What can I do to get my computer ready to play games on Windows 7?

[Raziaar]

And by that I mean optimizing the computer for maximum performance so I can play games without too much left in the background.

There's some obvious things, like shut down antivirus, close unnecessary programs/processes.

Though, with windows 7, I don't exactly know what all the processes are, and all the services and what I can be safe messing with in order to get the peak performance out of my system when I play games.

I love this new operating system, but I'm still very new at it. And truth be told, I wasn't exactly a guru when it came to doing this very same thing on XP either, so I'm kind of at a loss.

Do you guys have a checklist that you go through to accomplish this? I would love one, so I can get it right every time.

 

[Viperidae]

I wouldn't worry. Not with your setup. If you're playing valve games, add -heapsize 512000 (or 1024000) to the start options.

 

[tesher06]

ummm Why are you talking about Windows 7 when it's still in beta?

 

[Raziaar]

ummm Why are you talking about Windows 7 when it's still in beta?

Release Candidate.

Because that's what I'm using. Many other people are using it too. I'm done with XP.




Thanks for the tip Viperidae.

 

[Sedako]

Do you have any experience tinkering with services Raz? There are a handful of them that most general PC users will not need, and disabling these may provide a very slight performance boost. I usually refer people here.

 

[Captain M4d]

I haven't really had to tweak much to get games running in Windows 7. They all seem to work fine to me, as far as modern games released for XP and beyond go.

I can't get Starcraft to run properly in 7 though. The colors get all messed up, even in compatibility mode for 98 or 95. That's why I have the dual boot running with XP, I guess.

 

[Dumb Dude]

I'd have to say that even if you do kill off any "unecessary" services and proceses, you're still only going to be squeezing out like 2-4 extra FPS. Thats just a guess though, but I have never had a problem running my games as is on Windows 7.

The big thing is to just close any heavy running programs and you should be set.

 

[Sedako]

I'd have to say that even if you do kill off any "unecessary" services and proceses, you're still only going to be squeezing out like 2-4 extra FPS. Thats just a guess though, but I have never had a problem running my games as is on Windows 7.

Well he did say maximum performance. Any little gain helps in that case. Disabling unneeded services can also improve boot times and general desktop use.

 

[Raziaar]

Do you have any experience tinkering with services Raz? There are a handful of them that most general PC users will not need, and disabling these may provide a very slight performance boost. I usually refer people here.

Yeah I know how to tinker with services. But I don't know which ones are absolutely unnecessary for me.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Viperidae]

I can't get Starcraft to run properly in 7 though. The colors get all messed up, even in compatibility mode for 98 or 95. That's why I have the dual boot running with XP, I guess.

Yeah, it's a problem, but it only applies to the menus. Once you're in-game the colours are fine.

 

[-Psy-]

Same problem with Worms Armageddon though that goes back to Vista as well. It's something to do with the colour palettes that older games use (256 colours) being 'grabbed' from explorer thus rendering the colours all glitchy and crap.

 

[Captain M4d]

Yeah, it's a problem, but it only applies to the menus. Once you're in-game the colours are fine.

orly? I'll have to try that out tomorrow.

 

[JessicaD]

Raziaar,

Windows 7 does have many new features and changes. For users just like yourself who are very new to Windows 7 Microsoft does have a site with whitepapers, tutorials, walkthroughs and screen casts on all the “under the hood” features in Win 7. Check out the Springboard site for Windows 7 on TechNet

Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team