How to improve the performance of your PC's games without spending a dime!

With today's games, more and more performance is required to play these demanding programs. So what is the best ways of upping the performance of your PC? Well I could just tell you that you could spend $1000 on your PC and it'll play like a dream but to me that seems to be a bit of a cop out. So in this article I'm explain a few ways to squeeze extra performance from your PC without braking the bank balance. Some methods I mention are more dangerous than others but tend to give you more in the performance sector especially in the video games department.

So without further a do lets begin.

Optimising Windows for better performance

Believe it not Windows or Windoze as it commonly known in the gaming community can sap considerable amount of your PC performance when your gaming. Things like programs running in the background can eat away at your PC's performance. So it's absolutely vital that you deactivate as many programs when your gaming.

Adjusting the performance options can squeeze extra performance from your PC as well. The performance options are basically your graphics on Windows. However turning them all off is like going back to the stone age but if you want to squeeze those extra FPS (Frames Per Second) you can give them the chop. However I like to keep one or two on just to make it more appealing to the eye.

Please note that Vista is considerably more demanding when it comes to the performance options. So if you've got a low end PC and it has Vista installed I would have a seriously think about turning off the fancy pants Aero graphics for extra performance.

Another good recommend is to uninstall everything that don't need. Seriously though, you'd be surprised how much performance you can get out of deleting programs that are sat on your hardrive that are just taking up space. Games are the main culprit here because of the huge amount of hardrive space they take up.

Another way of gaining more performance is going into your services section. Windows on average has about 140 programs running in the background. Can you imagine how much of a strain that is on your PC? Well if you don't know the answer to this it's a lot! However you've got to be careful because there is a few that are essential for Windows to operate. Turning off the wrong one can screw Windows up big time. I would recommend checking out Vista Speed Secrets. As well as loads of performance tips, there's a section especially for the services section and show which can get the chop and which ones are essential for Windows to run.

I'm only scratching the surface here when it comes to optimising Windows for best performance but these tips are a good starting point to get you going.

Overclocking

Overclocking is definitely the more extreme option because when done right you can make your PC outperform a PC worth hundreds of dollars more! So what is overclocking? Well overclocking is a way of hacking your component's clock settings and increasing those clock settings. This is mostly done with the CPU but also be done with your graphics card and Ram as well.

Like I said before, it can bring tremendous performance gains to your PC and it won't cost you a dime either. So what's the catch? Well when your overclocking you're the component your overclocking gets hot and this can lead to all sorts of bother like over heating to actually damaging your PC!

The question though is would I recommend it?

Hell yes! I've been a overclocker for years now and if it's done right you can extract a considerable about of performance from your PC if you do it right. Just as long your prepared to do research and willing to be patient you can and will reap the rewards.

So how to you overclock? There is a number of ways to do it and these are through Windows and in Bios. However Bios is considered to be the way to go amongst overclockers. This is for a number of reasons,

1.Firstly it appears to give more stable results and if it gives more stable results that means you can overclock higher and overclocking higher means more PC performance!

2. Overclocking in Bios give more options to fine tune and tweak your components setting than Windows. You also have access to all the Ram overclocking options which you can't touch in Windows.

The only plus to overclocking in Windows that it's easier to overclock. Bios is plagued with more Jargon than you can shake stick at. Windows simplify this matter and makes it little bit easier for the user.

Like I said before I recommend overclocking but along as you research and take your time with it you should be fine.

If you want to learn more about overclocking I would recommend grabbing a copy of Overclocking your CPU to the extreme. It's written in a way that anyone can understand and teaches you the best ways to extract every inch of performance from your PC

Overclocking your CPU to the extreme

These are the best ways to reap extra performance from your PC without spending a dime on your PC. Some of them are a bit more risky but if your willing to put the extra time and effort your games will thank you with higher FPSs. But hey, what do you expect when your on the quest for free performance?