Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
- Dr.Flay
- Godlike
- Posts: 3348
- Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:26 pm
- Personal rank: Chaos Evangelist
- Location: Kernow, UK
- Contact:
Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
After you have read the thread on tweaking your UT settings, you may well want to tweak your Windows driver settings.
Here is a list of the extras you can use to unlock the power of your graphics card.
Older nVidia users (up to GeForce 500 series) should install nVidia’s own “System Tools” package for access to extra motherboard and GFX options (very useful for nForce motherboards).
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools.html
Find ideal settings for your nVidia card.
http://www.geforce.com/optimize/optimal-game-settings
First make sure ALL your Drivers are up-to-date, including Motherboard chipset, sound and DirectX
https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=8109
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/idyp
Manufactures own tweak tools
Asus GPU Tweak
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx
MSI Afterburner
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm
EVGA Precision
https://www.evga.com/precision/
Zotac Firestorm
http://www.zotac.com/z-zone/zotac-firestorm.html
ATI users should get RadeonPro
http://www.radeonpro.info
or ATItool
http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/
Check the beta forum link for the newer version
Or ATI Tray (Access more options than you can believe!)
http://www.guru3d.com/article/ati-tray-tools-/
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... Tray_Tools
Or GPUTool
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/Tweaking/
Both nVidia and ATI users can also use RivaTuner
http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner&menu=8
If you have a laptop, or a card that you cannot install new generic drivers from nVidia or ATI (only the manufactures old installers work).
Then you NEED the “Mobility Modder” or “FLEM” utility to update.
nVidia - http://www.hardwareheaven.com/nvmodtool.php
ATI - http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php
ATI – http://digitalflem.mydiscussion.net
If you don't have an nVidia or an ATI card, or even have an ancient GFX with no modern support, then do not worry I have the tool for you
PowerStrip (Actually, you should all get this one anyway)
http://entechtaiwan.com
Pre-historic GFX chips can also be configured with version v2.78 (95/98/NT/2000).
http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps2.shtm
*3dfx, Number Nine, Cirrus Logic, Rendition, S3, and Tseng Labs.
GMABooster will unlock mobile intel chipsets to run at full desktop speed.
http://www.gmabooster.com
You can find more help at http://gma500booster.blogspot.it
Intel have 2 overclocking tools
http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/e ... ssors.html
USEFULL TWEAK TOOLS
Cacheman - You can use it for free, but the auto-optimise is disabled. It will give you a dynamic drive caching system. Access to many windows registry options. and (my personal holy grail) memorised task priority settings. The context sensitive help file in this prog will teach you more windows info than you can believe!
http://www.outertech.com
Speedfan - This totally free tool allows you to change your bus speed via software (If you get it wrong, just reboot and everything is back to normal) in increments of 1 MHz! You set a "High speed" and a "normal/low speed". You can literally over-clock your PC to within 1MHz of it's life
This does not seem to upset UT the same way as hardware based variable processor speed changes
http://www.almico.com
NOTE: severe overclocking can slow your PC instead of speeding it up!
Notebook Hardware Control (NHC)
Take complete control of your laptop/notebook.
Ideal if you lack the original OEM control software after a re-install, or just want something more flexible.
You can for example disable all the CPU speeds you don't want, and lock it to a single speed.
http://www.pbus-167.com
SpeederXP - This is an odd tool. As far as I can tell, this seems to adjust the timing of Windows instead of hardware, and can unlock insane speeds from your PC.
It may well play havoc with UT's timing, so don't push the slider all the way up. The site seems to have had a dodgy history, but I can find no issue with the actual software, and I have used it occasionally for 3 or 4 years.
http://www.speederxp.com
https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/speederxp.com (includes my report)
Xteq X-Setup - The mother of all tweak utillities! This prog is now totally free as the parent company closed, but it provides an unbeatable interface and framework for tweaking windows and other software. All the scripts are viewable/editable. You can even make your own (some UT specific tweaks could be easily created for example)
http://www.xteq.com
Autopatcher - Get all Micro$oft (and more ) updates in an offline installation package, that will install updates without the need of registration or WPA or WGA (Great for system admins like me).
http://www.autopatcher.com
PC Decrapifier - You have a laptop full of stupid utilities supplied by the manufacturer, but don't know what you can get rid of ? Then visit this site.
http://pcdecrapifier.com
SlimWare Utilities Good alternative to PC Decrapifier. These use cloud based decision making. Also the driver updater is worth checking out.
https://www.slimwareutilities.com
jv16 PowerTools - The only registry cleaner worth downloading. I have been using this prog since its previous incarnation of "Regcleanr", way back on Win95. It is simply the best. It will do far more than just clean your registry !
http://www.macecraft.com
http://www.macecraft.com/registry_clean ... rison2010/ - comparison with 176 other products
Auslogics Disk Defrag - Excellent free and pro disc defrag utility.
http://www.auslogics.com
Defraggler and CCleaner - Excellent free disc defrag and clean-up tools
http://www.piriform.com
System Ninja - Another excellent system tweaker and remover of unwanted files. Also makers of CCEnhancer.
http://singularlabs.com/software/
NOTE:
A very common issue I find on home-made PC's that I have to fix, is a lack of "Chipset divers".
