General Windows 10 Optimization

[Jake3231]

I am working on slowly upgrading my custom built PC, but in the mean time, I am looking to better optimize Windows for my hardware and software configuration for efficiency and performance.  I'd appreciate any tips on how to improve my experience and further tie my hardware and OS install together.  I already have checked for malware, set Windows to run in high performance mode under the power settings, got a Haswell compatible PSU for power management, and checked for new drivers.  This machine is primarily used for gaming (GTA V, Garry's Mod), but is also used for the occasional web browsing and Netflix.  Here is my current build, which was built in late 2014.  I am currently working on switching my cheap Molex case fans to 4-pin fans.  Thanks in advance!

[Electronics Wizardy]

You really don't have to change anything. Id keep it in balanced, high perforamnce won't change much, but use more power.

 

 

[Jake3231]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You really don't have to change anything. Id keep it in balanced, high perforamnce won't change much, but use more power.

 

 

Okay. I just updated the topic to reflect this, but I do this primarily for gaming.  Are you sure high performance won't make a difference? Also, if I use balanced, will the PC change it's power draw and resource delegation to improve performance in the game?

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Jake3231 said:

Okay. I just updated the topic to reflect this, but I do this primarily for gaming.  Are you sure high performance won't make a difference? Also, if I use balanced, will the PC change it's power draw and resource delegation to improve performance in the game?

balanced will use less power with basically the same power. All it does is change the cpu clock to be more agressive, and that doesn't help games.

[Jake3231]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

balanced will use less power with basically the same power. All it does is change the cpu clock to be more agressive, and that doesn't help games.

Okay..  Since the CPU i'm using already has a pretty high base clock, would it be better to use balanced? Besides power draw, does this yield any other benefits? I do have a spinning hard drive, but I would like to really optimize for responsiveness and reliability.  Just to clarify, I am really a Mac person, and I am aiming to get the same hardware/software integration, stability, and performance on my custom Windows build.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Jake3231 said:

Okay..  Since the CPU i'm using already has a pretty high base clock, would it be better to use balanced? Besides power draw, does this yield any other benefits? I do have a spinning hard drive, but I would like to really optimize for responsiveness and reliability.  Just to clarify, I am really a Mac person, and I am aiming to get the same hardware/software integration, stability, and performance on my custom Windows build.

just use balanced.

 

The cpu runs at about 600mhz idle(no matter the max clock)

 

 

[Jake3231]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

just use balanced.

 

The cpu runs at about 600mhz idle(no matter the max clock)

 

 

Okay.  I mean that the base clock is 3.6 Ghz, which is pretty high. I'll switch to balanced.  Would reinstalling Windows, while keeping user files, help things? Maybe just wiping it completely?

Edited December 31, 2016 by Jake3231

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Jake3231 said:

Okay.  I mean that the base clock is 3.6 Mhz, which is pretty high. I'll switch to balanced.  Would reinstalling Windows, while keeping user files, help things? Maybe just wiping it completely?

the cpu still runs at 600mhz idle. High power makes it run at 3.6 all the time. The kernel will bump up the clock if needed. Games will make clock go up, and it won't affect performance.

[Jake3231]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

the cpu still runs at 600mhz idle. High power makes it run at 3.6 all the time. The kernel will bump up the clock if needed. Games will make clock go up, and it won't affect performance.

Okay.  I'll do that. It seems that there's no point in the high performance setting existing.

[Jake3231]

Do you know of any other ways I can fine tune Windows to my workflow?  I am really looking for anything I can disable that isn't necessary to make my HW/SW experience work well.

[its_saikat69]

Up to Windows 7, I could name a few registry hacks or software which disables services. But on Windows 10, I must say the default values works just fine. Using the high performance or balanced mode is used mainly for laptop users. On a desktop, this generally does not affect any performance. 

[JefferyD90]

8 hours ago, Jake3231 said:

I am working on slowly upgrading my custom built PC, but in the mean time, I am looking to better optimize Windows for my hardware and software configuration for efficiency and performance.  I'd appreciate any tips on how to improve my experience and further tie my hardware and OS install together.  I already have checked for malware, set Windows to run in high performance mode under the power settings, got a Haswell compatible PSU for power management, and checked for new drivers.  This machine is primarily used for gaming (GTA V, Garry's Mod), but is also used for the occasional web browsing and Netflix.  Here is my current build, which was built in late 2014.  I am currently working on switching my cheap Molex case fans to 4-pin fans.  Thanks in advance!

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