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Fastest Windows 10 since w8.0/w8.1 + no GUI lag & fast explorer.exe & no slow on hdd


sonyu

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Hi everybody, I want to share something I discovered yesterday after days trying different builds between w8.1 (6.3.6900) and w10 rtm (10.0.10240) to get all my drivers working but without the slowness of w10.

 

Warning: 

- If you have a powerful cpu and a dedicated gpu, with 16gb or 32 gb of RAM you probably don't care about which version of windows 10 you are running and all I'm gonna tell you is not addressed to you. 

- This is addressed to people who want to get w7 / w8 / w8.1 general OS speed in w10 in a PC / Laptop / Ultrabook / Tablet without a dedicated GPU and also cannot run older windows versions like w7 / w8/ w81 on newer hardware because of drivers or bios incompatibilities, for example.

- This is not another post to talk about LTSB 2015/2016, LTSC 2019 or other normal builds like 1809, 1903, 1909...

- This post is intended to get the fastest Windows 10 version based on a Windows 10 beta build, which, at the same time, it's based on something between 6.3.9600 and 10.0.10240 but it's compatible and faster on modern hardware.

- So this is to get the best possible experience on a nowadays basic hardware: INTEL cpu/gpu + 4GB ram + HDD + no dedicated gpu.

 

WHAT YOU -probably- HAVE TRIED UNTIL now to get the fastest OS as possible:

After lot of attempts to get anything different than w10 working on a new laptop, as you know it has lag, it's slow on HDDs, has some Standby Memory issues (at least in 10240 rtm / 1507 ltsb ) which need to be fixed using third party software, and explorer is very slow too.

And also in every update you lost your telemetry/privacy config and also you can't full control when updates are installed since 1607..

Of course I tried disabling things like Spectre Meltdown, tools to remove metro immersive shell, tweaking mmcss, tweaking svchost, tweaking Win32PrioritySeparation, multimedia performance values, intelppm (which seems limites the cpu max speed; search about it)...

I also tried OldNewExplorer/RibbonDisabler, Winaero tweaker, Ultimate Windows Tweaker,  blackviper services, startisback, superfetch off, winxshell... 

Yes, you can get a decent OS, of course all of this was tried on LTSB 2015 & 2016. 

But after all these tweaks are applied.. you always thing the same: W.10.W.C.E. (these is a topic about w10 in the forum deciphering these initials).

So, after a lot of time tweaking trying to get something decent or similar to w7/w8 experience you ended with less cpu usage and less ram usage but the lag are still here, well, if you have a SSD, you get more or less the same experience you will get in w7 / w8 / w8.1 on a HDD.

 

LONG STORY SHORT: w7 / w8.0 / w8.1 performance on Windows 10: Build 10.0.10074

Yes:

- It's compatible with all new hardware supported since 10240. It doesn't have the slow explorer & the GUI lag. 

- Modern Intel cpus/gpus are supported. It has WDDM 2.0 enabled but in an early version, so it's something between 1.3 & 2.0. All w10 THRESHOLD1 RTM drivers are working on it.

- Metro is not as heavy as it is on 10240 RTM probably cause it's not finished.

- No lag, and the benefits of the amazing memory management in w10 + Less resource usage. 

 

Why this build?

- It has some updates (6) available: https://changewindows.org/build/10074/server

- The last update (server version) ends with the same number as the RTM mmmmm strange.. isn't it? considering Official RTM is 10.0.10240 --> 10.0.10074.240, yes 240

- As you can see it's updated until SEP 15' (2 months after 10.0.10240 RTM was released), maybe it's possible to install these updates (x64) on client version like @greenhillmaniac does in w8 ( https://msfn.org/board/topic/175105-server-2012-updates-on-windows-8/ )

 

 

Other observarions:

- When you install server version (Server Technical Preview 2 which is Server 2016 beta build) you can see "Server 2012 R2" strings in some parts of  the installation. Server 2012 R2 is based on w8.1 as you know so maybe it's the reason it is, at least, as fast as w7 & w8, but considering the w8.1 metro part it's removed because the w10 metro it's under development, you get something more like w8.0 than w8.1 in terms of resource usage.