Your motherboards chipset drivers are extremely important for stability and full speed. These drivers should always be installed before your GFX and sound card drivers (The compatibility drivers installed during Windows installation will not do).
If you do not know what chipset your PC uses, then you can use PC Wizard to look inside your machine.
PC Wizard - See what is inside your PC, even if the drivers are not installed (it's like a small free SiSoft Sandra).
http://www.cpuid.com
Overclocking and tweaking downloads and info at Guru3D
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?id=13
I keep this list maintained on http://yourunreal.wordpress.com/2013/05 ... k-windows/ where you will find further information on effective drive usage.
Here is a list of the extras you can use to unlock the power of your graphics card.
Older nVidia users (up to GeForce 500 series) should install nVidia’s own “System Tools” package for access to extra motherboard and GFX options (very useful for nForce motherboards).
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools.html
Find ideal settings for your nVidia card.
http://www.geforce.com/optimize/optimal-game-settings
First make sure ALL your Drivers are up-to-date, including Motherboard chipset, sound and DirectX
https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=8109
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/idyp
Manufactures own tweak tools
Asus GPU Tweak
http://support.asus.com/download.aspx
MSI Afterburner
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm
EVGA Precision
https://www.evga.com/precision/
Zotac Firestorm
http://www.zotac.com/z-zone/zotac-firestorm.html
ATI users should get RadeonPro
http://www.radeonpro.info
or ATItool
http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/
Check the beta forum link for the newer version
Or ATI Tray (Access more options than you can believe!)
http://www.guru3d.com/article/ati-tray-tools-/
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... Tray_Tools
Or GPUTool
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/Tweaking/
Both nVidia and ATI users can also use RivaTuner
http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner&menu=8
If you have a laptop, or a card that you cannot install new generic drivers from nVidia or ATI (only the manufactures old installers work).
Then you NEED the “Mobility Modder” or “FLEM” utility to update.
nVidia - http://www.hardwareheaven.com/nvmodtool.php
ATI - http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php
ATI – http://digitalflem.mydiscussion.net
If you don't have an nVidia or an ATI card, or even have an ancient GFX with no modern support, then do not worry I have the tool for you
PowerStrip (Actually, you should all get this one anyway)
http://entechtaiwan.com
Pre-historic GFX chips can also be configured with version v2.78 (95/98/NT/2000).
http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps2.shtm
*3dfx, Number Nine, Cirrus Logic, Rendition, S3, and Tseng Labs.
GMABooster will unlock mobile intel chipsets to run at full desktop speed.
http://www.gmabooster.com
You can find more help at http://gma500booster.blogspot.it
Intel have 2 overclocking tools
http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/e ... ssors.html
USEFULL TWEAK TOOLS
Cacheman - You can use it for free, but the auto-optimise is disabled. It will give you a dynamic drive caching system. Access to many windows registry options. and (my personal holy grail) memorised task priority settings. The context sensitive help file in this prog will teach you more windows info than you can believe!
http://www.outertech.com
Speedfan - This totally free tool allows you to change your bus speed via software (If you get it wrong, just reboot and everything is back to normal) in increments of 1 MHz! You set a "High speed" and a "normal/low speed". You can literally over-clock your PC to within 1MHz of it's life
This does not seem to upset UT the same way as hardware based variable processor speed changes
http://www.almico.com
NOTE: severe overclocking can slow your PC instead of speeding it up!
Notebook Hardware Control (NHC)
Take complete control of your laptop/notebook.
Ideal if you lack the original OEM control software after a re-install, or just want something more flexible.
You can for example disable all the CPU speeds you don't want, and lock it to a single speed.
http://www.pbus-167.com
SpeederXP - This is an odd tool. As far as I can tell, this seems to adjust the timing of Windows instead of hardware, and can unlock insane speeds from your PC.
