Ok so I've been thinking about this for a while. Basically in the effort to improve my own performance and game performance I always try to tweak my hardware and windows settings. The trouble is that each time I format and reinstall my OS I completely forget what said tweaks were and I have to rediscover them again!
To remedy this issue I have decided to post up any tweaks I do use and perhaps have the community here do the same in this thread. We could also compare whether the tweaks really do make a difference.
Let us begin.
Network adapter settings:
Right click my computer
Choose manage
Click Device manager
Expand network adapters
Right click your ethernet adapter and choose properties
Click the advanced tab in properties
The above should lead you to the following:
Now adjust settings so that
Any energy efficiency technologies are disabled
Interrupt moderation is disabled
Flow control is disabled
Everything else should be fine at default
End result, your latency should decrease slightly (varies per user) but your cpu usage will go up slightly.
Next optimisation involves disabling Nagles algorithm (TCP no delay)
Instead of writing up the information I have chose to copy paste from another source http://lifeandcode.net/2009/05/reduce-game-network-latency-in-windows-7-or-vista/
Looking at the link people have reported varying success, some swear by it and others report it makes no difference.
Next up is enabling HPET (High precision event timer) and configuring it correctly, this should help prevent mouse stuttering and ghosting. Again I think this depends on your setup but some people have reported positive results whilst others have not noticed any improvement. Discussion here:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1...n-bios-and-os-for-better-performance-and-fps/
Whilst following the steps below MAKE SURE you set HPET to 32bit or 64bit to match your OS installation.
Now to disable windows mouse acceleration, again I'm too lazy to write it as someone has already done it 
Source http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=299316
I don't really use this anymore either as it is built into my logitech software.
In an effort to improve my line stability I went through the process of replacing my router etc, the simplest gain I had from this was to disable the ring wire on my master socket which improved my line stability. Again I'm going to link a source which will explain it far better than I could.
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm
Note I didn't have one of the new master sockets so my wires were a bit different, the ring wire was still located in slot 3 though. http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6469/btsocket1.jpg
Feel free to add tweaks to this thread. I'll add anymore I come across.
For individual game tweaks you can have a look at http://www.tweakguides.com/ this is a site I watched grow from infancy, I like it because it explains all of the options rather than simply telling you what to change them to.
To remedy this issue I have decided to post up any tweaks I do use and perhaps have the community here do the same in this thread. We could also compare whether the tweaks really do make a difference.
Let us begin.
Network adapter settings:
Right click my computer
Choose manage
Click Device manager
Expand network adapters
Right click your ethernet adapter and choose properties
Click the advanced tab in properties
The above should lead you to the following:
Now adjust settings so that
Any energy efficiency technologies are disabled
Interrupt moderation is disabled
Flow control is disabled
Everything else should be fine at default
End result, your latency should decrease slightly (varies per user) but your cpu usage will go up slightly.
Next optimisation involves disabling Nagles algorithm (TCP no delay)
Instead of writing up the information I have chose to copy paste from another source http://lifeandcode.net/2009/05/reduce-game-network-latency-in-windows-7-or-vista/
Code:
After installing Windows 7 I noticed a slight increase in network latency in several online games. It wasn’t a big deal – I’m talking 200-300ms, but this is on a connection that was reliably < 100ms in the past. Beyond the obvious settings in Windows or on your router, here’s a list of tweaks that may help quite a bit. It involves disabling [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagle%27s_algorithm"]Nagle’s algorithm[/URL], also commonly known as TCP no delay, which is basically an optimization of network traffic that tries to reduce overall packet volume but can cause extra latency in the connection. This should work on Windows 7 or Vista, though the same principle can probably applied to other operating systems as well.
[LIST=1]
[*]From a command prompt (usually in All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt) run “regedit”
[*]Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces
[*]Browse the items under interfaces until you find one that has an IPAddress entry matching the network interface you want to affect (typically LAN IP addresses start with 192.168 or 10.0); note that if your IP address is automatically assigned by a DHCP server you may need to look for a matching DhcpIPAddress instead of IPAddress
[*]Right-click on the interface and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it “TcpAckFrequency”
[*]Right-click the new TcpAckFrequency value and select Modify, enter “1″ (Hexadecimal radio button should be selected)
[*]Right-click on the interface and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it “TCPNoDelay” (note that TCP is all uppercase this time – that’s intentional)
[*]Right-click the new TCPNoDelay value and select Modify, enter “1″ (Hexadecimal radio button should be selected)
[*]Verify that both TcpAckFrequency and TCPNoDelay now show up in the adapter’s property list with types REG_DWORD and values 0×00000001
[*]Exit regedit and reboot (reboot is necessary for the changes to take effect!)
