GhostHands

Someone mentioned Game Booster | Fast Game Accelerator | Free Accelerator in a thread somewhere and I'm curious if any of my PC brethren have used it or are familiar with it.

My computer is getting on in her years, and aside from doing all sorts of crazy computer shit I can't possibly do because I'm a woman i.e. rivatuner, I am looking for some kind of automated process to bump up my fps a tad since I can't really upgrade to a new PC yet. (abc, I would love to sell you my M3 so I can get a new rig but the husband wouldn't agree)

So any insight into the program would be most helpful. I'm tired of playing at 800x600 resolution on a 1440x900 monitor.

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Fandom Ruck

I mentioned it.

I used to use it all the time on my old laptop that had Intel Graphics *shudders*. It will get the biggest boost out of your computer short of overcloaking.

Basically it just closes every unnecessary program/service & clears up your RAM.

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GhostHands

What kind of boost did it give you? At this point 5-10 fps would be great. Currently rocking a dualcore 2.20GHz and 8400GS gfx card if that helps.

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abc

That's an absolutely lovely offer but as a student, and perhaps more to the point as an insurance-group-20 car, all my "life savings" wouldn't cover the insurance. I could however afford to tax it (Y) Wait n- no that doesn't help much...


Gamebooster. AMD Fusion. And all the other ones. Gradually over time your PC (like a car) accumilates junk (dirt) that clogs up your OS (moving parts) and hence an old PC (car with 100k miles on the clock) just doesn't work as smoothly and stutter-free as as the exact same spec PC but in nearly-new condition. All these programs attemp to "undo" all the years of clogging it up with junk programs or temporarily turn off anything non-essential (e.g. media players, chat programs) when you play a game in order to free up CPU power. So it makes your PC "less slow" as opposed to rivatuner which literally makes it faster than it has ever been.

As I mentioned it frees up CPU performance. Great, if you are lacking in CPU performance i.e. you are doing an absolutely massive sum of you have a massive GFX card and a teeny tiny CPU. But that's not the case here. It may make the PC feel a little more responsive, but your not going to get substantial (worth it?) FPS gains.


Reinstalling windows from fresh will make an absolute world of difference to a 1 year old PC. The difference it will make to a 5 year old PC is immense (like we are talking making stuff load minutes faster, not seconds faster) Obviously reinstalling windows plus all the programs and moving all your files back can be a bit of a process. Installing windows is pretty quick (an hour or less on a slowish computer on your first go perhaps?)

Cleaning up your startup programs (which is easy for anyone who is a mature adult) is a very quick and easy way of making difference to how fast the PC feels, but just like all this gamebooster etc it's not improving the bits that affect gaming.

MW2 is quite good in terms of visual nice-ness per £ spent on computer. It may be worth having a play around with some settings to find a combination you are more happy with (perhaps you'd prefer to sacrifice lighting effects and shadows for playing at a much higher res for example?)

Maybe consider a $38 or $45 (inc. shipping & rebate) stop gap card (same card, two dress sizes) I wouldn't keep it for a brand new PC you'd buy/build but it'll give GOOD FPS and very acceptable settings and doesn't need any other new parts? Accept that you'll use this until you get a new PC and never use it again. Hence it's cheap.

The gains from overclocking a card that low end (is it an 8400GS or something?) probably aren't worth the hassle.

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"I don't like new Linkin Park, I don't like old Linkin Park... I JUST LIKE LINKIN PARK"

COD owner - COD expansion pack owner - COD2 owner - COD2: BRO player - COD3 owner - COD4 owner - COD:WaW owner - COD: MW2 owner - COD: BO owner

This is getting repetitive.

Nibbles

Due to the way it appears to work, results would probably vary quite a bit, depending on setup though I wouldnt expect miracles.

Try it and see. Looks pretty straight forward, costs nothing and you've really got nothing to lose.

Fandom Ruck

Well yeah, its no miracle worker. But its something.

@ Ghost: Only a few more FPS on a clean Windows install. I can attest to abc's suggestion though - I upgraded to a HD 4670 (slightly better than the 4650) & was able to play at high settings.

@ abc: It closes a bunch of Windows services too.

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oneinchwunda

I believe that the 4650/70 is one of the best choices. IIRC, they only draw power from the motherboard (?) and hence don't need a PSU upgrade or anything.

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abc

FYI yes, I recommended the 4650 because it's a million times better than an 8400GS yet cheap enough to throw away when you get a new PC. It's also cheap enough to impulse buy. In fact it could quite possibly be your best ever PC buy, certainly in terms of value for money. As OneInch mentioned another CRUCIAL benefit of the 4650/4670 in particular is that it's virtually the fastest card(s) that don't need a massive PSU. You could put it into any dell, HP, compaq etc and instantly transform your gaming.

I actually think everyone with integrated/low performance dedicated should get one. The benefit is extremely simple: it turns your PC into something that works well for $40.

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"I don't like new Linkin Park, I don't like old Linkin Park... I JUST LIKE LINKIN PARK"

COD owner - COD expansion pack owner - COD2 owner - COD2: BRO player - COD3 owner - COD4 owner - COD:WaW owner - COD: MW2 owner - COD: BO owner

This is getting repetitive.

GhostHands

Thank you so much guys for the advice. I'll consider reinstalling windows along with a cheap gfx card upgrade. abc, does the card you recommend (stop gap card) work in conjunction with my current graphics card or replace it?

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abc

It's a straight replacement. There are two links, they are the same card but one is for those weird really thin computers (thin meaning like 10cm wide) and the other is the normal one. If you planned to order this, for the sake of being absolutely wholly entirely confident we'd need to check your current card is PCIe, make sure we get the right size and make sure your PSU isn't 5 watts


People can go into more detail at the time but basically:

1) Remove packaging, open box, remove packaging (obvious step is obvious)
2) UNINSTALL driver. Turn off PC. (obvious safety point of not electricuting yourself/hubby is obvious)
3) Take side panel off. Push clip. Wriggle card out of slot.
4) Wriggle new card into slot. Make sure clip is errr... clipped in
5) Turn on PC. Put disc in. Install driver.

Infact it's all quite obvious, just easiest if you do it in that order.

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"I don't like new Linkin Park, I don't like old Linkin Park... I JUST LIKE LINKIN PARK"

COD owner - COD expansion pack owner - COD2 owner - COD2: BRO player - COD3 owner - COD4 owner - COD:WaW owner - COD: MW2 owner - COD: BO owner

This is getting repetitive.

GhostHands

Lucky for you, I have swapped gfx cards before, so I shouldn't have to come begging for help should I purchase one.

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Dante

I have never done this, how important is it?

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oneinchwunda

I believe Windows 7 does that bit for you.

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abc

It's just tieing up loose ends. Most drivers are compatible with most cards. E.g. a driver for an 8800 GTS should work for a 8500GT. However some do not and it's one of those "in order to minimise the chance of issues later on it's probably sensible to..." activities.

In other news the GTX 460 hits £125 (+£8 delivery) in mainstream UK etailors...

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__________________
"I don't like new Linkin Park, I don't like old Linkin Park... I JUST LIKE LINKIN PARK"

COD owner - COD expansion pack owner - COD2 owner - COD2: BRO player - COD3 owner - COD4 owner - COD:WaW owner - COD: MW2 owner - COD: BO owner

This is getting repetitive.