Hi,
I cannot, simply CAN. NOT. stress enough how much of a difference reinstalling windows was for my graphics performance. Not only has it fixed lots of random issues which I will go into, but it has increase my performance by 50-100%. NO. EXAGGERATION. We all know that a reinstall can help, I had no idea that it would be this much, so I hadn't really done it.
The last time I installed Windows was Windows 7, a good 5 years ago. Since then I've upgraded to 8, to 10, done roll backs, had all sorts of issues that I've fixed, but I've never taken the plunge and reinstalled windows fresh.
My performance increase with buying an 1080 and an i7 7700K was big. I was happy with it. I was a little sad that it still wasn't enough to get things exactly as I liked them in VR, but I thought well that's where the technology is right now. Also, I often had lots of issues with lots of games. My PC had this tendency to get to a state where it was performing worse in games after being on for a while, and relogging would smooth it out. I'd get freezes and microstuttering in some games. Some emulators wouldn't work like they were supposed to. A picture started to build up that other people with my rig and worse were getting better performance. Many issues I googled ended up being only me.
Well the clincher was my Oculus Rift starting to stutter sporadically. It started slowly, only occasionally happening, with a restart or relog fixing it for a while. It was in Elite, Space Engine, and more. Then it would happen more, then eventually after a few months it got to the point it would happen over 50% of the time and sometimes relogging wouldn't even fix it.
This was just another step in the same story - I posted online asking around if anyone had the issue, and nobody really had, tried the basic things like clean Nvidia drivers install, clean oculus install. I got busy with Oculus support, tried everything they suggested, they even replaced it in the end! The new one had the same issue!
That was it, time for a fresh windows reinstall.
I spent 5 hours backing up my entire C drive, making notes of all my settings, start menu, installed programs, quick access lists and more. Then I just did it. Formatted my C drive and reinstalled.
It took about 20 minutes, then another hour to get the basics working, drivers, important programs and what not. I slowly brought everything back and now 12 hours later of doing bits here and there, my PC is back as it was as far as I can tell.
With one exception.
Games now run SO much better. I'll give you all the examples I can:
1. Elite. I wasn't able to get more than 1.25x HMD Image Quality without going under 45fps on planets. Now I can pull 1.5x and never see a drop of stutter. That's a HUGE difference.
2. Space Engine (I'm on the beta). I was running 1.4x and getting under 30fps on planets. Now I can pull 1.75 and get 45fps on the same planets. That's a HUGE HUGE difference.
3. Ark: Survival Evolved was a glitchy stuttery mess. Never 100% smooth. Always microfreezing (not talking about lag of course). Now it's butter smooth, feels like a game rather than a beta.
4. Ghost Recon: Wildlands had lots of freezing and the frame rate wasn't perfect. I could see the frames. Now I can't, feels like it's 100% smooth at all times.
5. Zelda: GoTW, on the CEMU emulator. I was getting 15-30 fps, mostly around 19 or 20. I now get a solid 30, and that's capped. I probably get way more.
I could go on, and I'm still testing games but oh man, it's a revolution. I didn't know how amazing a rig I had by far, and I am loving every second of it. My games are exactly where I want them to be in terms of visual quality and smoothness. I'm so glad I had it in me all along!
Guys, don't put it off if you are in my situation. If it's been too long just take the plunge. Every bit of software, every driver, every non-existant program, every backup, everything I feared was ok in the end. I am back to where I was and it took all in all under a day. And I've benefited hugely from it.
I cannot, simply CAN. NOT. stress enough how much of a difference reinstalling windows was for my graphics performance. Not only has it fixed lots of random issues which I will go into, but it has increase my performance by 50-100%. NO. EXAGGERATION. We all know that a reinstall can help, I had no idea that it would be this much, so I hadn't really done it.
The last time I installed Windows was Windows 7, a good 5 years ago. Since then I've upgraded to 8, to 10, done roll backs, had all sorts of issues that I've fixed, but I've never taken the plunge and reinstalled windows fresh.
My performance increase with buying an 1080 and an i7 7700K was big. I was happy with it. I was a little sad that it still wasn't enough to get things exactly as I liked them in VR, but I thought well that's where the technology is right now. Also, I often had lots of issues with lots of games. My PC had this tendency to get to a state where it was performing worse in games after being on for a while, and relogging would smooth it out. I'd get freezes and microstuttering in some games. Some emulators wouldn't work like they were supposed to. A picture started to build up that other people with my rig and worse were getting better performance. Many issues I googled ended up being only me.
Well the clincher was my Oculus Rift starting to stutter sporadically. It started slowly, only occasionally happening, with a restart or relog fixing it for a while. It was in Elite, Space Engine, and more. Then it would happen more, then eventually after a few months it got to the point it would happen over 50% of the time and sometimes relogging wouldn't even fix it.
This was just another step in the same story - I posted online asking around if anyone had the issue, and nobody really had, tried the basic things like clean Nvidia drivers install, clean oculus install. I got busy with Oculus support, tried everything they suggested, they even replaced it in the end! The new one had the same issue!
That was it, time for a fresh windows reinstall.
I spent 5 hours backing up my entire C drive, making notes of all my settings, start menu, installed programs, quick access lists and more. Then I just did it. Formatted my C drive and reinstalled.
It took about 20 minutes, then another hour to get the basics working, drivers, important programs and what not. I slowly brought everything back and now 12 hours later of doing bits here and there, my PC is back as it was as far as I can tell.
With one exception.
Games now run SO much better. I'll give you all the examples I can:
1. Elite. I wasn't able to get more than 1.25x HMD Image Quality without going under 45fps on planets. Now I can pull 1.5x and never see a drop of stutter. That's a HUGE difference.
2. Space Engine (I'm on the beta). I was running 1.4x and getting under 30fps on planets. Now I can pull 1.75 and get 45fps on the same planets. That's a HUGE HUGE difference.
3. Ark: Survival Evolved was a glitchy stuttery mess. Never 100% smooth. Always microfreezing (not talking about lag of course). Now it's butter smooth, feels like a game rather than a beta.
4. Ghost Recon: Wildlands had lots of freezing and the frame rate wasn't perfect. I could see the frames. Now I can't, feels like it's 100% smooth at all times.
5. Zelda: GoTW, on the CEMU emulator. I was getting 15-30 fps, mostly around 19 or 20. I now get a solid 30, and that's capped. I probably get way more.
I could go on, and I'm still testing games but oh man, it's a revolution. I didn't know how amazing a rig I had by far, and I am loving every second of it. My games are exactly where I want them to be in terms of visual quality and smoothness. I'm so glad I had it in me all along!
Guys, don't put it off if you are in my situation. If it's been too long just take the plunge. Every bit of software, every driver, every non-existant program, every backup, everything I feared was ok in the end. I am back to where I was and it took all in all under a day. And I've benefited hugely from it.
![[VR] Frank_G](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/59/59394.jpg?1553527111){kind=avatar}
o7
