Post your Windows 7 Boot Time (tweaks allowed)

Did you do a clean install?

To get into the lower numbers you really need a clean install.

 

(Phil since you asked, I felt I couldn't leave you waiting)

Generally, people, first apply all the tweaks from this post
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6474683-post263.html

Then apply the following

(I suppose you have already performed a secure erase and a clean windows installation)

The only driver installed should be the chipset drivers, nothing else

Disable as many devices as possible from the device manager (I really mean everything possible, ie USB devices, firewire, camera, unused controllers,etc.. the more the better)

Minimize the components displayed on the Start Menu and the Taskbar










The language settings


Set the time to not synchronize with a server


Disable the firewall


Delete as many fonts as possible from the Control Panel/Fonts

Set the display at 800x600 16bit

The most important tweak I believe is to change the performance option to Background services


I think there are a couple more but it's really late and my brain is not functioning properly. If anything I will add them later on.

 

Thanks very much for the detailed guide, stamatisx!

@Phil, this was not a clean install, just removed some of the bloatware but kept factory install. I plan to replace the drive soon and I may try again with a fresh install.

BTW, for anyone considering disabling all services and startups to try this, be careful if you have a Synaptics touchpad, particularly with the Scrybe multi-touch gesture application. When I re-enabled the services and startups i normally use, the synaptics driver no longer functioned and I had to uninstall scrybe, reinstall the driver and also reinstall scrybe.

 

Thanks stamatisx. +rep. Sleep well.

It would be great if anyone wants to combine all of stamatisx and Les' tips into one 'ultimate boot tweak guide'.

 

Thank you guys, I was just about to mention that, it would be really great if someone could take the time and make a nice step by step guide. From the very beginning, how to secure erase the disk, how to format the partition with 64K cluster size, configure windows, etc...
If there are specific steps, we will be able to provide more assistance to those who want to try this "sport".

(Phil, I wish I could go to sleep that early, I have to format the disk again and install and configure all my programs back... I need the laptop ready for tomorrow )

 

Interesting, I never even did secure erase or 64K cluster size.

 

Yes Phil, the secure erase will guarantee that you have factory-like performance and for the 64K cluster size check the two images below

Default is 4K (left) and manually changed to 64K on the right (check the latencies)

 

8 Seconds, but I use Vista x64 not Winodws 7

 

I tried the Services priority for real life normal boots with my P7805. It actually increased boot timer from 28 seconds to 33 seconds.

If a guide is created it should be expained which ones actually can hurt regular booting.........

 

Can I have a spot in the ranking?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...sd-tips-tricks-benchmarks-26.html#post6260388

 

Yes you can but it's self service here

 

I updated the list to include scook's time

also here is the youtube link of my time

1. stamatisx________5.616______i7 [email protected]_____Intel X25-E 64GB
2. [email protected]____ OCZ Vertex Limited Edition 50GB
3. [email protected]_____OWC Mercury Extreme Pro
4. mythdat_________8.736_______i5 520M________Intel X25-M 160GB
5. Aristotelhs2060___9.110_______i7 920XM________OCZ Vertex 120GB
6. Scook___________9.297_______QX9300_________Intel X25-M 160GB
7. RyanHurtt _______10.046______i5 430M_________OCZ Vertex 2 E
8. Abidderman______10.389______i7 720QM________Corsair Nova 128gb
9. JKleiss___________10.452______i7 820QM________Intel X25-M 80GB
10. CarlosGFK________11.965_____i7 920xm_________Crucial C300 256gb
11. TANWare________12.199______P8400__________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
12. [email protected]_____Corsair P256
13. moviemarketing___12.620______i7-820QM_______Intel X18-G2 320GB (2x160GB Raid0) (factory install with some bloatware removed)
14. aznguyphan______13.572______SU2300_______Intel X25-M 80GB G1
15. 5482741_________13.759________QX9300_______Crucial C300 256GB
16. ky9hydr4________14.757______i7 720QM_______Crucial_CT256M225
17. ptychozoon______15.533
18. grbac___________15.834_____________________WD Blue 250GB (HDD)
19. AboutThreeFitty__15.771________i5 520M_______Kingston V+ Series 128GB
20. SoccerThierry____18.423_______i7 720QM_______Intel G2 X25-M 160Gb
21. [email protected]______Seagate 250GB 7400.4 Momentum (HDD)
22. pbc____________20.451______i3-350M_________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
23. dazz87__________20.607
24. ikjadoon_________21.153______i7-720QM________Samsung MLC 256GB SSD
25. hydra___________21.325________SU7300_______Momentus XT-4GB of SLC NAND
26. OneCool_________23.103
27. Laker775________23.306_______T5750__________WD2500BEVS 250GB
28. Twiz57__________23.368
29. [email protected]____WD Blue 250GB (HDD)
30. crayonyes_______26.114_________T9300________WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200rpm (HDD)
31. arjunned________26.878________i7 720QM_______500GB 7200rpm HDD
32. Chango99_______27.596
33. [email protected]____Samsung 64GB SSD ZIF PATA
34. jayayess1190____31.153______________________Intel X25-M G2 160GB
35. McGrady________33.306
36. [email protected]_____500GB 5400RPM (HDD)
37. jeremysdad______37.424
38. Tomcat57_______41.121
39. CZX58 Shadow___41.309______Q6600(Desktop)____Hitachi HDT7250K 320GB 5400RPM
40. sgogeta4________45.287_________T5550_________WD3200BEVT (HDD)

