Questions About Windows 10 For LaunchBox Performance

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Hi, I have some questions about Windows 10 for LaunchBox performance as I'm still on Windows 8.1.

#1. When I install Windows 10, should I install all of the manufacturer drivers for all of my hardware, and components, and pretty much everything that Windows uses etc, or should I just let Microsoft install all of their generic Windows drivers for me with their updates since with Windows 10, it can configure everything for you, and install all of the basic drivers it comes with, and get everything up, and running out of the box without installing almost anything whereas with Windows 7, and earlier, nothing worked unless you installed every single manufacturer driver for every single piece of hardware you plugged in, and for every single component that you had inside of your computer?

So for example, when I plug in my Belkin WiFi USB adapter, and my RocketFish BlueTooth USB adapter, should I just let Windows install their drivers for them, or should I install the manufacturer drivers from their websites? Do I still need to install the manufacturer drivers for my mother board such as Intel INF Update Utility (AKA Chipset), Intel Management Engine Components, Intel Rapid Storage Technology, Intel HD Graphics Driver, Realtek HD Audio Driver, Realtek LAN Driver etc and all of the mother board apps, and softwares it offers on the site, or can I just let Windows install their own drivers for all of that stuff?

Do I need to install the manufacturer drivers from Nvidia's website for my graphics card such as Nvidia Graphics Driver, HD Audio Driver, Phsyx System Software, 3D Vision Controller Driver, 3D Vision Driver, Miricast Virtual Audio Driver, GeForce Experience, etc, or can I just let Windows install their own drivers for that as well? Do I need Samsung Magician, and Samsung Data Migration for my Samsung SSD? Do I need Corsair Utility Engine (ICUE) for my Corsaire gaming mouse, and keyboard set? Because people have told me before that I only need to install manufacturer drivers for things if there is any yellow triangle exclamation points in my Device Manager. So will Big Box performance be effected based on these choices? 

#2. For the Microsoft Windows Update function, should I enable the option to install "Other Updates For Other Microsoft Products" or whatever it's called, or should I just have it install Windows Updates only? Will Big Box performance be effected based on that choice

#3. Should I install Windows 10 in the new UEFI/EFI mode with a GPT partitioning, or should I continue to use the old Legacy/BIOS mode with a MBR Partitioning that we're all still used to for more compatibility? Will I get any more speed, or performance, or stability using UEFI over Legacy, or is it still too new, and still comes with a butt load of problems? Would Big Box performance be effected by that choice? If I do go the UEFI route, should I also enable Secure Boot under the UEFI options in the BIOS settings?

#4. Should I be doing any "Special Tweaks" of any kind to Windows 10 in the name of boosting performance, and speed? Should I enable Ultra Fast Boot in the BIOS settings? Should I enable Rapid Mode in Samsung Magician? Should I follow this guide 100% https://www.askvg.com/master-tutorial-to-make-windows-10-super-fast/, and all of their other Windows 10 tweaking guides, or are they dangerous? Should I use any Windows Tweaking software such as the ones that disable all Telemetry in Windows 10, and disable background services, and that tear out all of the new modern Metro apps out of Windows 10 so that I can install more traditional, and better software in their place, or are those dangerous to use? Would Big Box performance be effected by any of those "Special Tweaks"? Any thing else I missed in this list of questions that I should be doing to make Windows 10 more performant, fast, and stable which will in turn make Big Box more performant, and fast, or did I pretty much cover it all? Whew! That was a lot of questions. I hope it's not too much for you all.

 

Edited by Lordmonkus to format it a little to make it less eye bleedy.

[Lordmonkus]

#1:
Short answer: No, you don't need to install drivers for most things though you should most definitely do it for video card drivers.

Not quite so short answer: It all depends on your specific hardware and drivers, sometimes there are bad drivers or newer drivers that do improve performance and fix certain issues.

#2:
If you use other MS products yeah let Windows update them, if you don't use them and / or you removed them then just let Windows install OS updates only. Comes down to your personal setup and needs.