[*]Play a game and enjoy your new low ping
[/LIST]
This decreased my ping in most games from 200-300ms to 50-60ms, which matches the latency I would see via a tracert to the game’s server.Next up is enabling HPET (High precision event timer) and configuring it correctly, this should help prevent mouse stuttering and ghosting. Again I think this depends on your setup but some people have reported positive results whilst others have not noticed any improvement. Discussion here:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1...n-bios-and-os-for-better-performance-and-fps/
Whilst following the steps below MAKE SURE you set HPET to 32bit or 64bit to match your OS installation.
Code:
By default Windows 7 uses different timers in the CPU to calculate stuff. HPET is the newest and best of these timers, but because of default combination of timers it takes longer time for CPU to keep up all the timers and sync between them. Forcing Windows to use HPET only improves performance and leads to greater FPS.
Steps to enable this tweak:
1. Enable HPET in BIOS. If you have HPET option in BIOS then your hardware can support HPET.
2. Enable HPET in Windows by giving this command in admin credential CMD:
bcdedit /set useplatformclock true
3. RebootI don't really use this anymore either as it is built into my logitech software.
Code:
Mouse acceleration is an annoying feature found in all versions of Microsoft Windows that artificially increases the speed of your mouse cursor based on how fast you move the mouse across your mouse pad. It sounds like a great feature in theory, in fact, Microsoft even calls the setting to “Enable pointer precision”; unfortunately it does the exact opposite and destroys any precision you may have had.
The game is plagued with inconsistency because moving the mouse from point A to point B is never the same. By disabling mouse acceleration, no matter how fast or slow you move the mouse, movement from point A to point B will be the same. This results in much greater accuracy, increased consistency.
To disable it from Windows, open up your Control Panel; from here open the Mouse panel, select the “Pointer Options” tab and un-check the “Enhance pointer precision” check-box.
That is only halfway there, since Windows also has a smaller mouse acceleration even if you disable it. You need to edit the registry to fully get rid of it.
(Works with XP, Vista and Windows 7)
1. Click Start button
2. Select Run
3. Type 'regedit' in the open textbox
4. Open the tree 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER', select control panel, then select mouse
5. Right clicking, modify the SmoothMouseXCurve and SmoothMouseYCurve hexidecimal values to the following:
SmoothMouseXCurve:
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
00,a0,00,00,00,00,00,00
00,40,01,00,00,00,00,00
00,80,02,00,00,00,00,00
00,00,05,00,00,00,00,00
SmoothMouseYCurve:
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
66,a6,02,00,00,00,00,00
cd,4c,05,00,00,00,00,00
a0,99,0a,00,00,00,00,00
38,33,15,00,00,00,00,00
If done correctly, you will notice you are holding a more responsive mouse (if you have been playing with mouse acceleration turned on for a long time, be warned: it does take some getting used to.)
Please note: although this tweak is pretty straight forward, if you have no idea what the registry edit tool is or does, I suggest reading a basic guide first (such as: [URL="http://www.akadia.com/services/windows_registry_tutorial.html%29"]http://www.akadia.com/services/windows_registry_tutorial.html)[/URL].
Cheers!
[B]EDIT:[/B] If you're worried about editing your registry, this file does the above for you: [URL]http://www.nextlevelgamer.com/downloads/tweaks/mouse_fix_reg[/URL]http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm
Code:
[B]What is the ring wire?[/B]
The "ringwire" or bell wire was traditionally used for pulse dialling systems to transmit the ringing tone to telephones when your phone rings.
Most modern phones use tone dialling and/or electronic ringers and therefore do not require this connection to be present, and will still ring if the ring wire is disconnected.
[B]Why remove the ring wire?[/B]
Unfortunately, the ring wire can also act as an antenna, picking up interference from other electrical equipment in and around the house.
It is often found that disconnecting the ring wire improves the stability of a connection, sometimes considerably, especially on "star" wired telephone systems.Feel free to add tweaks to this thread. I'll add anymore I come across.
For individual game tweaks you can have a look at http://www.tweakguides.com/ this is a site I watched grow from infancy, I like it because it explains all of the options rather than simply telling you what to change them to.
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