 

Can you tell me how to do it or where I can find it?

 

Here is my time:



1. stamatisx________5.616______i7 [email protected]_____Intel X25-E 64GB
2. [email protected]____ OCZ Vertex Limited Edition 50GB
3. [email protected]_____OWC Mercury Extreme Pro
4. mythdat_________8.736_______i5 520M________Intel X25-M 160GB
5. Aristotelhs2060___9.110_______i7 920XM________OCZ Vertex 120GB
6. Scook___________9.297_______QX9300_________Intel X25-M 160GB
7. RyanHurtt _______10.046______i5 430M_________OCZ Vertex 2 E
8. Abidderman______10.389______i7 720QM________Corsair Nova 128gb
9. JKleiss___________10.452______i7 820QM________Intel X25-M 80GB
10. CarlosGFK________11.965_____i7 920xm_________Crucial C300 256gb
11. TANWare________12.199______P8400__________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
12. [email protected]_____Corsair P256
13. moviemarketing___12.620______i7-820QM_______Intel X18-G2 320GB (2x160GB Raid0) (factory install with some bloatware removed)
14. yknyong1________12.807_____T9600__________Kingston V series 40GB (NOT clean install)
15. aznguyphan______13.572______SU2300_______Intel X25-M 80GB G1
16. 5482741_________13.759________QX9300_______Crucial C300 256GB
17. ky9hydr4________14.757______i7 720QM_______Crucial_CT256M225
18. ptychozoon______15.533
19. grbac___________15.834_____________________WD Blue 250GB (HDD)
20. AboutThreeFitty__15.771________i5 520M_______Kingston V+ Series 128GB
21. SoccerThierry____18.423_______i7 720QM_______Intel G2 X25-M 160Gb
22. [email protected]______Seagate 250GB 7400.4 Momentum (HDD)
23. pbc____________20.451______i3-350M_________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
24. dazz87__________20.607
25. ikjadoon_________21.153______i7-720QM________Samsung MLC 256GB SSD
26. hydra___________21.325________SU7300_______Momentus XT-4GB of SLC NAND
27. OneCool_________23.103
28. Laker775________23.306_______T5750__________WD2500BEVS 250GB
29. Twiz57__________23.368
30. [email protected]____WD Blue 250GB (HDD)
31. crayonyes_______26.114_________T9300________WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200rpm (HDD)
32. arjunned________26.878________i7 720QM_______500GB 7200rpm HDD
33. Chango99_______27.596
34. [email protected]____Samsung 64GB SSD ZIF PATA
35. jayayess1190____31.153______________________Intel X25-M G2 160GB
36. McGrady________33.306
37. [email protected]_____500GB 5400RPM (HDD)
38. jeremysdad______37.424
39. Tomcat57_______41.121
40. CZX58 Shadow___41.309______Q6600(Desktop)____Hitachi HDT7250K 320GB 5400RPM
41. sgogeta4________45.287_________T5550_________WD3200BEVT (HDD)

 

Phil, this is how to perform secure erase using linux (I use unebootin to make a live USB stick of linux, I prefer Ubuntu)
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase
(if you need help with it let me know)

On Step 1a your SSD will show locked
You can come around this by removing the SSD and plug it back in or by closing and opening the lid (sleep mode and back on).
This will override the BIOS lock and you will be able to proceed with the guide.
It is safe, I have done many times so don't worry.