#3:
Doesn't matter.

#4:
That depends on your hardware specs. If you have a lower end system with low amounts of ram then you may want to look into that stuff but if you have a higher end system you most likely will not see any performance gains whatsoever. Disabling the telemetry won't improve performance but it will remove the "MS Spying" if that is something you care about.

I will say this though, if you want to max out performance install your OS to a fast SSD. I just built a new PC and it's running off a 512 gig NVME drive and Windows 10 is screaming fast. Even stuff on my HDD loads much much faster than it ever did in the past.

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4 hours ago, Lordmonkus said:

#1:
Short answer: No, you don't need to install drivers for most things though you should most definitely do it for video card drivers.

Not quite so short answer: It all depends on your specific hardware and drivers, sometimes there are bad drivers or newer drivers that do improve performance and fix certain issues.

#2:
If you use other MS products yeah let Windows update them, if you don't use them and / or you removed them then just let Windows install OS updates only. Comes down to your personal setup and needs.

#3:
Doesn't matter.

#4:
That depends on your hardware specs. If you have a lower end system with low amounts of ram then you may want to look into that stuff but if you have a higher end system you most likely will not see any performance gains whatsoever. Disabling the telemetry won't improve performance but it will remove the "MS Spying" if that is something you care about.

I will say this though, if you want to max out performance install your OS to a fast SSD. I just built a new PC and it's running off a 512 gig NVME drive and Windows 10 is screaming fast. Even stuff on my HDD loads much much faster than it ever did in the past.

Thanks for the answers, but I have a few more questions.

#1 What makes manufacturer video card drivers so much more important, and necessary than things like motherboard chipset drivers, and drivers for everything else etc?

#2. I don't know if I use other MS products, or not. When I install Windows 10, I'm not sure what will come bundled in with the OS, but I plan on just doing a fresh, clean install, and trying to keep my PC as "virginized" as possible, and installing only what I need for my needs, such as Chrome, or FireFox (don't know which one is better), and emulator stuff with LaunchBox. Maybe Kodi as well.

#3. What do you mean by it doesn't matter? Are you saying that Big Box won't see ANY performance differences either way based on which installation I choose? So all of the supposed new features, and enhancements that come with UEFI over Legacy won't effect Big Box in any way? That still doesn't tell me which one is recommended just in general though.

#4. My specs are as follows: 

OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Home 64 bit, will soon be Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64 bit.

Gaming Case: Xpevia X-Cruiser 3 Gaming Case.

CD/DVD Drive: LG CD/DVD reader/writer 24x read/write speed.

Motherboard: AsRock H81 Pro BTC R2.0 UEFI Version: P1.20 Vendor: American Mega Trends Inc.

Power Supply: ATNG 600 Watt PSU.

RAM: DyNet 8 GB DDR3 SD RAM

Processor: Intel Devil's Canyon i7-4790K Quad Core Hyper Threaded 4.4 GHZ CPU.

Graphics/Video Card: MSI Nvidia GTX GeForce 750 Ti GPU.

Hard Disk Drive: Sea Gate 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD.

Solid State Drive: Samsung 840 EVO 120 GB SSD.

So, do I need to do any of the steps in #4 with those specs?

P.S. Thanks for beautifying my posts BTW.

Edited September 12, 2018 by MalachiMaverick

[Lordmonkus]

#1; Well drivers from the maker are far better and more up to date than the built in MS ones so those need to be updated. That isn't to say that MB drivers aren't important at all, they just aren't as important.

#2: Windows 10 is going to install a whole bunch of their apps no matter what you do, it's a matter of removing them after the fact if you don't want them.

#3: The way you install it won't matter in the end to performance.

#4: That is still a respectably powerful PC and shouldn't require any special tweaks for performance.

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4 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

#1; Well drivers from the maker are far better and more up to date than the built in MS ones so those need to be updated. That isn't to say that MB drivers aren't important at all, they just aren't as important.

