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Windows Microsoft Operating Systems Power Software Technology

Windows 10 Is Adding an Ultimate Performance Mode For Pros (engadget.com) 151

Posted by BeauHD from the new-and-improved dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: When you're creating 3D models or otherwise running intensive tasks, you want to wring every ounce of performance out of your PC as possible. It's a good thing, then, that Microsoft has released a Windows 10 preview build in the Fast ring that includes a new Ultimate Performance mode if you're running Pro for Workstations. As the name implies, this is a step up for people for whom even the High Performance mode isn't enough -- it throws power management out the window to eliminate "micro-latencies" and boost raw speed. You can set it yourself, but PC makers will have the option of shipping systems with the feature turned on. Ultimate Performance isn't currently available for laptops or tablets, but Microsoft suggests that could change.
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Windows 10 Is Adding an Ultimate Performance Mode For Pros More

Windows 10 Is Adding an Ultimate Performance Mode For Pros

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  • You can do this on older version too (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 15, 2018 @08:05AM (#56127764)
    Simply disable Windows Defender.

    • "Whatâ(TM)s new in Build 17101 & Build 17604
      Input Improvements

      Emoji design updates: Based on your feedback and to improve consistency, we've made adjustments to the design of some of our emoji.

      Emoji search comes to more languages: Earlier in RS4, we updated the Emoji Panel to support browsing and picking emoji in many new locales. With today's build, we're bringing search support to more locales too! Now you can find an emoji by keyword in over 150 locales, including English (Great Britain), French

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by bondsbw ( 888959 )

        I don't know that I've seen a product update in the past couple of months that doesn't have emoji updates.

  • LOLZ (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    As if performance problems on Windows were caused by micro-latencies...
    Right, let's reclaim those 1-2% of performance, all while the antivirus is using half of the CPU cores to continuously scan the machine for viruses...
    For performance, the best fix would be to simply use something else.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cederic ( 9623 )

      You use AV on performance sensitive machines?

      • This. My video editing workstation has an AV installed for the duration of a scan, once per month, the rest of the time its resources are kept where they're needed and free of constant scanning, memory hogging and unwanted pop-ups.

    • Re:LOLZ (Score:5, Insightful)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @08:46AM (#56127928) Homepage Journal

      2% isn't going to help much when the Meltdown patch just hit you for 50%.

      • 2% isn't going to help much when the Meltdown patch just hit you for 50%.

        Exactly.

      • Except the meltdown patch just hit even worst case users by a fraction of that. 2% for many workloads is a significant portion of the meltdown dramas.

  • Why wasn't this an option before? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by theraptor05 ( 908452 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @08:13AM (#56127792)
    I want my computer to run slow. Please leave Ultimate Performance off, maybe insert some extra latency in a few places just because... This is hardly a new requirement. For the work I do, Windows has always been looked past because it couldn't get out of it's own way when running high-performance or near real time code. It will never do actual real time (Microsoft could make that, but it wouldn't be called Windows), but why has this "Ultra Extreme Actually Fast" mode been so impossible in the past?

    • I want my computer to run slow. Please leave Ultimate Performance off, maybe insert some extra latency in a few places just because... This is hardly a new requirement. For the work I do, Windows has always been looked past because it couldn't get out of it's own way when running high-performance or near real time code. It will never do actual real time (Microsoft could make that, but it wouldn't be called Windows), but why has this "Ultra Extreme Actually Fast" mode been so impossible in the past?

      I'm sorry; most CPU cycles are needed to check your Windows license validity every nanosecond.

    • Re:Why wasn't this an option before? (Score:4, Informative)

      by goose-incarnated ( 1145029 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @09:08AM (#56127992) Journal

      I want my computer to run slow. Please leave Ultimate Performance off, maybe insert some extra latency in a few places just because...

      Everyone is missing the point - they aren't offering a slow and fast version of Windows, they are offering "meltdown-patch/no-meltdown-patch" versions.

    • Re:Why wasn't this an option before? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Ed Tice ( 3732157 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @09:48AM (#56128192)
      Congratulations on your +4 and I hope you get to +5. Even "high load" applications generally have very brief periods of CPU idle time. Maybe they are waiting for a page swap or to write out the result of some calculation to disk. If the CPU power manager sees 100ms of idle time, what should it do? Seems reasonable to cut the clock down as, for many (most) workloads, this would indicate that the CPU-bound portion is over. If CPU demand picks up, you can pick up the pace again. But how many ms of load do you need to see in order to decide that this is another high-workload period? For almost everything that normal people do, the latency to pick the clock rate back up when CPU demand rises is immeasurably small. For those specific situations where it would make a difference, it's not possible to tell the power manager to never slow the CPU even if completely idle for decades. The actual use for this is probably close to zero but you'll probably see people turn it on for the same reasons you see giant wings strapped to the back of 90 horsepower sedans.

