How do I free up system resources for gaming?

You're not going to get a noticable FPS increase, unless your killing malware scanners/defraggers/or high CPU useage programs. Normal background tasks won't affect you too much.

Yeah, I kinda figured that, but every little bit helps. I have an AMD64 3500+ with a gig o' ram and a 7800GT Evga card. I've been playing around with the settings in F.E.A.R. to see what's the best performance to graphics combo. Looks like setting everything at max, and then just dropping the Antriscoping to X2 and the texture filtering down to X8 did the trick just fine. Says I'm averaging 47 fps with those settings. This is the first "gaming" pc I've ever really had, so personally I couldn't even tell a difference in the graphics with everything maxed out. Looked the same to me, but just ran slower. Back in the day I used to run a program called Kill it All, but haven't seen that around in years. Just didn't know if there was something newer and better around these days made specifically for XP. Once windows loads I'm only running 28 processes the way it is, so I doubt much would be killed anyway. Thanks for the replies!

Stranger- you start off with one gig and install a second later or just start off with 2 gigs up front? Just wondering if you noticed much of a difference. Mine seems to tear through pretty much anything at the moment with 1G.

Are you having a laugh?

I mean, had you been running a sub 1ghz I'd have considered your thread respectable but in all fairness......

In fact after seeing your system specs I can't even be bothered typing further except to say turn soft shadows in FEAR off if you haven't already done so.

I'm always harsh. The man is running an amd 64 3500 1 gb of ram and a 7800gt for the love of god. He could run a couple of instances of FEAR and get less slow down than I do running one.

As Flanders said there isn't much he can kill to give a noticable increase in games performance unless his system is riddled with spy/ad ware.

It's not like in the sub 1ghz days and 128mb (or less) of ram when every last scrap of processing power was important. Nowadays with computers the way they are and the speeds they are at background/systray apps/processes aren't gonna affect your gaming.

EDIT: and I just got exasperated when I read the topic then seen his system spec.

How big a difference? Can't say I've heard of game XP altho I don't often trust stuff that messes with the registry/changes default windows stuff.

Mea culpa.

It's the other way around, really. If you turn SS on, but also apply AA and AF settings, then SS is disabled. It's not shown in the UI, but it's turned off. So turn off any AA and AF, and turn on SS and you will see your system take a major performance beating. It looks really sweet though.

Well last night I gave it all a try. with SS, turned on and the other stuff turned off. I could definitely tell a difference in the hard shadows of boxes, shelves, etc. It knocked my frame rate down a bit like you said it would. With the FEAR test it averaged 36 which is still playable, but I put it back the way I had it before without SS running 47fps. Just made it feel smoother all the way around and once you're really in the game I don't notice if a shadow has a hard edge or not. For being a Shuttle PC I've really been impressed. I wanted something kinda portable, and it's been running flawless without a single heat issue. Since it is in such a small case I probably won't OC it though. At least not for now since everything I throw at it, runs so smoothly anyways. The only thing I need to work on now is getting my EAX2.0 drivers to work. I'm running sound through the SPDF output into my receiver which is showing a DTS signal. However FEAR isn't let me change any of the sound options other than volume level. I think it's running surround sound but hard to tell. The EAX functions in the sound menu are all subdued and non-selectable leading me to think my drivers aren't installed right. I'll check shuttle.com when I get home from work to see if there's anything new. Appreciate all the feedback and advice from everyone on here as well!

Yeah, I was a bit worried but after reading some reviews and doing some homework they've really seemed to come a long way. I have the SN25P case, which is built around a push/pull through air system. Also has a seperate radiator that looks like a self inclosed liquid cooling system but I know it's not. Has cooling pipes and stuff going all over the place though. The smart fan system really makes it quiet too. After playing hours of gaming it hasn't even come close to over heating on me. So far I've been nothing but impressed and pleased with it. I have my fingers crossed it stays that way! If you're interested in building one yourself let me know... I could save you some time on what to look out for and the different models they're offering now. Have a good one, Lee