Settings, Programs, etc for Gaming?

I was just curious what settings and programs or anything else you guys use to make your computer as fast as possible for gaming. I currently just play WoW and use MSI Afterburner to OC my Graphics Card, but was wondering if you guys have any other suggestions?

Maybe like Game Booster?

 

Game booster supposedly boosts your fps, but you can just disable some aero effects manually without downloading any unnecessary garbage. You can try disabling some programs when you're playing, like steam or a torrent client etc. Your 555 can't handle wow maxed out?

 

Yes it can, no problem even with shadows (although fps is significantly lower than with them on a lower setting). I run with shadows on Low though as they don't really make the game look much better anyways. I probably average around 100 FPS+ (assuming the game fps is correct), even if that's off it runs smooth as butter. I would like to be able to disable some running programs, but don't have much experience in that area

 

100 fps is really high, you don't need to be overclocked. You're just putting unnecessary stress on your gpu.

 

I have looked throughout the OC discussion for the M14x and the settings I am using were the recommended stable settings...also I un-overclock back to stock after exiting the game

 

Here are some tips from the Alienware Gaming Services, they are general tips but they may help you a lot on keeping your computer clean and stable for gaming.

 

I just made a 25 GB parition and did a fresh install of windows 7 on it. Its barebone with only essentials like antivirus, firewall, chrome, winamp etc
No software like adobe, microsoft office installed. Did some other tweaks to make it faster.

Now I dual boot windows 7. One is regular partition with all my softwares and settings intact and another one is a barebone OS thats faster with less running process to help in better gaming!

 

Woah! That is cool!! Do you mind sharing some instructions on how to do that on my SSD? I have been thinking about doing a clean install of windows 7 anyways as my SSD is 50% full and would like to clean it up anyways

 

Thanks I will check that out!

 

Anyone have any info on how I can partition my Crucial M4 SSD to make a partition for gaming?

 

Step -1 :
Its fairly simple.press windows key, Right click on 'My Computer' and select manage. A new window will open. From the left column, Click on ' Disk management ' under the option storage. If you have a single C: partition, right click on it, Shrink size . i did around 25000 mb for a 25 GB partition. But you can lower it if you want. But you will still need around 18GB for windows 7 minimum.

2) Pop in your windows 7 installation disc, reboot. Press F12, select DVD drive. It will load up windows 7 disc. Install it on new partition .

3) install drivers and other basic software that you would like.I use smaller and faster software like microsoft security for AV, vlc etc.

4) Now you have to partitions with different Windows 7.


But in my opinion, you should not be doing this because
1) Your SSD already has limited storage . Dont waste it in dual booting.
2) SSD is a lot faster then a HDD so you will have a more responsive system as it is. Making a new partition might give you a 5-10% increase in performance but at cost of storage.


What you can do is this:

1) Make a gaming partition on SSD. Just install all drivers and basic stuff. Make another partition on it for games.

2) You can make new windows partition on your 500GB HDD. Use it for day to day work like movie editing, web browsing,movies, using different softwares etc.

This way you will end up saving more space on your SSD

 

Alright so you wouldn't recommend me make a partition for gaming (for WoW) on my SSD then? 25GB wouldn't be enough of a partition for Windows and WoW together anyways so I see why that would be a huge waste of SSD space...I guess I will just leave it as is then.

Thanks for the info though