It may well play havoc with UT's timing, so don't push the slider all the way up. The site seems to have had a dodgy history, but I can find no issue with the actual software, and I have used it occasionally for 3 or 4 years.
http://www.speederxp.com
https://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/speederxp.com (includes my report)
Xteq X-Setup - The mother of all tweak utillities! This prog is now totally free as the parent company closed, but it provides an unbeatable interface and framework for tweaking windows and other software. All the scripts are viewable/editable. You can even make your own (some UT specific tweaks could be easily created for example)
http://www.xteq.com
Autopatcher - Get all Micro$oft (and more ) updates in an offline installation package, that will install updates without the need of registration or WPA or WGA (Great for system admins like me).
http://www.autopatcher.com
PC Decrapifier - You have a laptop full of stupid utilities supplied by the manufacturer, but don't know what you can get rid of ? Then visit this site.
http://pcdecrapifier.com
SlimWare Utilities Good alternative to PC Decrapifier. These use cloud based decision making. Also the driver updater is worth checking out.
https://www.slimwareutilities.com
jv16 PowerTools - The only registry cleaner worth downloading. I have been using this prog since its previous incarnation of "Regcleanr", way back on Win95. It is simply the best. It will do far more than just clean your registry !
http://www.macecraft.com
http://www.macecraft.com/registry_clean ... rison2010/ - comparison with 176 other products
Auslogics Disk Defrag - Excellent free and pro disc defrag utility.
http://www.auslogics.com
Defraggler and CCleaner - Excellent free disc defrag and clean-up tools
http://www.piriform.com
System Ninja - Another excellent system tweaker and remover of unwanted files. Also makers of CCEnhancer.
http://singularlabs.com/software/
NOTE:
A very common issue I find on home-made PC's that I have to fix, is a lack of "Chipset divers".
Your motherboards chipset drivers are extremely important for stability and full speed. These drivers should always be installed before your GFX and sound card drivers (The compatibility drivers installed during Windows installation will not do).
If you do not know what chipset your PC uses, then you can use PC Wizard to look inside your machine.
PC Wizard - See what is inside your PC, even if the drivers are not installed (it's like a small free SiSoft Sandra).
http://www.cpuid.com
Overclocking and tweaking downloads and info at Guru3D
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?id=13
I keep this list maintained on http://yourunreal.wordpress.com/2013/05 ... k-windows/ where you will find further information on effective drive usage.
Last edited by Dr.Flay on Sat Mar 12, 2016 1:48 pm, edited 13 times in total.
Reason: Added more tools
Reason: Added more tools
UT99.org House Rules
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
-
- Average
- Posts: 70
- Joined: Fri May 23, 2008 3:33 am
- Personal rank: Secret Administrator
- Location: Houston, TX.
- Contact:
Re: Tweak your Windows drivers
Great post Dr.Flay
What motivated you to post this info? It is good to have. Thanks!
What motivated you to post this info? It is good to have. Thanks!
- Dr.Flay
- Godlike
- Posts: 3348
- Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:26 pm
- Personal rank: Chaos Evangelist
- Location: Kernow, UK
- Contact:
Re: Tweak your Windows drivers
The realisation that we are all of mixed ages and abilities, with various backgrounds in computing
...That and I get paid to do this normaly
I'm going to add a few useful tweak/speedup/overclocking tools here as well
Hold on to you seats!
...That and I get paid to do this normaly
I'm going to add a few useful tweak/speedup/overclocking tools here as well
Hold on to you seats!
UT99.org House Rules
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
- Dr.Flay
- Godlike
- Posts: 3348
- Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:26 pm
- Personal rank: Chaos Evangelist
- Location: Kernow, UK
- Contact:
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
Ok now EVERYONE can have a faster PC, even if they don't have an modern nVidia or ATI card
All the tools have active forums, but I have (and do) use them all, so I can provide some support.
Feedback, as ever would be handy, as all geeks need to tweak.
Any other useful tools (especially better, or more up to date) that belong in this list, would be much appreciated
All the tools have active forums, but I have (and do) use them all, so I can provide some support.
Feedback, as ever would be handy, as all geeks need to tweak.
Any other useful tools (especially better, or more up to date) that belong in this list, would be much appreciated
UT99.org House Rules
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
- Creavion
- Godlike
- Posts: 4497
- Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:23 pm
- Personal rank: About to be non-act.
- Location: Germany, Lower Saxony
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
I have not read the post ... but it looks legit^^.
About to be non-active
My very last UT map project: CTF-FacePalm (tropical CTF-Face remake)
Why do I leave? click here
What I want to do next: Joining an UDK team (uncertain however) and improve 3D modelling and texture editing skills
Thanks to those who visibly supported me until/at the end!
My reactivated account on indiedb.com.
My very last UT map project: CTF-FacePalm (tropical CTF-Face remake)
Why do I leave? click here
What I want to do next: Joining an UDK team (uncertain however) and improve 3D modelling and texture editing skills
Thanks to those who visibly supported me until/at the end!
My reactivated account on indiedb.com.
- Dr.Flay
- Godlike
- Posts: 3348
- Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:26 pm
- Personal rank: Chaos Evangelist
- Location: Kernow, UK
- Contact:
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
Legit ! Nothing but legit.
I will NOT post any keys or keygens, or cracks.
