Advanced ways of Boosting Performance?

[K1LLM3H]

So far I've tried: Virus Scans,Partition resize,Turn off visuals,delete programs,more virtual memory
Those are pretty basic things, but It's doesn't really cut it.What are some advanced ways of boosting performance (without digging around in the Registry) and physical upgrades?

 

[williamhh]

overclock your cpu/gpu?

 

[K1LLM3H]

overclock your cpu/gpu?

It's a laptop /w overheating issues ;P

 

[bambiboom]

K1LLM3H,

I don't know if these are "advanced" techniques, but my preference is to reduce the number of active processes. My current workstation currently shows 99 processes and I remember not too long ago, this being 67. The thing is every program wants to be set and ready to go at full performance at all times, and constantly update itself. This robs CPU and memory power as well as being distracting.

Do not use a power saving "Balanced" scheme- always set it to "Performance".

So, eliminate unnecessary or redundant programs, and turn off all automatic updating programs. avoid free programs if they are not essential. Nothing is really free!

Don't have any scheduled tasks.

There can be a backup scheme, but make it run only when prompted, same for defrag. On that subject, disk clean and defrag is very useful, and there are disk optimizer programs that put the system files together at the beginning of the disk and are careful consolidators. This aspect is not so important with SSD's - and SSD shouldn't be defragged.

Set up the C: on a mechanical drive in a partition slightly smaller than the SSD, as OS and applications only, and fully upgrade and optimize before migrating to the SSD. This can be done over time.

After setting up a C: drive, make a pristine- (before using it much) system restore image. And, if performance starts to lag, restore the image.

Do not use any kind of hibernation or power off schemes. To save power and the wear, turn the system off if it will not be used for more than 45-minutes or an hour.

Use the Windows Basic Theme.Turn off Aero and all animation and transparency features. I compared an Aero Theme to Basic and Aero with transparency reduced the 3D score in Passmark by more than 20%. Also, do not use a screensaver- it's another background program running.

For physical improvements, the CPU has a substantial effect, but the easiest and most effective increase in perforamnce is often the GPU. I was given a Dell Precision 390

Precision 390 (2006) (Original): Core2 Duo 6300 dual-core @ 1.86GHz, 2GB DDR2 667 > Quadro FX550 > 2X WD 320GB . Windows XP Pro 32-bit
[ Passmark system rating =397, CPU = 587 / 2D= 248 / 3D=75 / Mem=585 / Disk = 552 ]

and after spending about $100 and using a Quadro K600 that arrived in an HP z420:

Dell Precision 390 (2006) (Revised): Xeon X3230 quad-core @ 2.67GHz > 8 GB DDR2 ECC 667 > Quadro K600 > 2X WD 320GB >Linksys WMP600N WiFi > Dell 24" > 1920 X 1200 > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1296, CPU = 2953 / 2D= 382 / 3D=862 / Mem= 853 / Disk=569]

As this system has the bare minimum and less demanding programs- the performance is completely reasonable. When I bought a Quadro K4200 (4GB) workstation card, I tried it in the Precision to see if the 390 architecture could get anything out of it:

Precision 390 with Quadro K4200:
Passmark system rating = 1552, CPU = 3467 / 2D= 683 / 3D=4067 / Mem= 866 / Disk=570]

As the HP z420 has a 3D score of 4596, I can see that the 390 is producing a 3D of close to 90% of the z420 and when I tried it, the navigation and shadows, etc. were very good, suggesting that the experience of good performance is related to a high degree to the graphics card.

The other strong performance hardware choice is the disk and this is the last feature of the 390 that needs a lot of consideration. If you look in Passmark results, the very high performing systems often have RAID controllers running RAID 0 or some 0 (performance) + 1 (mirroring) combination RAID. Pending upgrades to my two main systems:

HP z420: Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

Precision T5500: Pending upgrade: PERC H310 PCIe SAS /SATA RAID controller, 2X WD Black 1TB (RAID 1)(Converts disk system from 3GB/s to 6GB/s)

So, there are some general thoughts.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card 875W PSU > Logitech z313> Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D= 3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench 15 > CPU = 772 OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15

Network: Netgear GS108-400NAS Gigabit Ethernet

 

[K1LLM3H]

K1LLM3H,

I don't know if these are "advanced" techniques, but my preference is to reduce the number of active processes. My current workstation currently shows 99 processes and I remember not too long ago, this being 67. The thing is every program wants to be set and ready to go at full performance at all times, and constantly update itself. This robs CPU and memory power as well as being distracting.

Do not use a power saving "Balanced" scheme- always set it to "Performance".

So, eliminate unnecessary or redundant programs, and turn off all automatic updating programs. avoid free programs if they are not essential. Nothing is really free!

Don't have any scheduled tasks.

