Tweaking fresh install

[Nevakonaza]

Hey guys,

So i want to re-install windows 7,But this time when its installed i want to Optimize and tweak it for best performance....and try and make it faster when i log in as at the moment its not all that fast in responding when i click on an icon as soon as i log on...i usually have to wait a min or so before it actualy responds.

Also, i wanted to ask,did anyone actualy see a performance decrease in windows when all updates are applied?...seems if i update my system it actualy makes it slower :/

Its using about 1.1Gb of ram idle!

What tweaks would you recommend?

Windows 7 Home premium X64 btw.

System specs below

Thanks all

 

[Petey7]

If your specs are right, I think the OC on the RAM might need some work. I thought you were supposed to lower the latency and other timings, not increase the speed. But then again, I'm no expert.

Also, have you turned off Superfetch? Turning it back on will increase performance.

 

[bigmck]

I am assuming that when you installed Win 7 the first time that it was a clean install. If not that could be your problem. With the system you have, you should not be having any wait at all. I installed the 32 bit. I had 4 GB of ram. After I installed Win 7, I could tell immediately that there was a speedup in performance. Hopefully the clean install will take care of your problem.

 

[pparks1]

Also, i wanted to ask,did anyone actualy see a performance decrease in windows when all updates are applied?...seems if i update my system it actualy makes it slower :/

Well, the OS is going to get a bit larger...but not to the point where you are likely to see any difference. But I guess 1 second here or there is probably worth the extra security or stability that the updates bring.

Its using about 1.1Gb of ram idle!

If the RAM is there, use it.

What tweaks would you recommend?

Honestly, I don't really make many tweaks after a fresh install of Windows 7 for performance.

 

[gregrocker]

Trying to tweak Win7 for performance is XPired oldthink. It is a perfectly balanced OS which needs no tweaking other than normal settings. Those of us who beta tested it for over a year learned this the hard way as, one by one, tweaks became unnecessary and counter-productive. They will work against you.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Nevakonaza, welcome to Seven Forums!





As has been said, there is no need to tweak W_7 and it may hinder its performance; though there is this tutorial at the link below.


Optimize Windows 7

 

[Nevakonaza]

If your specs are right, I think the OC on the RAM might need some work. I thought you were supposed to lower the latency and other timings, not increase the speed. But then again, I'm no expert.

Also, have you turned off Superfetch? Turning it back on will increase performance.

Well when i overclocked i just raised the fsb and the ram went up with it...then i gave the ram a bit more voltage..According to Cpuz my memory timings are 6-6-6-18 with 2T command line.

Im sure my ram is 5-5-5-15 or 5-5-5-12 timings default...not realy sure.

could this impace performance alot?

 

[Wishmaster]

If your specs are right, I think the OC on the RAM might need some work. I thought you were supposed to lower the latency and other timings, not increase the speed. But then again, I'm no expert.

Also, have you turned off Superfetch? Turning it back on will increase performance.

Well when i overclocked i just raised the fsb and the ram went up with it...then I gave the ram a bit more voltage..According to Cpuz my memory timings are 6-6-6-18 with 2T command line.

Im sure my ram is 5-5-5-15 or 5-5-5-12 timings default...not realy sure.

could this impace performance alot?

I wouldn't worry about tweaking windows TBH. Better off leaving it to tweak itself.
As far as RAM use, i wouldn't worry about that either. Let 7 have all it wants. It knows what to do.


What are the "official" specs of your RAM?

When Ocing the system, many times allowing the RAM to run a bit slower doent hurt at all .. in fact it may actually run better due to the higher FSB.

Mine for example is rated at 2.1V , 5-5-5-15 , 1066Mhz.

But with a 400FSB settings, I run it at 5-5-5-12, 960Mhz, 2.075V

It Actually has better bandwidth than the 1066 settings at all default. Plus, it just seems really happy here overall.


It looks as if you are doing somewhat the same at 930mhz.
Im assuming our OC is nice an stable? If so, I would try tightening up the timing on the RAM just a bit.
You should certainly be able to do better than a CAS 6 I would think.