#2: Windows 10 is going to install a whole bunch of their apps no matter what you do, it's a matter of removing them after the fact if you don't want them.

#3: The way you install it won't matter in the end to performance.

#4: That is still a respectably powerful PC and shouldn't require any special tweaks for performance.

#1. So I'll skip most of the manufacturer drivers for non important things, but for my mobo in particular, do you recommend INF Update Utility, Intel Management Engine Components, and Intel Rapid Storage Technology, since those 3 drivers seem to be mainly for my chipset which people claim is super important, or would I still be fine with just letting Windows install their drivers? And as for Nvidia which drivers out of the bundle would you recommend? It comes with Graphics Driver, HD Audio Driver, Physx System Software, 3D Vision Controller Driver, 3D Vision Driver, Miricast Virtual Audio Driver, and GeForce Experience. Do I need ALL of those drivers from Nvidia to get the best out of my graphics card, or should I only install certain ones?

#2. I'll just use OS only updates, and tear out all of the metro modern apps then.

#3. So if it doesn't even effect performance at all anyway, then what is the big deal, and hype for it then? What does UEFI actually DO that Legacy doesn't? Is it just a gimmick, a fad?

#4. So I probably won't disable Telemetry, or do any Special Tweaks then. I'll just nuke the OS of all of the bundled apps.

[Lordmonkus]

#1: It certainly won't hurt to update those drivers, just don't expect much if any difference in them. 

As for the NVidia drivers, install what you will use, the driver and PhysX stuff for sure (especially if you play modern PC games). The rest is up to you, if you use HDMI audio from your video card install the Audio Driver but if you are getting your audio out of the audio jack of the MB or a soundcard you wont need the Audio Driver. The rest is also up to you and if you are going to use it. Personally I don't like the GeForce Experience stuff but your mileage may vary.

#3: It's a much better bios system, allows you easier management and has more advanced features, it has no impact on system performance.

#4: You should still disable all the telemetry unless you don't mind MS collecting data.

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45 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

#1: It certainly won't hurt to update those drivers, just don't expect much if any difference in them. 

As for the NVidia drivers, install what you will use, the driver and PhysX stuff for sure (especially if you play modern PC games). The rest is up to you, if you use HDMI audio from your video card install the Audio Driver but if you are getting your audio out of the audio jack of the MB or a soundcard you wont need the Audio Driver. The rest is also up to you and if you are going to use it. Personally I don't like the GeForce Experience stuff but your mileage may vary.

#3: It's a much better bios system, allows you easier management and has more advanced features, it has no impact on system performance.

#4: You should still disable all the telemetry unless you don't mind MS collecting data.

I actually just read some pretty bad things about disabling Telemetry in Windows 10, and in fact, How To Geek suggested against it for Windows 10 specifically because they claimed that the Telemetry is so integrated, and inter weaved into Windows 10 that disabling Telemetry on it will actually break many components, and other things in Windows 10, and could cause huge instability with the OS. A good example is that the most important function of Windows, being the Windows Update feature, will break if you disable Telemetry, and you won't even be able to do a manual scan until you re enable Telemetry again, and even then, things might still be broken requiring a restore point, or a fresh re install. And Windows Update should be set to automatically download, install, and configure all updates for you in the background at all times to ensure maximum performance, stability, and security. So I don't know what you think about all of that stuff I just discovered, but that's what they're claiming.

[Lordmonkus]

I've been running Windows 10 with as much telemetry blocked as possible and had no issues whatsoever, my system is perfectly stable and receives updates, it just updated itself to 1803 2 days ago.

https://www.safer-networking.org/products/spybot-anti-beacon/

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1 hour ago, Lordmonkus said:

I've been running Windows 10 with as much telemetry blocked as possible and had no issues whatsoever, my system is perfectly stable and receives updates, it just updated itself to 1803 2 days ago.

https://www.safer-networking.org/products/spybot-anti-beacon/

Wait, is that all you need for disabling Telemetry is that one program? Because most of the people who were reporting issues were using about 6, or more other anti telemetry programs in addition to the one you just linked in your post at the same time.  

