What makes win7 so snappy?

Trojan Horse · 15 Feb 2014 at 14:17

When I uninstall my gpu drivers using DDU and restart the system disables aero and feels extremely "snappier" e.g faster

However when moving windows (e.g moving my firefox around) it the window does lag but I would like to know how I can keep my system feeling so responsive.

Do I have to disable aero in order to do this? Or should I just disable other performance settings under visual settings?

System is in rig and uses beta 14.1 mantle drivers

smsmasters · 15 Feb 2014 at 16:53

Just use the "Windows 7 Basic" or even "Windows Classic" theme for best performance.

theheyes · 15 Feb 2014 at 17:11

On a box that powerful I'm not convinced it would make the slightest bit of difference.

Trojan Horse · 16 Feb 2014 at 17:50

Oh nevermind.. It "feels" slower because of the animations.. when opening my documents or any other type of window the animations tend to make it feel a bit slower than the instant response using classic mode

mrk · 16 Feb 2014 at 18:28

By using basic mode (disabling Aero) you're not using hardware acceleration so you're sacrificing performance in that regard for the sake of having windows not animate.

If you want to turn off animations then there is a dedicated section for that and it won't affect Aero:

linktoinsanity · 16 Feb 2014 at 18:30

theheyes said:
On a box that powerful I'm not convinced it would make the slightest bit of difference.

He's hit the nail on the head when he talks about the animations making Windows 7 feel slower.

If you disable Aero on any Windows 7 machine it will feel faster.

There is a big reason Windows 8 feels faster than 7, it does not have Aero.

Of course mrk's description of disabling Animations will also help.

mrk · 16 Feb 2014 at 18:32

Aero isn't gone in Windows 8, it's still there:

http://www.howtogeek.com/128819/aero-isnt-gone-in-windows-8-6-aero-features-you-can-still-use/

It's just not there around window frames.

KIA · 16 Feb 2014 at 19:59

Aero will only slow down your machine if you have ancient hardware. Windows will usually disable Aero if the machine isn't capable of running it without having an impact on performance. There should be no lag and it should be silky smooth.

Trojan Horse · 17 Feb 2014 at 01:40

disabling animations is much better....

i don't know why i notice the animations, they barely last for a few milliseconds but for some reason they make it feel very slow.

bledd · 17 Feb 2014 at 01:47

Disable animations and slide effects.

theheyes · 17 Feb 2014 at 11:30

linktoinsanity said:
He's hit the nail on the head when he talks about the animations making Windows 7 feel slower.

That's the thing really, it's highly subjective. For me its not an issue of responsiveness from a technical point of view.

I know Sinofsky is seen as a bit of a pariah these days but he had a big focus on making Windows 7 appear a lot snappier, and I think most people would agree he achieved that.

As long as your PC is powerful enough it really boils down to noticing the animations vs not noticing.

linktoinsanity · 17 Feb 2014 at 11:34

theheyes said:
That's the thing really, it's highly subjective. For me its not an issue of responsiveness from a technical point of view.

I know Sinofsky is seen as a bit of a pariah these days but he had a big focus on making Windows 7 appear a lot snappier, and I think most people would agree he achieved that.

As long as your PC is powerful enough it really boils down to noticing the animations vs not noticing.

Yeah, just for the record, personally I leave the animations on as I don't notice any slowdown...

*Except on a Intel 915 chipset Celeron. Then Aero disables itself anyway.