These are the steps to change the cluster size to 64K

Step 1
Imageshack - imag0142wv.jpg
If you have one partition (it's not the default) for windows like me (the other partitions that you see are form the external drive) click drive options (advanced) and delete the partition. If you have two (the default for windows installations), delete first the big partition and then the small 100MB System reserved one.

Step 2
Imageshack - imag0145q.jpg
After delete the partitions you will have one big Unallocated Space on Disk 0
Click new and apply
You will have something like this
Imageshack - imag0147e.jpg

Step 3
Press Shift - F10 to open the console and type: diskpart
Imageshack - imag0152g.jpg
Then type: select disk 0
Imageshack - imag0154x.jpg
Then type: select partition 1
Imageshack - imag0155z.jpg
Then type: active
Imageshack - imag0156.jpg
Then type: select partition 2
Imageshack - imag0157b.jpg
Then type: format fs=ntfs quick unit=64k
Imageshack - imag0158m.jpg
Then type: exit and again exit
Imageshack - imag0161z.jpg

Step 4
Click Refresh and then click on the Disk 0 partition 2 and press next
Imageshack - imag0162r.jpg

Step 5
After you finish with windows installation open a command promt as administrator and type: fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo C:
Imageshack - info64k.png
If it says Bytes per cluster: 65536 then your installation was successful and your cluster size (or else allocation unit size) is 64K instead of 4K.

 

Dang, you guys have some nutso start up times. I thought mine were fast.

 

Hi, I can't speak for other systems. With my P7805 I used the PartMagic ISO. It boots to ram. Now in AHCI it shows locked. If in bios I use IDE mode instead of ACHI for the SATA and it shows unlocked and I don't have to do the hot plugin or password or anything to SE the drive.

All I do is just use the Erase HDD application. Maybe this will work for other ICH9M's out there as well.........

 

Les, Phil & Stamatisx - Your craziness is infectious

After reading the insane times recently posted, I decided to go hard core like you heros. My goal - to best the fastest HDD (non-hybrid) time of 15.834 posted by grbac w/ his WD 320BEKT. Considering it's a Scorpio Black series and mine's a Blue (7200 vs 5400 rpm) I knew the fight wouldn't be fair.

I applied all applicable tips/tweaks supplied by Stamatisx, Les, Phil & others. Didn't disable readyboot or superfetch. Thank you guys! Phil's list is shown below for reference:

My first couple boots didn't seem promising - 30.950 & 25.775.


A few more tweaks and the 20 sec barrier is cracked while also surpassing my previous best of 23.306.


Well, my best wasn't quite fast enough to pass grbac but it is within 0.436 seconds of his 7200 rpm drive. Very pleased as my realistic goal was just to break the 20 second barrier.


Great fun! An overall 7.306 second drop, the 3rd fastest HDD time posted thus far & even bested a few SSD's. Although I'm still 2.9x's slower than you Stamatisx.