- You can get a very modular OS if you install the Server version (only 512 mb of RAM in the requirements, I tried and it uses less than this) but I can't get bluetooth working (I know some people changed things in registry to get it working)

- As I read somewhere: Startisback 1.0 RC2 (probably 1.0 final ) it's compatible. In case you want to skin the taskbar and increase the buttons size.. 

- If you try the server version make sure you change your power plan to High Performance since the power plan can affect in different way in server version: powercfg.exe /setactive 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c 

 

Problem:

- If  you don't change your bios date you can't boot it since it's timebombed to 2015

_________________

Believe me, try it and give me your feedback, please.. You won't believe how fast & smooth it is compared to all other w10 versions.

Thanks

Regards

Edited by sonyu
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I find the fact that you have to run this build with the wrong date alone problematic.

Win10 in general does take forever to load initially on HDDs, that's for sure. It doesn't seem like they have any plans to address this. Even though the OS already hibernates by default when you use shut down option, it still takes some time to log back on after turning the machine on.

Recently, I've been skipping the logging off part and just put it straight into hibernation. That helps a lot with having it ready ASAP after turning it on.

Also, what exactly does turning off Superfetch service accomplish? It doesn't seem to turn off the whole standby memory functionality.

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This is not Windows 10, yes it's w10 build but it's more like 8.1 until build 10122 more or less (which is laggy like w10 rtm and uses lot of hdd + slow explorer).

You can install modern graphic cards on it. You can also run modern hardware on it which haven't got drivers for w8.1 9600.

I can't answer to this: "I find the fact that you have to run this build with the wrong date alone problematic." since it is not allowed in forum rules.

 

 

Edited by sonyu
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2 hours ago, sonyu said:

This is not Windows 10. Check this:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

I was talking about official release builds starting with 2nd paragraph.

2 hours ago, sonyu said:

I can't answer to this: "I find the fact that you have to run this build with the wrong date alone problematic." since it is not allowed in forum rules.

Exactly, running a pre-release build isn't a viable option for obvious reasons.

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2 hours ago, UCyborg said:

I was talking about official release builds starting with 2nd paragraph.

Ok, I'm only showing what you can do these days when you can't get the hardware recognized and working (with all drivers) because you can't downgrade to w7 6.1.7601, w8 6.2.9200 or w8.1 6.3.9600, for example.  

 

2 hours ago, UCyborg said:

Exactly, running a pre-release build isn't a viable option for obvious reasons.

For some people only.

21 hours ago, UCyborg said:

Also, what exactly does turning off Superfetch service accomplish? It doesn't seem to turn off the whole standby memory functionality.

Less hdd read/write so less i/o activity. I'm not telling it's better to have it on or to have it off. It depends on your RAM since it does memory compression when enabled. It's only one of all the things that me and probably all other advanced users here and there have tried to obtain the same desktop experience in w10 that we have had on w8.1 but sadly without lucky. 

_____

I always thought the same regarding to basic hardware and OSes: If it is slow with the Windows OS it has installed by default, try to get the previous version. Previous windows version always fly.

There are some exceptions of course.

But in Vista days I installed XP on every Vista laptop/pc and you always get a decent hardware and desktop experience to work with.

Now it's the same story as in Vista days; w10 is slow as Vista SP0. If your laptop/pc comes with w10 and you CAN install 7, 8.0 or 8.1 you have a very fast OS (Vista SP2 is as fast as Windows 7 but most people don't know because doesn't have popularity). But if you need to loose time and time and time and time and can't get GPU acceleration working, touchpad working.. or something similar.. it's not viable to have w7/w8/w81 installed since you can get the 100% of the hardware juice. In this case, in my opinion, stay with w10 RTM 1507 ltsb or 1607 ltsb but it's laggy although tweaked as much as you can.

