Soulzz' PC Tips and Common Myths

Soulzz

Soulzz

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Retired Founder
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Soulzz’ PC Tips and Common Myths:

Myth: Registry cleaners help speed up your PC.
Do NOT use registry cleaners! The registry is always being updated and constantly accessed. Removing items from your registry is not going to speed it up. Instead, it may damage your Windows installation.

Myth: This RAM is better because it says XMS, and has faster timings!
RAM is a commodity. Corsair XMS is just as good as Corsair ValueRAM. With DDR3, you will gain nothing in high speed ram, except for in RAM benchmarks. Don’t pay for the expensive marketing that companies put into their products. Mushkin, WINTEC, G.SKILL, Corsair, Kingston, they are all the same.

Tip: Don’t use third party keyboard/mouse drivers, especially drivers from Logitech. If you are having system instability, this is one of the first places to look. They will do nothing but create problems, particularly weird system lockups, BSOD’s, etc. You can create your own macros using AutoHotKey, and should be able to change DPI as well.

Tip: Never assume that a BSOD, RAM test, or system problem is going to be fixed by one solution. PC’s are complex. It could be a bad pin on a RAM module, or a bad CPU memory controller, or a bad circuit on the motherboard; the problem lies in many areas. Ask your friends for help.

Myth: Defragmentation on an SSD is just like an HDD, right?
Wrong! Unless you want to kill your SSD quickly, it is going to reduce the performance!

Tip: The best way to see if a particular PC component works as expected is to use legitimate review sites; Xbit labs, Guru3D, and PC-Perspective, to name a few. Do extensive research and NEVER trust one source, always use multiple, credible sources that have legitimate backing.

Tip: It is good to reformat your PC frequently; every 6-12 months. This ensures that you maintain peak performance.
 
I thought this thread was titled "Soulzz tips and common myths", now I am disapointed... :(
 
>_>. Did you read it the whole thing?
 
Yeah, I know some of this stuff already. Still some good tips though.
 
Mind you soulzz lets say the XMS versus Value versions. If you intend to run higher clock speeds there very much is a difference in the ram itself. Of the chips produced the ones binned for lines like their ValueRAM series won't run higher clocks and usually also run at higher more power consuming voltages in comparison.

But yeah from what I have been reading sandy bridge especially now doesn't really benefit from the higher speeds and it makes good use of 1333.

Any brand can sell you a bad component as many times in a row as you can count. I often wonder if any testing is done, GSkill claims they test every stick they make and it would be great if the other manufacturers were doing this. As we know most other components this isn't done.

Despite companies like hynix making the chips that end up in all these brands don't fool yourself. Companies like patriot tend to sell the shitty end of the stick. I am for example honestly undecided what I am getting for my new rig, but I have always gone with kingston and have had decent luck bus clocking non hyperx ram.
 
Um Soulz, wasn't your system somewhat buggy and unstable? And, from my experience, ram can matter quite a bit. Some ram does not play nice on certain motherboards.
 
My system was buggy because of a number of different factors. Logitech software, bad BIOS setup, etc. I haven't had a problem since :D.
 
Good thread idea. Where did you get this info? Having a roommate that works for IBM comes in handy sometimes.

For Example.

"Myth: Registry cleaners help speed up your PC."
1. If you dont know how to clean them properly they can be very dangerous because they could delete a valid or a need registry file.
2. If you install a program and later unstall it, it will leave a trace of the registry entries in the registry and should be removed manually to reduce the "seek" time of your drive in the future. Although it would be fractions of a second it can build up over time.

Myth: This RAM is better because it says XMS, and has faster timings!
1. You answered your own myth "and has faster timings!" 0.41 seconds faster is still better. To some people it matters, like myself, because there's no such thing as too much ram, =P
2. RAM sticks from different companies are not the same, US Patent Law protects this.

Myth: Defragmentation on an SSD is just like an HDD, right?
1. SSDs do not benefit from defragmentation because there is little benefit to reading data sequentially and any defragmentation process adds additional writes on the NAND flash that already have a limited cycle life.
2. Although, Solid state drives that use flash memory have a limited number of writes over the life of the drive, which can be bad if you write more than is necessary. But SSDs based on DRAM do not have a limited number of writes, so it would not be harmful to the drive.

You put it the best Soulzz "Do extensive research and NEVER trust one source, always use multiple, credible sources that have legitimate backing."
 