1. stamatisx________5.616______i7 [email protected]_____Intel X25-E 64GB
2. [email protected]____ OCZ Vertex Limited Edition 50GB
3. [email protected]_____OWC Mercury Extreme Pro
4. mythdat_________8.736_______i5 520M________Intel X25-M 160GB
5. Aristotelhs2060___9.110_______i7 920XM________OCZ Vertex 120GB
6. Scook___________9.297_______QX9300_________Intel X25-M 160GB
7. RyanHurtt _______10.046______i5 430M_________OCZ Vertex 2 E
8. Abidderman______10.389______i7 720QM________Corsair Nova 128gb
9. JKleiss___________10.452______i7 820QM________Intel X25-M 80GB
10. CarlosGFK________11.965_____i7 920xm_________Crucial C300 256gb
11. TANWare________12.199______P8400__________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
12. [email protected]_____Corsair P256
13. moviemarketing___12.620______i7-820QM_______Intel X18-G2 320GB (2x160GB Raid0) (factory install with some bloatware removed)
14. yknyong1________12.807_____T9600__________Kingston V series 40GB (NOT clean install)
15. aznguyphan______13.572______SU2300_______Intel X25-M 80GB G1
16. 5482741_________13.759________QX9300_______Crucial C300 256GB
17. ky9hydr4________14.757______i7 720QM_______Crucial_CT256M225
18. ptychozoon______15.533
19. AboutThreeFitty__15.771________i5 520M_______Kingston V+ Series 128GB
20. grbac___________15.834_____________________WD 320BEKT (HDD)
21. Laker775________16.270_______T5750_________WD2500BEVS 250GB
22. Nsxrrmaniac______17.596_______i5 450M_______(?) 160 GB SSD
23. SoccerThierry____18.423_______i7 720QM_______Intel G2 X25-M 160Gb
24. [email protected]______Seagate 250GB 7400.4 Momentum (HDD)
25. pbc____________20.451______i3-350M_________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
26. dazz87__________20.607
27. ikjadoon_________21.153______i7-720QM________Samsung MLC 256GB SSD
28. hydra___________21.325________SU7300_______Momentus XT-4GB of SLC NAND
29. OneCool_________23.103
30. Twiz57__________23.368
31. [email protected]____WD Blue 250GB (HDD)
32. crayonyes_______26.114_________T9300________WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200rpm (HDD)
33. arjunned________26.878________i7 720QM_______500GB 7200rpm HDD
34. Chango99_______27.596
35. [email protected]____Samsung 64GB SSD ZIF PATA
36. jayayess1190____31.153______________________Intel X25-M G2 160GB
37. McGrady________33.306
38. [email protected]_____500GB 5400RPM (HDD)
39. jeremysdad______37.424
40. Tomcat57_______41.121
41. CZX58 Shadow___41.309______Q6600(Desktop)____Hitachi HDT7250K 320GB 5400RPM
42. sgogeta4________45.287_________T5550_________WD3200BEVT (HDD)

 

Laker congrats for this excellent time, it's really nice to see that kind of numbers with HDDs and people who have fun at the same time

 

Yup excellent time... That is just crazy with a HD.

 

Stamatisx & Les - Thanks Guys!

Like I said it was fun. Isn't it amazing how much you learn when you're having fun?

 

That's the point, information and knowledge while having fun

 

Now start benching the rest of your system, it will get quite addictive lol

 

Wait for it all eheheh... Just assembled i7 930 CPU, Hyper 212 cooler, 6Gb G. Skill memory and MSI N460GTX gfx on a Rampage III board and now have to return to vac in the US for a few more days... Hoping to get her up and testing a SandForce...or maybe even a Crucial C series for boot time amongst other things within the next 2 weeks... Some of you gave away your secrets (as I did I guess) so Im pretty determined to get back up there eheheh.

 

Come on Les, it's taking you toooo long. We need some new numbers on that list...

 

Time will tell...... just need to get some right now...

 

Same laptop, new hardware. Upgraded the processor from the [email protected] to [email protected] and added the Intel X25-M 80GB SSD. Previous time was 20.267 (24th) using the T7100 & Seagate Momentus 7200.4 HDD combination.

Time using my standard settings: 17.222 secs
Time using tweaked, barebones settings: 11.856 secs


1. stamatisx________5.616______i7 [email protected]_____Intel X25-E 64GB
2. [email protected]____ OCZ Vertex Limited Edition 50GB
3. [email protected]_____OWC Mercury Extreme Pro
4. mythdat_________8.736_______i5 520M________Intel X25-M 160GB
5. Aristotelhs2060___9.110_______i7 920XM________OCZ Vertex 120GB
6. Scook___________9.297_______QX9300_________Intel X25-M 160GB
7. RyanHurtt _______10.046______i5 430M_________OCZ Vertex 2 E
8. Abidderman______10.389______i7 720QM________Corsair Nova 128gb
9. JKleiss___________10.452______i7 820QM________Intel X25-M 80GB
10. [email protected]_______Intel X25-M 80GB
11. CarlosGFK_______11.965_____i7 920xm_________Crucial C300 256gb
12. TANWare________12.199______P8400__________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
13. [email protected]_____Corsair P256
14. moviemarketing___12.620______i7-820QM_______Intel X18-G2 320GB (2x160GB Raid0) (factory install with some bloatware removed)
15. yknyong1________12.807_____T9600__________Kingston V series 40GB (NOT clean install)
16. aznguyphan______13.572______SU2300_______Intel X25-M 80GB G1
17. 5482741_________13.759________QX9300_______Crucial C300 256GB
18. ky9hydr4________14.757______i7 720QM_______Crucial_CT256M225
19. ptychozoon______15.533
20. AboutThreeFitty__15.771________i5 520M_______Kingston V+ Series 128GB
21. grbac___________15.834_____________________WD 320BEKT (HDD)
22. Laker775________16.270_______T5750_________WD2500BEVS 250GB
23. Nsxrrmaniac______17.596_______i5 450M_______(?) 160 GB SSD
24. SoccerThierry____18.423_______i7 720QM_______Intel G2 X25-M 160Gb
25. pbc____________20.451_______i3-350M_________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
26. dazz87__________20.607
27. ikjadoon_________21.153______i7-720QM________Samsung MLC 256GB SSD
28. hydra___________21.325________SU7300_______Momentus XT-4GB of SLC NAND
29. OneCool_________23.103
30. Twiz57__________23.368
31. [email protected]____WD Blue 250GB (HDD)
32. crayonyes_______26.114_________T9300________WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200rpm (HDD)
33. arjunned________26.878________i7 720QM_______500GB 7200rpm HDD
34. Chango99_______27.596
35. [email protected]____Samsung 64GB SSD ZIF PATA
36. jayayess1190____31.153______________________Intel X25-M G2 160GB
37. McGrady________33.306
38. [email protected]_____500GB 5400RPM (HDD)
39. jeremysdad______37.424
40. Tomcat57_______41.121
41. CZX58 Shadow___41.309______Q6600(Desktop)____Hitachi HDT7250K 320GB 5400RPM
42. sgogeta4________45.287_________T5550_________WD3200BEVT (HDD)