I always look at Windows Display Driver Model in every Windows version. 

Currently there are 2 or maybe 3 eras in terms of computing, windows and resource usaging. You can identify which Windows version is the best for you depending on your hardware. Since w8.1 you need some modern hardware because it requires more resources to do the same. But basically:

In terms of GPU resource usage for basic hardware:

1) from XP --- to 8.0 (best desktop experience) XPDDM to WDDM 1.2

if you machine comes with Vista SP0 you can install XP and get a decent experience. You can also install w7 or w8.0 since I have done it and it works nice too. If you want the best memory management in old hardware and you have WDDM compatible GPU, install w8.0

2) 8.1 ( needs more gpu and metro it's more integrated than in w8.0, coincidence? ) WDDM 1.3

you can install w8.0 on a machine coming with w8.1 and you will aways get a smoother OS and less resource usaging

3) 10  ( need at least hardware that can run 8.1 but it's not enough ) WDDM 2.0+

here we are in Vista era again, but XP is not supported on modern hardware anymore, so the way it's a little different but almost the same: install previous OS version if you can. w8.1 run fine if the hardware comes with w10. But if you can't get all devices working on it you need to research for something like what I explain in the first post here.

In terms of Memory usage:

w8.1 and w10 are the best.

w10 does it better than w8.1 since introduces memory compression and other things. It's the only thing I really like and apreciate of w10 in basic hardware.

__________________________

Why I always prefer w8.0 and not w7 sp1 ??

_ttps://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/b8/2011/10/07/reducing-runtime-memory-in-windows-8

w7 memory usage:

_ttps://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/MSDNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.msdn.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/01/29/43/metablogapi/8270.Figure-1---Memory-usage-in-Windows-7-SP1_thumb_30B5D3F2.png

w8 memory usage:

_ttps://msdnshared.blob.core.windows.net/media/MSDNBlogsFS/prod.evol.blogs.msdn.com/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/00/00/01/29/43/metablogapi/0172.Figure-2---Memory-usage-in-Windows-8_thumb_3049A0FD.png

___________________________

Coming back again to the topic and in my opinion: All w10 beta (pre-RTM 10240) versions are interesting w8 versions. Most, if not all of them, are very stable OSes.

 

 

Edited by sonyu
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  • 4 weeks later...

Update about FASTEST Windows 10 builds for normal hardware / Fanless devices / NUCS / Lowend hardware (max speed and the less LAG you can get without a dedicated graphic card; yes, running Intel Graphics ) :

What I say about 1507 and 1607 it's not 100% true. Best version (after 10074) it's probably 1511 (10586), it's an improved version of the previous w10 version (10240). 

It doesn't update WDDM to 2.1, instead of it improves wddm 2.0 and memory management. At the end you get better disk usage and smooth GUI with less lag.

 

How can you choose the perfect W10 version for lowend hardware? Use the XP era thinking when Windows 2003 appears.

You could say "it has no sense to use one build or another if the Windows Server version has the same kernel version nowadays" This is the starting point

In other words, fastest w10 Workstation editions shares the kernel version with the Windows Server edition. So now I can really understand why 10074 and 10586 are faster builds than 10240 (and also 1607 (14393), but it's the first one I started to hate because it has metro more integrated and lot of new things). 