All links will ALWAYS be to the original authors sites.
I will always try the software before recommendation, or I will state that I have not used it.
Most of these in this thread, I have used for many years.
The Doctor's seal of approval, is a guarantee of quality, or your money back
I hope you all have faster PC's now. I will try and put together a "I Just installed windows, how can I make it fast ?" thread at some point.
I will NOT post any keys or keygens, or cracks.
All links will ALWAYS be to the original authors sites.
I will always try the software before recommendation, or I will state that I have not used it.
Most of these in this thread, I have used for many years.
The Doctor's seal of approval, is a guarantee of quality, or your money back
I hope you all have faster PC's now. I will try and put together a "I Just installed windows, how can I make it fast ?" thread at some point.
UT99.org House Rules
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
Hey Dr.Flay, I was just wondering if you used an ATI card?
- Dr.Flay
- Godlike
- Posts: 3348
- Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:26 pm
- Personal rank: Chaos Evangelist
- Location: Kernow, UK
- Contact:
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
Unfortunately yes, I have an ATI Radion HD3600 512MB, as nVidia stopped making AGP cards.
*NOTE*
I have found that the new OpenGL renderer does not use the RAM on my card, whereas the new D3D9 renderer does.
ATI Tool can overlay lots of useful info, like GFX RAM usage.
*NOTE*
I have found that the new OpenGL renderer does not use the RAM on my card, whereas the new D3D9 renderer does.
ATI Tool can overlay lots of useful info, like GFX RAM usage.
UT99.org House Rules
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
Are you familiar with flip queue size? It's under 3D in ATI Tray Tools. By default it's 3, I have it set to 0, it's suppose to reduce input lag. It feels snappier and more responsive, although it could be a placebo. I was wondering if you have tried setting it to 0 before and if you noticed a change.
another nice program to add: radeon pro, it's sort of like ATT.
another nice program to add: radeon pro, it's sort of like ATT.
- Dr.Flay
- Godlike
- Posts: 3348
- Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:26 pm
- Personal rank: Chaos Evangelist
- Location: Kernow, UK
- Contact:
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
I never changed it, thanks for the tip. I'll certainly look into it, and "RadionPro"
http://www.radeonpro.info
*EDIT* (Please avoid doub.... oh...)
Updated with a few more tools
http://www.radeonpro.info
*EDIT* (Please avoid doub.... oh...)
Updated with a few more tools
UT99.org House Rules
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
Please avoid double posting.
Great thread mate. Very useful stuff.
Great thread mate. Very useful stuff.
-
- Experienced
- Posts: 84
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 5:28 am
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
That SpeederXP website really looks pretty fishy..
But really good list otherwise, some very useful utilities in there. I can recommend PowerStrip especially, it's great for setting up custom resolutions and refresh rates if you have a CRT monitor.
But really good list otherwise, some very useful utilities in there. I can recommend PowerStrip especially, it's great for setting up custom resolutions and refresh rates if you have a CRT monitor.
- Dr.Flay
- Godlike
- Posts: 3348
- Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:26 pm
- Personal rank: Chaos Evangelist
- Location: Kernow, UK
- Contact:
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
I agree, SpeederXP has always looked fishy, but you don't need to buy it to see it actually works.
As I haven't tested it for a while, I just downloaded and installed the current version, then updated my review on WOT.
Hmm, My double-post was intended as a bump, but I could have gone the whole-hog and deleted my previous post.
I was well beyond the time limit though anyway, so
...Damn you Carbon ! I am going to have to combine them now. It is annoying me
As I haven't tested it for a while, I just downloaded and installed the current version, then updated my review on WOT.
Hmm, My double-post was intended as a bump, but I could have gone the whole-hog and deleted my previous post.
I was well beyond the time limit though anyway, so
...Damn you Carbon ! I am going to have to combine them now. It is annoying me
UT99.org House Rules
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
ChaosUT https://chaoticdreams.org
Your Unreal resources: https://yourunreal.wordpress.com
The UT99/UnReal Directory: https://forumdirectory.freeforums.org
Find me on Steam and GoG
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
Speeder Xp, hmmm I wonder if it's the same as Game Xp? Anyways I would like to add Uni Drivers to the list.
http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/
If you have a xonar card you should definitely check out these drivers. There is an addon for 7.1 virtual speaker for the driver and paired with OpenAL the sound positioning is pretty dead on.
http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/
If you have a xonar card you should definitely check out these drivers. There is an addon for 7.1 virtual speaker for the driver and paired with OpenAL the sound positioning is pretty dead on.
Re: Tweak Windows and ALL Graphics drivers
The link "http://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=35" in the first post seems to be outdated - I am redirected to a "Download Windows 10" page. I guess that is not intended by the author.
"If Origin not in center it be not in center." --Buggie