 

After Phil's list, what else did you tune to lower your score from your initial 30 sec? I'm going to reformat my computer in the next few days and will probably use most of them (except keep the practical settings on such as native resolution and bit rate instead of 800x600x16 and enable hibernation) to have a baseline "fastest" boot up time to compare with.

 

For the fastest time it is advisable to do all of them, after you finish you can always enable the features that you disabled back and have an everyday working setup

 

Well, I only played around with the services via services.msc. After disabling all I was getting a 'Please wait while your Desktop is set up" message and believed this was adding time. I ended up with maybe 7-8 services running but did not note what they were. Sorry.

Oh, I also realized I defragged the boot file after getting the services set up. Check out this thread for an explanation. Not sure it helped but definitely can't hurt. http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...enting-boot-files-under-win7.html#post5459182

Remember to run Boottimer.exe multiple times and you'll see your time drop.

Have fun!

 

I probably won't play around with getting my optimum timing much since I'm not too concerned with getting the fastest boot up nor do I have much time to play around with it anyways. Just hoping to bump myself from last place since I'm already planning for a reformat lol.

 

I had a Crucial C300 in my DM3. I applied about 80% of the tweaks (I was too lazy to do the rest). I got a 7.4 sec score. Saved the screenshot.

But then my friend came in and he wanted to test the Crucial C300 in his Macbook. He did a clean install. I forgot about the screenshot

I don't mind though, I'm happy to stay at 7.566.

 

Its impossible to have a boot time of 35 seconds and less? With normal services, not barebone.

Also i think that there is no point to test our boot time with barebone settings. What's the meaning of this?

 

It's not impossible I have a full reboot time with an everyday configuration of 27 sec (there is a script that measures that)
About the point of doing that I hope the quote from MidnightSun has coverd you.

 

My normal boot time is about 12 seconds.

 

you got my poit in general. ok i managed the boot time on the list but it was after fresh format. my normal boot time with all services-drivers (except the ssd tweaks that i applied) is 21 sec. and the last one is what matters.

 

As others have said, it's not impossible at all. My everyday boot time on a month-old install which is 70% full and has all services and drivers running is around 11 secs - only 3 secs more than my tweaked time.

With SSDs we're not gutting the system to chop times in half. SSDs are already so quick that these tweaks only shave miliseconds off.

 

My average is about 13 seconds on my lappy with the virus program which adds a few seconds....

I think the entire value of the thread is that it enables another to understand exactly why some systems take so long to start and then to trim some of the fat that they start much quicker.

Its a fact that many many programs install things into your startup and services that are absolutely not necessary unless you are using that specific program.

By fine tuning, you not only speed up the boot time but are taking an important step at maintaining your system health.

 

It would be interesting to see what boot times everyone gets on a clean install without tweaks too.