https://www.geckoandfly.com/25083/free-tools-disable-stop-windows-spying-tracking-you/

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10  

https://www.winprivacy.de/english-home/ 

https://www.safer-networking.org/products/spybot-anti-beacon/  

https://github.com/10se1ucgo/DisableWinTracking  

https://www.securilla.com/privacy-repairer  

https://www.ashampoo.com/en/eur/pin/1004/security-software/Antispy-for-Windows-10  

https://github.com/Nummer/Destroy-Windows-10-Spying

[Lordmonkus]

That's all I used along with turning off all the crap when you are going through the install process of Windows 10. There is some extra stuff like the Group Policy editor but that's for the Enterprise edition on Win 10.

You can check this video out that shows you pretty much all you need:

 

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3 hours ago, Lordmonkus said:

That's all I used along with turning off all the crap when you are going through the install process of Windows 10. There is some extra stuff like the Group Policy editor but that's for the Enterprise edition on Win 10.

You can check this video out that shows you pretty much all you need:

 

There's actually one other thing that I forgot to ask. When you said that I didn't need to do any tweaks because my PC is powerful enough as it is, then does this mean that I can just leave all of the PC settings at default, or is there any that I should change? A really good example is this: Should I do anything with the Power Options in the Control Panel, or should I just leave them at default? Now the reason why I ask this is because in that option section is something called Power Plans, and there is 3 to choose from: Balanced (Recommended), Power Saver, and High Performance which is hidden under a Show Additional Plans drop down for whatever strange reason. On clean installs this is always automatically set to Balanced (Recommended) by default, at least on my PC anyway. Since you said that I didn't need to do any tweaks to my PC, then does this mean that I can just leave it at it's default setting of Balanced (Recommended), or should I set it to High Performance anyway? The main reason why I ask this in particular is because I use a PS4 controller on my PC since I don't have, or like Xbox controllers, and I use a program called DS4Windows to emulate an Xbox 360 controller on my PC. http://ds4windows.com/ Now the problem is that I noticed that my controller is constantly dropping like A LOT when it is connected via USB, and it especially drops randomly, and unpredictably when I'm using LaunchBox/Big Box, and RetroArch, and other emulators etc, and then it reconnects, but sometimes UAC comes up for DS4Windows, and makes me push allow several times, and a lot of times it won't even reconnect at all, and I have to go to the hardware section of the Control Panel, and it will show my PS4 controller listed as Wireless Controller which is normal, but it will show a yellow triangle exclamation point next to it, and when I right click on it, and select troubleshoot, it says that the HID Controller, or whatever it's called has been disabled, and I have to click enable for it to turn it back on, and reconnect my PS4 controller again, but even then, sometimes a mere minute later, it will be disabled again, and then I have to keep doing that all over again. Not only that, but sometimes my controller will be perfectly fine sitting on my bed, but then as soon as I go to move it, accidentally bump it, or actually use it, it will flash red for a few seconds, and then back to the normal color, (which I chose green BTW), and when I looked this all up, it all comes down to what DS4Windows calls Latency Issues. People have told us to try different solutions such as right clicking on the USB devices, and opening up their advance settings, and selecting the check box to prevent the PC from putting this device to sleep, etc, but have reported that these only kind of worked, but not really, so it wasn't a real solution. Then came the Power Plan Options solution. They claimed that changing it from Balanced (Recommended) to High Performance would eliminate all of these problems, and keep the controller connected at all times without dropping randomly, and erratically, and without Latency Issues, but I haven't tried it yet. So the question is this: Do I really need to? Isn't Balanced (Recommended) called that, and chosen as the default for a reason? Will the High Performance option really do anything noticeable, enough to be worth switching over to it? Will it really get rid of all of these problems with the controller that I constantly seem to be having? It won't shorten the lifespan of my PC components by needlessly over working them constantly for nothing will it? Is it like over clocking? Will it eat up my resources? Will it generate more electricity running in that mode all the time?