Kernel version 10.0.X and Server build equivalence

10074 = Server 2016 Technical Preview 2 (  ¿Windows 8.2? )

10240 = NO SERVER VERSION ONLY WORKSTATION RTM ( slow + lot of hdd usage in RTM  ) Threshold 1

10514 = Server 2016 Technical Preview 3 ( I didn't tried this build but as you can see this server build is really close to 10586 TP4 )

10586 = Server 2016 Technical Preview 4 ( Windows 10 November update Workstation kernel version ¿Windows 8.2 SP1: Service Pack 1? ) Threshold 2

14393 = Server 2016 RTM build  ( After this one, all builds are pure Windows 10. You won't get Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 experience anymore. In other words, starting with 1607 14939 builds are a little heavy for HDDs. 1607 it's not bad but some classic windows shell is removed, metro is more integrated, windows updates can't be controled as easy as in RTM and November update (10240-10586), WDDM version changed to 2.1 in this build so.. more things introduced )

 

WARNING

To get the best speed of your CPU, make sure you have Disabled Meltdown and Spectre (these cpu protections are intended for servers running windows)

  _ttps://www.grc.com/inspectre.htm

screenshot.png

AND ALSO:

If you want to get fast speed on every build starting with 1607 make sure you have Control Flow Guard disabled too (kernel 14393)

___

Another interesting script I recommend which really make a difference: 

Remove-Windows10-Bloat.bat by matthewjberger

https://gist.github.com/matthewjberger/2f4295887d6cb5738fa34e597f457b7f

___

And also, what REALLY makes a difference it's DWS (Destroy Windows Spying) utility

___

+ Windows Defender & Cortana disabled of course.

___

Get rid of Metro UI: rename c:\windows\system32\windows.immersiveshell.serviceprovider.dll to anything else and restart explorer.exe

NOTE:

All this information is based on a personal appreciation after I tried Windows 10 different versions on 4 different hardware configurations and compared the experience to the same hw running w7,w8 and w8.1

 

Edited by sonyu
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  • 1 year later...
On 3/20/2020 at 6:40 PM, sonyu said:

What I say about 1507 and 1607 it's not 100% true. Best version (after 10074) it's probably 1511 (10586), it's an improved version of the previous w10 version (10240). 

So the Fastest/best is 10074 or 10586 ?

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  • 2 weeks later...

@LowLander 

10074>10586>10240 In terms of performance, less resource usage, better cpu benchmark & better graphics...

but

10064>10074 in terms of windows interface performance

10064 is the first 100% stable wddm 2.0 build and one of the latest Technical Preview

Performance comparison between builds:

Cpu sinlge thread performance:

10064>10102>10074 (yes, there's also a 10102 build dated before 10074)

Gpu performance:

10102>10074>10062

windows interface performance:

10064>1074>10102

you need to tweak them a little

so... considering I want the less UI lag as possible with best cpu usage, 10064 it's the best, also the most old so it's close to w8.1 

 

10064,10102 and 10074 are faster than 10586. UI has less lag.

 

 

Edited by sonyu
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@LowLander

fre versions (CHK is checked build with extra packages for debugging)

so:

amd64fre_client-professional

x86fre_client-enterprise

x86fre_client-professional

enterprise versions are faster but there is no x64 version, professional is ok in this case.

 

Regards

 

Currently I'm doing some tests on LTSB 2015 with a lot of tweaks applied. I'll post results about how fast it can be and also compared to 10064.

Edited by sonyu
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I'm currently getting similar performance on LTSB 2015 updated and slimmed down and with lot of tweaks... 

When I say a lot I'm talking about multiple .reg and .bat files

However I'm gonna apply all these tweaks on 10064 to see if I get similar score on PerformanceTest

 

 

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search for w10 debloat scripts

After some tests, I can say 10102 has a faster interface compared to 10064.

They are really close in some performance tests, but Windows Interface in 10102 it's similar to w8.1 

So in general terms 10102 it's faster and more stable than 10064 and 10074:

10102 > 10064 > 10074

Edited by sonyu
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@LowLander

The only problem with these builds is the taskbar skin option in StartIsBack by @Tihiy doesn't skin the taskbar buttons, it shows empty icons instead but you can use ViGlance by Lee-soft

You can also port w8.1 files and use an utility to display W8.1 taskbar

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