 

Yes, that's not a bad idea, also we can use the attached script to see how long it takes for a complete reboot. I try to remember where I found this script but I can't. (this will cover those who complain about measuring the time from pressing the power button and not only after POST)

Maybe we should start a new thread about those two

 

So I just reformatted and got around 30 sec, did a few tweaks (that I would have done anyways but tried to keep it more similar to what I'd use realistically) and lowered it around 23 sec. I'm perfectly happy not being last anymore (3rd!), realistic boot times with all programs, drivers, etc. is now 40 sec. For reference, here are all the tweaks I did (mostly Phil's list):

clean install
don't fill in any password
disable windows update
disable uac
disable hibernation
disable system restore
disable indexing
set visual effects on best performance
set display to 800x600 & 16 bit color (default)
make desktop background solid color
disable sounds
enable write caching
remove windows features (Windows search and more)
run boottimer

I didn't touch regedit or msconfig. And I forgot to turn off a few things like Windows Defender.

edit: here are the photos and updated list!

1. stamatisx________5.616______i7 [email protected]_____Intel X25-E 64GB
2. [email protected]____ OCZ Vertex Limited Edition 50GB
3. [email protected]_____OWC Mercury Extreme Pro
4. mythdat_________8.736_______i5 520M________Intel X25-M 160GB
5. Aristotelhs2060___9.110_______i7 920XM________OCZ Vertex 120GB
6. Scook___________9.297_______QX9300_________Intel X25-M 160GB
7. RyanHurtt _______10.046______i5 430M_________OCZ Vertex 2 E
8. Abidderman______10.389______i7 720QM________Corsair Nova 128gb
9. JKleiss___________10.452______i7 820QM________Intel X25-M 80GB
10. [email protected]_______Intel X25-M 80GB
11. CarlosGFK_______11.965_____i7 920xm_________Crucial C300 256gb
12. TANWare________12.199______P8400__________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
13. [email protected]_____Corsair P256
14. moviemarketing___12.620______i7-820QM_______Intel X18-G2 320GB (2x160GB Raid0) (factory install with some bloatware removed)
15. yknyong1________12.807_____T9600__________Kingston V series 40GB (NOT clean install)
16. aznguyphan______13.572______SU2300_______Intel X25-M 80GB G1
17. 5482741_________13.759________QX9300_______Crucial C300 256GB
18. ky9hydr4________14.757______i7 720QM_______Crucial_CT256M225
19. ptychozoon______15.533
20. AboutThreeFitty__15.771________i5 520M_______Kingston V+ Series 128GB
21. grbac___________15.834_____________________WD 320BEKT (HDD)
22. Laker775________16.270_______T5750_________WD2500BEVS 250GB
23. Nsxrrmaniac______17.596_______i5 450M_______(?) 160 GB SSD
24. SoccerThierry____18.423_______i7 720QM_______Intel G2 X25-M 160Gb
25. pbc____________20.451_______i3-350M_________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
26. dazz87__________20.607
27. ikjadoon_________21.153______i7-720QM________Samsung MLC 256GB SSD
28. hydra___________21.325________SU7300_______Momentus XT-4GB of SLC NAND
29. sgogeta4________21.824_________T5550_________WD3200BEVT (HDD - clean install)
30. OneCool_________23.103
31. Twiz57__________23.368
32. [email protected]____WD Blue 250GB (HDD)
33. crayonyes_______26.114_________T9300________WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200rpm (HDD)
34. arjunned________26.878________i7 720QM_______500GB 7200rpm HDD
35. Chango99_______27.596
36. [email protected]____Samsung 64GB SSD ZIF PATA
37. jayayess1190____31.153______________________Intel X25-M G2 160GB
38. McGrady________33.306
39. [email protected]_____500GB 5400RPM (HDD)
40. jeremysdad______37.424
41. Tomcat57_______41.121
42. CZX58 Shadow___41.309______Q6600(Desktop)____Hitachi HDT7250K 320GB 5400RPM

 

Its not impossible at all, my normal boot time with everything that I normally use turned on is about 15-16 seconds.

 

It's definitely doable with newer HDDs, considering my 2 yr old WD 320GB 5400RPM drive loads up in 40 sec. on a daily basis with normal settings (ie. OS + all software w/ regular resolution and start up programs).

 

I've been going over the list recommended by stamatisx to lower boot times, and am a little bit confused as to which settings i should tweak but still leave system useability. I want to tweak it so that my system boots faster, but can still work normally. any ideas?

