8. Optimize the memory timings and
voltage
You may or may not wish to overclock your computer system, but to gain the
best possible performance from your memory right now, let's look into optimizing
your computer's memory latency timings.
To put it simply, memory timings are a set of arranged delays that each
memory module steps through in between transferring data to and from your
computer. These programmed delays ensure that data can be written to and
read from your RAM in an orderly fashion. Shorter delays mean your memory
pushes more data in a given time, meaning better overall computing
performance.
There are too many variables for us to give you a
comprehensive guide on setting your memory latencies. Take a look at PCSTATS' article here,
then refer to your motherboard manual and the website of your memory
manufacturer for instructions on your specific hardware.
9. Overclock the processor and
memory
Your computer system
is the engine that powers your Vista experience, so why not make that engine run
faster if you can? Ok, there's a few reasons why you might not want to
(hassle and stability concerns to name two), but with today's computer
technology, a slight overclock is almost guaranteed. Also overclocking your computer will
certainly gain you a healthy performance advantage in games and number crunching applications. With
this in mind, we'd like to direct you to this PCSTATS Guide
on the subject of overclocking
for a comprehensive how-to.
10. Overclock the video card
If gaming is your Vista priority, then this tip might be
of interest to you. As with overclocking your processor and memory, overclocking
the videocard makes it run faster than spec and thus do more work in a given
time period. Faster videocard=better games. As with all other forms of
overclocking, nothing is guaranteed, not even the safety of your hardware, so
take it slowly and be careful. A well overclocked videocard can improve your
direct X10 gaming performance dramatically though. Note that this will not help
much with the Aeroglass 3D interface. If your videocard already has problems
with Aeroglass, a small speed tweak is unlikely to help. If your card can handle
Aeroglass just fine, more speed will not net you any noticeable visual
improvement. For a step-by-step guide to videocard overclocking,
see this PCSTATS Guide.
Now that we've covered the basics, lets dive into
the first ten tweaks you can't live without. These are the essential "First
Boot" tweaks that will make Vista a much more pleasant operating system to work
in, particularly if you consider yourself an intermediate-to-experienced
computer user.
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