If you don't use that feature, disable it, i do recommend not to use that feature, and personally, can't think off any reason why would you use.

        Windows Search - If you disable this feature, you will lose search ability in windows (not in custom applications for catalogs etc., but you will in explorer applications such as Total Commander). It really is up to you, i personally do not use that feature, but bare on mind, if you disable it, you will be unable to search your files in conventional way.

        XPS Services - You can disable this feature, but if you view XPS files, you can leave XPS Viewer, if not, disable both.

        It also goes for all other features i didn't mention, if you use it, leave it alone. Don't touch NET.Framework here, we will do that under Services.


          Services: (some are important, advisable, you should do this)

         Navigate to the Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services (or type in run "services.msc", or search for it).

         Here are services you should DISABLE: Remote Registry, Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service, Superfetch. Also you should disable "Print Spooler" if you do not use printer.  

         This is very important: For nVidia users, if you don't use NVCP (nVidia Control Panel) and it's features such as Desktop brightness etc. you should disable "nVidia driver helper service" (or whatever name it is). Some users do experience lag when this service is enabled.
         For AMD users, you should disable "AMD FUEL Service" (it can create lag) other things will be covered under startup section.

         Services you can disable while compromising system security (blah...): Security Center, System Restore (i yet have to see user where system restore actually helped when things go wrong, but if you use it, don't disable this service).

         Services you should set to manual: Microsoft .NET Framework (NGEN x86-x64 etc., any of them), disabling this service can greatly reduce RAM usage, startup time etc. it is very advisable to set this service to MANUAL (when is needed, it will not fail to load, DO NOT DISABLE THIS SERVICE). One note for Framework, when is updated (Windows Update), it will reset your settings, and you will have to do it again. Other services are (set to MANUAL, copy paste from other site, some are all ready covered, not very relevant but you can do it anyway):

    * Desktop Window Manager Session Manager (If you don't use Aero theme)
    * Diagnostic Policy Service
    * Distributed Link Tracking Client
    * IP Helper
    * Offline Files
    * Portable Device Enumerator Service
    * Print Spooler (If you don't have Printer)
    * Protected Storage
    * Remote Registry (Always disable it for Security purposes)
    * Secondary Logon
    * Security Center
    * Tablet PC Input Service
    * TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
    * Themes ( If you use Windows Classic theme)
    * Windows Error Reporting Service
    * Windows Media Center Service Launcher
    * Windows Search (If you don't use Windows Search feature frequently)
    * Windows Time (If you don't want to update system tray clock time using Internet)


          Startup: (important for some, advisable, you should do this)

         Startup items are programs that start up when Windows is booted. Some of them are important, but most of them are pure bloatware (unnecessary software). I will cover most important things here. To access startup items, type: "msconfig" under run in Windows 7 and go to startup tab, on Windows 8, use task manager, startup tab.

         Depending on your hardware configuration, there are few items that are very advisable to remove from startup. If you don't use features from GPU (graphic card) shortcuts, brightness level etc. you should remove all driver related software from startup for your specific GPU.

         For nVidia users: Remove all nvcpl, and so on entries. For you, it is important to disable driver helper service (all ready covered), but first, from advanced menu in NVCP disable context menu and try icon, just in case.
         For AMD/ATI users: Remove CCC, or AtiCCC, or Catalyst Control Center from startup, it will speed up system start up, but it will have influence on game overall smoothness. Also do what is covered under services, again if you do not use Control Center and it's features (same as nvidia users). I do not recommend disabling AMD software suite on AMD systems (READ settings above under STABLE SYSTEMS).

         There is quite a bit of programs that put them self under startup items, there is no rule here, and it depends from programs you use, have on mind that most of them are bloatware, and you will probably do not need them under startup in order to function properly. It is up to you, do research for specific items you have, or test it and decide if you want to remove it or not.

          Important software that is under startup can be your AV (Anti Virus), you should keep that software under startup in order to work properly. Most of the AV software at this time, have some sort of gaming modes etc. make sure you use them. If you are confident enough for sites you use, and other things, you can run without AV.

         General advice is: Try to keep as less as possible items under startup.


          Pagefile: (controversial, advisable)

          Ok, here we are, pagefile..., some people with as few as 4GB RAM do not use it, but some with 32GB of RAM do use it. I will give you advice that is more personal opinion on this topic than actual objective thing.

          Personally, i do see benefits of disabling pagefile, it do bring smoother experience for me on any machine i tested with. But, i did run into games that will refuse to run without it (Juiced, Wall-E, Titan Quest). So, my general advice is to disable pagefile if you have more than 4GB of RAM and you rarely fill half of that. Best advice here is to test it by yourself, as others would suggest, and see if is beneficial for you and your way of using PC. But if you did most things in this guide, i can't imagine how would you fill more than 4GB of RAM (and having on mind that most gamers use 8GB or more, and games are x86 applications, well, you do the math).


          Truth is, there is very few games that will use more than 2Gb of RAM by itself, and most of them are 32 bit applications. So maybe you should consider disabling pagefile, but if some game require and you play it, you can save space by reducing it. There are good tutorials considering this topic, here is simple explanation how to disable/reduce pagefile.