Edited September 13, 2018 by MalachiMaverick

[Lordmonkus]

Power options should always be set to the Maximum Performance profile anyways.

When I say "you don't need any tweak" I meant you don't need any tweaks to your system specifically to make Launchbox perform better but there is always tweaks to make to your system based on your own needs. I just got a new high end PC over the weekend and I have spent the last few days tweaking it to my liking and the way I want it. You will just have to do the same for your personal preference

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1 minute ago, Lordmonkus said:

Power options should always be set to the Maximum Performance profile anyways.

When I say "you don't need any tweak" I meant you don't need any tweaks to your system specifically to make Launchbox perform better but there is always tweaks to make to your system based on your own needs. I just got a new high end PC over the weekend and I have spent the last few days tweaking it to my liking and the way I want it. You will just have to do the same for your personal preference

So what is the point of all of the PC manufacturers, and/or Microsoft always selecting Balanced (Recommended) as the default? What are they gaining by not just having it automatically set to the Maximum Performance Profile for us by default? Also, will making this change fix all of those controller issues I was describing in my previous post? And none of that stuff near the bottom of my previous post that I was worried about will happen if I switch over to the Maximum Performance Profile?

[Lordmonkus]

20 minutes ago, MalachiMaverick said:

So what is the point of all of the PC manufacturers, and/or Microsoft always selecting Balanced (Recommended) as the default? What are they gaining by not just having it automatically set to the Maximum Performance Profile for us by default?

I don't know, maybe for laptop users wishing to conserve battery life.

20 minutes ago, MalachiMaverick said:

Also, will making this change fix all of those controller issues I was describing in my previous post?

No idea, I can't remember ever running a PC not in High Performance profile.

21 minutes ago, MalachiMaverick said:

And none of that stuff near the bottom of my previous post that I was worried about will happen if I switch over to the Maximum Performance Profile?

It won't shorten the lifespan of your PC. It's not like over clocking at all. It won't eat any extra resources. It will probably draw some more electricity but it's minimal and you will likely never notice it unless you are running everything off of solar powered charged batteries and they don't last as long.

Like I said, I have never run a PC not in High Performance mode.

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2 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

I don't know, maybe for laptop users wishing to conserve battery life.

No idea, I can't remember ever running a PC not in High Performance profile.

It won't shorten the lifespan of your PC. It's not like over clocking at all. It won't eat any extra resources. It will probably draw some more electricity but it's minimal and you will likely never notice it unless you are running everything off of solar powered charged batteries and they don't last as long.

Like I said, I have never run a PC not in High Performance mode.