 

Well the only tweaks that would make your system less useable are in bold:

clean install
don't fill in any password
disable windows update
disable uac
disable hibernation
disable system restore
disable indexing
set visual effects on best performance
set display to 800x600 & 16 bit color (default)
make desktop background solid color
disable sounds
enable write caching
remove windows features (Windows search and more)
run boottimer


Features like Indexing and Windows search are nice though, in my opinion.

Features like UAC and system restore can be good for safety. For performance they're not desirable.

 

What about this "turn off write cache buffer flushing", should I enbale that for performance? I'd guess so.

 

Phil that depends on the driver, it doesn't help in every case. You have to run a couple of benchmarks and compare the results

 

I have a password on my system, use hibernate, a few visual effects, have a background, and enable sounds... I use the program, Everything, for my searching.

 

First time is my everyday configuration, a few services disabled and five items enabled in Startup (20.08s) . Second is all startup and services disabled in msconfig (19.02s). Why is there such a small difference between the two?

grbac and laker775, those times are insane.

WD3200BEKT (250gb/platter), Windows 7, T400, 77gb filled:




1. stamatisx________5.616______i7 [email protected]_____Intel X25-E 64GB
2. [email protected]____ OCZ Vertex Limited Edition 50GB
3. [email protected]_____OWC Mercury Extreme Pro
4. mythdat_________8.736_______i5 520M________Intel X25-M 160GB
5. Aristotelhs2060___9.110_______i7 920XM________OCZ Vertex 120GB
6. Scook___________9.297_______QX9300_________Intel X25-M 160GB
7. RyanHurtt _______10.046______i5 430M_________OCZ Vertex 2 E
8. Abidderman______10.389______i7 720QM________Corsair Nova 128gb
9. JKleiss___________10.452______i7 820QM________Intel X25-M 80GB
10. [email protected]_______Intel X25-M 80GB
11. CarlosGFK_______11.965_____i7 920xm_________Crucial C300 256gb
12. TANWare________12.199______P8400__________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
13. [email protected]_____Corsair P256
14. moviemarketing___12.620______i7-820QM_______Intel X18-G2 320GB (2x160GB Raid0) (factory install with some bloatware removed)
15. yknyong1________12.807_____T9600__________Kingston V series 40GB (NOT clean install)
16. aznguyphan______13.572______SU2300_______Intel X25-M 80GB G1
17. 5482741_________13.759________QX9300_______Crucial C300 256GB
18. ky9hydr4________14.757______i7 720QM_______Crucial_CT256M225
19. ptychozoon______15.533
20. AboutThreeFitty__15.771________i5 520M_______Kingston V+ Series 128GB
21. grbac___________15.834_____________________WD 320BEKT (HDD)
22. Laker775________16.270_______T5750_________WD2500BEVS 250GB
23. Nsxrrmaniac______17.596_______i5 450M_______(?) 160 GB SSD
24. SoccerThierry____18.423_______i7 720QM_______Intel G2 X25-M 160Gb
25. vinuneuro_______19.016_______T9400__________WD3200BEKT (HDD)
26. pbc____________20.451_______i3-350M_________Momentus 500GB XT (Hybrid HDD)
27. dazz87__________20.607
28. ikjadoon_________21.153______i7-720QM________Samsung MLC 256GB SSD
29. hydra___________21.325________SU7300_______Momentus XT-4GB of SLC NAND
30. sgogeta4________21.824_________T5550_________WD3200BEVT (HDD - clean install)
31. OneCool_________23.103
32. Twiz57__________23.368
33. [email protected]____WD Blue 250GB (HDD)
34. crayonyes_______26.114_________T9300________WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200rpm (HDD)
35. arjunned________26.878________i7 720QM_______500GB 7200rpm HDD
36. Chango99_______27.596
37. [email protected]____Samsung 64GB SSD ZIF PATA
38. jayayess1190____31.153______________________Intel X25-M G2 160GB
39. McGrady________33.306
40. [email protected]_____500GB 5400RPM (HDD)
41. jeremysdad______37.424
42. Tomcat57_______41.121
43. CZX58 Shadow___41.309______Q6600(Desktop)____Hitachi HDT7250K 320GB 5400RPM

 

Vinuneuno - Thanks! Two questions. Did you first complete a clean install? How many times did you run boottimer?

If it is not a clean install, I'm impressed with your times. Also, run Boottimer several times as times do get faster after multiple runs.

If you want the best follow the above instructions but at least start with a clean install to see better performance.