          Right click on Computer (or search for it, or go to Control Panel\System) select properties, click on "Advanced system settings", under Performance, click on "Settings" go to "Advanced" tab, under Virtual memory click on "Change". Untick/Uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives", select partition where your page file is (C: for example), click on it, and tick "No paging file" in order to disable it, click "set", OK, Apply, OK and reboot. Same procedure is for reducing page file size, but instead of clicking to "No paging file", click on custom size, and set min and max with same number (for 1GB pagefile, enter 1024, most people however run 2GB pagefile, if you want same, enter 2048, or enter any amount you want). Reboot.


          Hibernation: (relevant, advisable, you should do this)

           If you don't use Hibernation feature in Windows, turn it off. Here is how to do it:

          Windows 7: Type cmd.exe in run (or search for it, type cmd), or run it from start menu "Accessories" Command Prompt. Type this: "powercfg.exe -h off". You have to have administrator account, and you should disable UAC (see below).

          Windows 8: same as Windows 7, but type instead: "powercfg.exe /h off".


          UAC (User Account Control Settings): (not relevant, "security risk")

          If this is annoying to you, you can easily prevent Windows from prompting message boxes every time you want to do something. Go to the Control Panel, User Accounts (or search for it), click on "Change User Account Control settings" and move slider to "Never notify", yes, OK.



          Other Settings: (relevant and non relevant, some are important)


          Disk Defragmenter: There is scheduling type of defragmentation in Windows Vista and latter, you can turn it off if you like to do it manually, and you should turn it off if you use SSD. You can do it via registry, but you can do it as simple as going to the start, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter (or search for it), Then change it under Schedule to turn it off (untick scheduled time),

          Desktop Composition: In order to disable Desktop Composition for specific application (game), you should right click on application icon, navigate to "Compatibility" tab, and tick/check "Disable desktop composition". If you disabled Theme or Desktop Window Manager Session Manager under services, this is not relevant at all.

          Other visual settings: It may, or may not be relevant, under Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\System, Advanced System settings, Performance, Visual Settings, you can change settings to your preference or to optimize for better performance, it can help, but it doesn't have any significant influence on modern PC's, but to keep 2D more responsive (while preserving quality), you can disable those options:

          Animate controls and elements inside windows
          Animations in the taskbar and Start Menu
          Enable Aero Peak
          Fade or slide menus into view
          Fade or slide ToolTips into view
          Fade out menu items after clicking
          Save taskbar thumbnail previews

          System Restore: Some say this is great feature in Windows Operating Systems, truth is, if things go very wrong, there is very slight chance System Restore will help it. But also, it is not very relevant to gaming performance, so if you are not sure about it, leave it alone, if you want to disable it, do it trough the services (covered under Services).

          Visual c++ redistributable (don't remove those who come with GPU/etc. drivers): If games you play don't need it, remove all visual c++ redistributable from program and features (visual c++ 2010 redistributable, visual c++ 2008 redistributable, visual c++ 2005 redistributable etc.). It can help in some cases. Some games use it, and will not start if is not installed. For most games, installation is in game directory under the name "vcredist_x86" or similar, just double click to install it again for game that needs it, after removing game, remove it if is not needed and have influence.

         Visual styles/transformation packs (important): Don't use them, simple as that. Use Windows default style (aero or not, it's not important) and don't use any patch's, transformation packs etc. just keep it at default.

          Sound effects: Disable all sound effects under Control Panel\Sound for all devices (Speakers, Digital Output, Digital Optical Output etc.). Go to Properties (on selected device), Enhancements, and click on "Disable all sound effects". It can help a bit, but if you use "Speaker Fill", "Equalizer" on driver level (not Winamp etc.) etc. those features will not work. Additionally for slower CPU's you can set 16-bit 48000 Hz in sound options to save some CPU cycles.

          AMD Context Menu: This is mostly aesthetic (functional in some ways). Navigate to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers , select ACE and hit delete. This will remove Control Center from right click on the Desktop.

          DirectX Features:  Don't disable "AGP Texture Acceleration" if you do this, it WILL create lag.



          Hardware: (important, personal opinions)

         From the hardware perspective, for gaming, all components do matter. It is very important to understand that having some high end components with low quality Boards etc. can lead towards problems. Many manufacturers sell cheap Motherboards, graphic cards etc. that are in some cases so badly done, that those parts have problems running at stock specifications. Most important part in your PC is Motherboard, never go cheap on it, and when you go, make sure it preforms well before you buy it. PSU (Power Supply Unit) is also very important part. Basically, all this tweaks are done for nothing if your hardware is not in a good shape (it can be low-end PC, but in good shape, you can also have high end PC, but in bad shape). There are plenty of reviews online, you can inform yourself on forums etc. I will not give any recommendation for specific brand, because hardware is always changing, some manufacturers that was bad becomes good (in terms of quality) and vice versa. At the end, you get what you paid for. But for gaming, you want the best in it's class, you can choose to use all your components from the same brand (MSI, ASUS etc.) and that is always a good thing. Don't go cheap on it.

         Monitor (Display device): Most important part in your gaming system (it can last quite longer than any other part). You want to experience games at it's best? Forget about 60Hz, forget about Vertical Synchronization (V-Sync). Do yourself a favor, buy 120Hz LCD (if possible IPS panel for better image quality but more latency, TN panel for better latency but worse image quality), or simply use your old CRT from basement.





          Final Words:

          Without expanding this guide even further, those are most important and relevant settings you can set in order to make gaming experience even better. I do not take responsibility for any damage caused to your PC, OS, or you while following this guide. I hope it will help, and make your gaming experience much smoother and better. I have no benefits from doing this except you enjoying your games. Big thanks to the people who gave us programs and knowledge included in this collection.