I think I just figured out the point to these manufacturers, and Microsoft choosing Balanced (Recommended) over the Maximum Performance Profile, besides just being maybe for laptop users hoping to conserve battery life. It all has to do with them wanting to look good, and get pretty labels next to their brand names when you look at websites, or even shop locally at places such as WalMart, and Best Buy, etc for a new computer. It all comes down to that BS about the environment, and all of that so called Eco Foot Print crap that companies, and organizations want to shove down our throats without a shred of proof backing them up. All of that gimmicky nonsense that they try, and use for marketing schemes so they can up sell you on crap that you don't really need, or premium versions of products that don't really do diddly-doo-doo to better our environment. It's all of those lies they spew to make more money from us. Basically, there's this thing called Energy Star Certified, and other companies of a similar nature that will actually get manufacturers, and Microsoft to automatically set their customer computers to the Balanced (Recommended) option, (some of them even say Balanced Energy Star Recommended, and other variants of it etc), and if they do, they get to have a nice looking Energy Star Certified badge next to their product name to make them look better, and by spewing their Energy sufficient nonsense, they will try, and draw customers into buying their brand, make, and model of PC to make the customer feel a false sense of satisfaction making them think they are actually helping the environment, when in actuality, setting your PC to the Maximum Power Profile doesn't do jack squat to the pollution of our environment. It doesn't do ANYTHING at all bad to the environment, or to our power, or energy. Meaning that setting it to Balanced (Recommended) doesn't help the environment in any way. It's just to make these PC manufacturers more money, and sales, to help them stay ahead of the competition against other competing brands. Microsoft is also of course in on this as well, because they want to look good too. That way, people will want to use their OS because they feel that Microsoft is doing such a noble, and holy thing by enabling more energy efficiency in their OS, and into their manufacturer's hardware, much to our detriment as we wonder why our PC isn't using all of the performance, and power to it's maximum potential that we paid for. There's other companies, and organizations of a similar manner too, but the most popular one I've seen currently is Energy Star. So how it works is that these manufacturers, and Microsoft will make the necessary options default, and perhaps do other things which will then be tested by Energy Star, and others etc to see if they meet their requirements, and if they do, they get to have a Energy Star Certified badge next to their product names, and in turn, if this generates more sales, which it usually does by the ignorant customers who don't know any better about these BS marketing trends, then these so called Energy sufficiency companies, and organizations get sales commission percentages of all of the sales generated by these manufacturers, and by Microsoft who has the Energy Star Certified logos next to their names. This is what I have found from a bit of research, and that's why our PC's are automatically set to the Balanced (Recommended) profiles by default, and require us to manually change it to the correct Power Profile ourselves.

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22 hours ago, Lordmonkus said:

#1: It certainly won't hurt to update those drivers, just don't expect much if any difference in them. 

As for the NVidia drivers, install what you will use, the driver and PhysX stuff for sure (especially if you play modern PC games). The rest is up to you, if you use HDMI audio from your video card install the Audio Driver but if you are getting your audio out of the audio jack of the MB or a soundcard you wont need the Audio Driver. The rest is also up to you and if you are going to use it. Personally I don't like the GeForce Experience stuff but your mileage may vary.

#3: It's a much better bios system, allows you easier management and has more advanced features, it has no impact on system performance.

#4: You should still disable all the telemetry unless you don't mind MS collecting data.

Should I also update the actual BIOS firmware itself to the latest version as well? Some people say you should only do it if you're having problems with compatibility, and other things because it can permanently brick your mobo if it doesn't flash correctly, while others say you should always keep your BIOS firmware up to date.

[Lordmonkus]

I tend to agree with the first statement, only update the MB bios only if you need to for the exact reason stated, it can brick your MB if something goes horribly wrong.

That isn't to say it's difficult or super risky but it is far more risky than updating a simple driver. Though some new MBs do support a roll back to a stock bios.

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3 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

I tend to agree with the first statement, only update the MB bios only if you need to for the exact reason stated, it can brick your MB if something goes horribly wrong.

That isn't to say it's difficult or super risky but it is far more risky than updating a simple driver. Though some new MBs do support a roll back to a stock bios.

Will I get anything noticeable from upgrading a BIOS like more performance, speed, stability, security, new cool features etc?

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5 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

I tend to agree with the first statement, only update the MB bios only if you need to for the exact reason stated, it can brick your MB if something goes horribly wrong.

That isn't to say it's difficult or super risky but it is far more risky than updating a simple driver. Though some new MBs do support a roll back to a stock bios.

Why do local PC shops automatically update the BIOS firmware then when you buy a new mobo from them, and have them install it in your PC, or buy a custom build from them? Aren't they risking bricking it with out much gain from the risk?

[Lordmonkus]

That all depends on the MB and the bios already on it but generally speaking you wont see any performance games. It may in some rare cases increase stability if you install a new piece of hardware that for some strange reason has an incompatibility issue and a bios update can fix that.

PC shops would do it because they can easily do it and it's low risk to them and eliminates any potential incompatibilities at the time of building a PC.

The real risk comes usually from noobs flashing the incorrect bios they downloaded because they got the MB model wrong in the downloader. Updating MB bios is difficult or super high risk but there is some and people not used to doing it are inherently more prone to messing it up.