There can be a backup scheme, but make it run only when prompted, same for defrag. On that subject, disk clean and defrag is very useful, and there are disk optimizer programs that put the system files together at the beginning of the disk and are careful consolidators. This aspect is not so important with SSD's - and SSD shouldn't be defragged.

Set up the C: on a mechanical drive in a partition slightly smaller than the SSD, as OS and applications only, and fully upgrade and optimize before migrating to the SSD. This can be done over time.

After setting up a C: drive, make a pristine- (before using it much) system restore image. And, if performance starts to lag, restore the image.

Do not use any kind of hibernation or power off schemes. To save power and the wear, turn the system off if it will not be used for more than 45-minutes or an hour.

Use the Windows Basic Theme.Turn off Aero and all animation and transparency features. I compared an Aero Theme to Basic and Aero with transparency reduced the 3D score in Passmark by more than 20%. Also, do not use a screensaver- it's another background program running.

For physical improvements, the CPU has a substantial effect, but the easiest and most effective increase in perforamnce is often the GPU. I was given a Dell Precision 390

Precision 390 (2006) (Original): Core2 Duo 6300 dual-core @ 1.86GHz, 2GB DDR2 667 > Quadro FX550 > 2X WD 320GB . Windows XP Pro 32-bit
[ Passmark system rating =397, CPU = 587 / 2D= 248 / 3D=75 / Mem=585 / Disk = 552 ]

and after spending about $100 and using a Quadro K600 that arrived in an HP z420:

Dell Precision 390 (2006) (Revised): Xeon X3230 quad-core @ 2.67GHz > 8 GB DDR2 ECC 667 > Quadro K600 > 2X WD 320GB >Linksys WMP600N WiFi > Dell 24" > 1920 X 1200 > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1296, CPU = 2953 / 2D= 382 / 3D=862 / Mem= 853 / Disk=569]

As this system has the bare minimum and less demanding programs- the performance is completely reasonable. When I bought a Quadro K4200 (4GB) workstation card, I tried it in the Precision to see if the 390 architecture could get anything out of it:

Precision 390 with Quadro K4200:
Passmark system rating = 1552, CPU = 3467 / 2D= 683 / 3D=4067 / Mem= 866 / Disk=570]

As the HP z420 has a 3D score of 4596, I can see that the 390 is producing a 3D of close to 90% of the z420 and when I tried it, the navigation and shadows, etc. were very good, suggesting that the experience of good performance is related to a high degree to the graphics card.

The other strong performance hardware choice is the disk and this is the last feature of the 390 that needs a lot of consideration. If you look in Passmark results, the very high performing systems often have RAID controllers running RAID 0 or some 0 (performance) + 1 (mirroring) combination RAID. Pending upgrades to my two main systems:

HP z420: Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

Precision T5500: Pending upgrade: PERC H310 PCIe SAS /SATA RAID controller, 2X WD Black 1TB (RAID 1)(Converts disk system from 3GB/s to 6GB/s)

So, there are some general thoughts.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card 875W PSU > Logitech z313> Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D= 3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench 15 > CPU = 772 OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15

Network: Netgear GS108-400NAS Gigabit Ethernet

I don't have an SSD ;_;.They are so frikin expensive, like 200 bucks for 60 GB of SSD.I was talking about Windows tweaks.I don't schedule, hibernate or use windows aero.I said I choose best performance in computer properties

 

[hang-the-9]

overclock your cpu/gpu?

It's a laptop /w overheating issues ;P

A clean Windows setup can speed things up in most systems without changing hardware.

Outside of that, replace it with a faster system or upgrade RAM / replace hard drive with a solid state.
Don't know where you saw a 60 GB solid state for $200, that was probably the price for one when it came out. You can get a 120 GB solid state for under $100 easily.

 

[iXeon]

So far I've tried: Virus Scans,Partition resize,Turn off visuals,delete programs,more virtual memory
Those are pretty basic things, but It's doesn't really cut it.What are some advanced ways of boosting performance (without digging around in the Registry) and physical upgrades?

best solution for your problem is to manage what you have!
here are some steps:

1-reducing the unneeded partitions would help the operation system boot up lot faster then before
you can do that by merging the unneeded partitions with each other.
2-deleting the programs you rarely using or you not using at all
3-deleting useless fonts would be grate for boosting the boot up
4-set the CPU priority on the programs you use too much (it has to be done cautiously)
5-deleting the hardware's you don't use.(this would boost the boot up and operation speed)
6-configure the boot setting and set the Parallel and useless port in disable state.
7-Update the bios of the motherboard (this is the most effective)
8-install a windows that have been supported by you're motherboard and hardware's (the driver of hardware is related to the speed of operation system)
9-if you don't have a powerful graphic card you can set the Windows visual setting in low profile
(this can be done by- System Properties>Advanced>Performance>Settings
10-remove the windows background if you need the resources too much.
11-reduce the user profiles as possible