Optimal performance settings, part 1

[bloom25]

I was just talking with a former squaddie last night, trying to help him get his system to run faster.  We ended up gaining him about 5 - 8 fps in about 5 minutes worth of work.  It reminded me that there are a number of settings in Windows that everybody should know about to get top performance from their systems.

DISCLAIMER:  If you mess your system up, it isn't my fault.    Most of these settings are 100% safe, but I'll tell you which ones are not so safe.

1.  Typical role setting.  This one is 100% safe, and everyone with Win95(b and c versions only), win98, 98se, and ME ( <- eek   ) should look into.  Go to start -> settings -> control panel -> system -> performance tab -> file system button -> change typical role from "desktop computer" to "network server."  This WILL gain you FPS in AH.  Basically it takes Windows out of Winstupid mode when it comes to RAM use and Hard drive swap files.  Anybody with over 64 megs of RAM should have this set to "network server."

2.  Next would be verifying that Ultra DMA (Ultra ATA) is enabled.  If it isn't, and your hard drive supports it, your system is performing about 20% slower than it should be.  This setting applies to win95b, c, win98, 98se and ME.  Anybody who has a hard drive capable of UDMA or UATA, which would be basically all drives made in the last 3 to 4 years, should have this turned on.

Go here: start -> settings -> control panel -> system -> device manager tab -> find the "disk drives" item and click the "+" sign.  You should now see a listing for your floppy drive and hard drive.  If this setting is present, you will see something like "Generic IDE drive, type 47" or something similar.  Click the name to make it turn blue, then click the properties button at the bottom of the screen.  Now click the settings tab on the window that should have popped up.  If you see a little check box that says "DMA" and it ISN'T checked, check it and restart.  This will GREATLY improve HD performance.

(Kind of off topic, but if you have a CD burner that is always giving you trouble with buffer underruns, try this:  Find the "CD-Drives" listing, click +, find your regular CD rom drive, properties, settings, turn DMA on for it as well.  You may find that your burner works perfectly now.   )



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[Pollock]

I was the one that Bloom kindly helped and I have to tell ya this guy knows his stuff!
The problem know is I have been bitten by the framerate bug and am wanting more and more and more.  I am know looking at a geforce2 GTS card to bump my res up higher and higher and higher, damm I cant stop

[RoadfRash]

Careful with the resolution tweeks make sure you know what your monitor can handle before you change it or you could say adios to any frame rate!

[bloom25]

Hehe, Pollock, I'm thinking about the same thing.  I still get 60+ fps with my Viper v770 ultra, but that's not good enough for me I guess.    I want 85 fps ALL THE TIME.  

I've seen GF2 Gts cards for as low at $150 now, I'm thinking one with TV out would be even better.

(BTW:  I did warn about changing refresh rates on monitors in my other post.  All the other tweaks are 100% safe and highly recommended.)



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[Raubvogel]

<punt> for Leopard

[kidcol]

Thanks Bloom, I'm printing this one out  

& thanks to Laub for punting.

Getting a measly 25 to 40 fps on my sys, but I'd have to say it's pretty good for the 466 celery/voodoo 3 2000 dinosaur I'm running. Although it is better than the 5 to 18 fps I was getting last summer before the vid card upgrade. Hope your tips help me jump it a bit more  

kidcol2

[Moss]

Don't know of course how this will affect other folks but clicking the DMA box seems to have ruined my new 30G HD.  On Scandisc, thorough setting, where it checks the surface of the disk, I now have 2 bad clusters and cannot complete the scandisk or a defrag.  Also and most importantly, AH occasionally hangs up with a funny sound coming from the HD which I'm assuming is the game trying to access those bad clusters/surface defects.  
Now......I absolutely don't hold u responsible and the HD is under warrently so I'm gonna get it replaced free but just for general info, u might wanna rethink that setting  

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Moss

[bloom25]

That setting *should* be 100% safe by itself.  All I can figure is that changing to DMA mode worked the drive harder, or it was already defective.

IMPORTANT:  There are well known bugs with scandisk reporting errors on large drives.  My guess is this is the problem.  Unfortunately the version of scandisk in win95 and win98 is too old to properly support newer drives.  I'll find the article and post it here.

Here's the link:  (I'm almost 100% certain your drive is ok, but scandisk may have actually screwed it up.   )  DMA mode can not cause a cluster to go bad.
 http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q243/4/50.ASP?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=scandisk%20errors&rnk=10&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SRCH&SPR=W98

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bloom25
(Formerly of the)
THUNDERBIRDS

[This message has been edited by bloom25 (edited 03-31-2001).]

[Dux]

*bump*

[Swager]

Bloom,

I got a MSI GeForce2 PRO 64M for $140 at newegg.  Ya might want to check on them.

Swag