I would try to tighten up the Timings. maybe 5-5-5-5 or even 5-5-5-12 if you can. Maybe try a tRFC of 48 or so..

You shouldn't have any need to raise the RAM voltage abouve its recommended setting.

Also, Open a cmd Prompt as Admin and type: winsat mem

This will give a rough estimate of Memory Bandwidth so you can see what changes if any it makes.

 

[pparks1]

could this impace performance alot?

Well, about the only thing it might impact from a performance standpoint would be a benchmark score. In real life usage, I'm afraid you would most likely never be able to detect it.

 

[CarlTR6]

Trying to tweak Win7 for performance is XPired oldthink. It is a perfectly balanced OS which needs no tweaking other than normal settings. Those of us who beta tested it for over a year learned this the hard way as, one by one, tweaks became unnecessary and counter-productive. They will work against you.

Greg is spot on. Win 7 is not XP and does not need tweaking.

 

[Nevakonaza]

Also, Open a cmd Prompt as Admin and type: winsat mem

This will give a rough estimate of Memory Bandwidth so you can see what changes if any it makes.

Didnt know about that,thats handy....i just ran it with the settings i have and got a memory performance of = 6734.34mb/s.

Well, about the only thing it might impact from a performance standpoint would be a benchmark score. In real life usage, I'm afraid you would most likely never be able to detect it.

Hmm...so leave it all be then...how about pagefile do i need that on? i remember i always turned it off in Xp and it was faster without it...i only had 1.25gb of ram in that rig then aswell

 

[karlsnooks]

Another vote for not-tweaking. Tweaking is XPish and counter-productive.

Be sure and tweak and we will see you here time and time and time again as you relate your problems.

 

[Wishmaster]

Yes you always need a PF.

And I agree, you probablly wont see much of a RW difference with RAM speed, but if you want to tweak, tightening timings would be better than tweaking Windows itself.


The best overall performance upgrade you can do is move 7 to a SSD.

 

[Nevakonaza]

Yes you always need a PF.

And I agree, you probablly wont see much of a RW difference with RAM speed, but if you want to tweak, tightening timings would be better than tweaking Windows itself.


The best overall performance upgrade you can do is move 7 to a SSD.

Well i have thought about it,But theyre really expensive :/ and the only one i could really afford is the 60Gb OCZ vortex...but 60gb isnt enough space really ide fill that up very quick.

i could stretch to the 80Gb intel ssd but again its very expensive and not much space.

im going to wait for bigger drivers to come out and hopefully one day the ssds will go down in price

 

[chev65]

You could try and reduce the number of programs that start up with Windows. It sounds like you may have a bunch of programs that start up with Windows from what you are saying.

As far as tweaking goes, going from a regular hard drive to my 120GB SSD made opening programs much faster and my system starts faster also.

 

[pparks1]

i could stretch to the 80Gb intel ssd but again its very expensive and not much space.

im going to wait for bigger drivers to come out and hopefully one day the ssds will go down in price

Yeah, I've got the 80GB intel and the speed bump is awesome. By far the most noticeable upgrade I have ever done.

With disk space, people usually just consume it and don't think about it since it's usually cheap. If you actually make an effort to keep things tidy, you would be surprised how spacious 80GB can be. With my drive, with Win7 64-bit installed, all of the apps that I use and a couple of games...I still have 50GB free.

In addition to the SSD, I have a 1TB spinning drive. i put the page file on the spinner, turned off hibernation (as it's a desktop and with an SSD, it boots fast anyway), and cut down system restore to 2%.

 

[Wishmaster]

I also do mostly as pparks has suggested as well.

I have 2 other spinners that hold all my Pictures, Music, Videos etc.

I have a much smaller SSD however, a 40GB Intel, and have around 17.5GB of free space on mine.

Of course, its a bit slower than the 80GB version, but still a night and day difference over a standard 7200 drive.