Soulzz said:
My system was buggy because of a number of different factors. Logitech software, bad BIOS setup, etc. I haven't had a problem since :D.
Click to expand...

I meant to speak about this one as well. I don't think there is a reason to say never use 3rd party mouse/kb software, I mean shit if that was the case my mouse would be useless my keyboard would lose half its function. RENNO would have no reason to own a G15 and wouldnt get to see his K/D during a round.

But for example synaptic touch pad drivers have a history of causing issues with ASUS laptops causing missed key strokes, never personally had the problem. Logitech drivers on 64 bit machines have a long history of screwing with games even my compilers, never had an issue but i recognize it. The later mouse drivers from logitech on SOME configurations will never cause some people problems, it is a bitch running around only to find out it was mouse drivers though.

@UnLo my only thoughts on the registry cleaning is that its more of an XP thing than Vista/7. XP had a real ugly reliance on the registry and would slow down over time, not that i don't see it with any other OS but it seems a shift has occured.

Removing registry key's from a program that does not exist and is not needed is NOT dangerous. The program uses the same method's any program uses to store and access its own data in the registry. What IS dangerous as soulzz wants to warn people is a registry cleaners idea of what isn't needed god only knows if it came to the right conclusion.
 
I'm saying that the registry access speed is extremely fast. removing 300 entries is not going to 'speed it up'.
 
I am for example honestly undecided what I am getting for my new rig, but I have always gone with kingston and have had decent luck bus clocking non hyperx ram.
Click to expand...

I've had good results with G.Skill and Corsair. G.Skill tends to sell at a lower price but all the ones I've had can easily overclock and run at tighter timings stably. For instance, I have 6gb G.Skill 9-9-9-24 that run stable at 1600mhz at 8-8-8-21.
 
Soulzz said:
I'm saying that the registry access speed is extremely fast. removing 300 entries is not going to 'speed it up'.
Click to expand...

Removing anything from your drive, especially with a HHD, will decrease the "seek" time, improving performance, even if its just fractions of a second.
 
Even defragging the registry and system files helps. I mean not the normal defragging you do normally everyday. Like defragging the MFT and few other ones I don't remember.
 
UnLO said:
Removing anything from your drive, especially with a HHD, will decrease the "seek" time, improving performance, even if its just fractions of a second.
Click to expand...

Disk usage doesn't really slow down the drive. What slows it down is that earlier data is typically written closer to the spindle so more recent data is usually pushed towards the edges. Below is a quick read & write benchmark. (0gb is practically on the spindle, 450gb is outer edge. 10,000RPM 3.5" drives)

30may20111136.png
30may20111129.png
 
@Bob-sama, I didn't say that disk usage would slow down your physical drive, I was just stating that removing data from any drive(excluding SSD's), reduces the time it takes for the drive to locate and access the remaining data on it.
Bob-sama - "What slows it down is that earlier data is typically written closer to the spindle so more recent data is usually pushed towards the edges."

Were arguing similar points.

On another note, Soulzz I really like the idea of having a tech "wiki" section. Awesome thread.
 
my pc was taking like 1 min to boot win7 and running CCleaner (registry and temp files, misc, etc etc ) did the trick, now my system boots normally ( like on 20secs or less).

i havent had the time to reformat my pc so doing this really helped.

and u really have to know what to remove and what not, its not that simple, but a large registry does and will always be a pain in the ass for windows. thats why linux doesnt have a registry.
 
is that u on the parachute renno ? xD. be careful with the dick fields.
 
You guys can use Logitech, or any peripheral software, but don't blame me when it starts BSODing :).
 
UnLO said:
@Bob-sama, I didn't say that disk usage would slow down your physical drive, I was just stating that removing data from any drive(excluding SSD's), reduces the time it takes for the drive to locate and access the remaining data on it.
Bob-sama - "What slows it down is that earlier data is typically written closer to the spindle so more recent data is usually pushed towards the edges."

Were arguing similar points.

On another note, Soulzz I really like the idea of having a tech "wiki" section. Awesome thread.
Click to expand...

I was just extrapolating on your point.

As for Logitech peripherals, their mice are pretty good but you don't need their software. Lucky for me, my G3 by default runs at 1600dpi and, when using the DPI button, switches to 800dpi. That's perfect for me.
 
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