    • It was never impossible. You've always been able to tell Windows not to change the power state.

    • Re:Why wasn't this an option before? (Score:4)

      by jwhyche ( 6192 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @11:33AM (#56128888) Homepage

      You want a slow computer? I got a nice intel processor I can sell you.

    • Because most people are happy to trade a few percent performance for lower power consumption (including corporate users, for whom 10% less power consumption across 1000 machines is noticeable, and if the performance hit doesn't affect productivity then it's well worth it).

    • but why has this "Ultra Extreme Actually Fast" mode been so impossible in the past

      It's not been impossible. It's just been completely irrelevant. Chalk up another feature I'll never turn on because a 1% boost in performance isn't worth the battery life hit.

      As for being a realtime OS, you're right it never was, never will be and is not even remotely a design consideration. The same can be said about all desktop OSes except for those specifically designed for the purpose.

  • But Telemetry will still be turned on (Score:4, Insightful)

    by IWantMoreSpamPlease ( 571972 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @08:18AM (#56127806) Homepage Journal

    Still gathering a ton of data, which at the very least will impact network throughput.

    • Re:But Telemetry will still be turned on (Score:5, Informative)

      by SuricouRaven ( 1897204 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @08:28AM (#56127834)

      Try stopping it - run a traffic monitor and take a look. It takes a ridiculous amount of effort to disable all the spyware. It's not just a matter of changing a few buried registry settings, you have to deliberately break services that can't be disabled and use an external firewall because the Windows internal one has hard-coded exceptions.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Is there a place that lists all the ways that it phones home? Preferably in a format that can be inserted into an open source firewall?

      • Obviously the intent is making it so hard to disable so that few users will bother. They use a similar strategy (reverting default programs to Windows built ins from time to time) to get you to use the included apps.
        This is disgusting behaviour. That's the price we pay for Windows being the dominant desktop OS. If their marketshare was 50% or less they wouldn't dare to do that

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Kjella ( 173770 )

          That's the price we pay for Windows being the dominant desktop OS. If their marketshare was 50% or less they wouldn't dare to do that

          Microsoft was a dominant OS for a long time without doing any di.... without doing these dirty tricks. This is a direct consequence of Win10 becoming "free", though they still charge OEMs a few bucks for powerful machines. Since getting consumers to upgrade is no longer what brings in cash it's all about monetizing the users you have. It'll probably work too, Facebook is "free". Gmail is "free". Windows is "free". The vast majority seem to like it that way.

          • Yes, it's obvious Google-style user monetization. The problem is that they haven't given an option to opt out of that by paying money. Even apps for smartphones most of the time let you choose between free with ads and paid without.
      • I can disable Microsoft spyware in three easy steps:
        Step #1: Backup important files
        Step #2: Install {your favorite flavor of} Linux
        Step #3: Restore important files
        See? Wasn't that easy?

        • I don't have a favourite flavour of Linux - all of them suck in subtly different ways. I don't know what happened - around 2003 Linux looked almost ready for the desktop, but then it became really uncomfortable to use.

          • Well, then I guess you learn to enjoy having Microsoft own your computer, and additionally having Microsoft up your ass every single time you use it. Sucks to be you.

            • Still beats using Linux, though. And I say that as someone who develops Linux applications for a living.

  • I used to work with a sales manager who talked about selling the quote-unquote double overhead gofasters to Rubes who did not understand that a working product was a standard feature. This sounds like something similar.

  • I want crappy performance mode (Score:5, Funny)

    by Oswald McWeany ( 2428506 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @09:04AM (#56127982)

    Ultra performance... meh...Wake me up when there is an ultra crappy performance mode.

    I like my computers like I like my women, slow and full of viruses.

  • Microsoft has been slowing down computers? (Score:3)

    by QuietLagoon ( 813062 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @09:05AM (#56127984)
    And now wants money to turn off that "feature"?

  • Here's how you could boost performance even more! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @09:09AM (#56127998)

    Disable data collection and spying on us. Frees up CPU resources as well as network resources.

    And I'd dare say that it would be easy to implement, no tweaking necessary. All it takes is flipping a few compiler switches...

  • Forced reboots make this meaningless. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bob-Bob Hardyoyo ( 4240135 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @09:18AM (#56128034)

    It doesn't matter how much performance they can wrangle when the OS still forces reboots for updates in the middle of compiling, encoding, rendering, etc.

    You can't "just save" some things.

    • Oh you're getting forced reboots during your code compiling? I'm genuinely impressed you can get any code to compile at all if you can't even change you settings to prevent the scenario you describe.

      I can recommend a good book for programmers: "How to change windows settings for dummies".

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by theCoder ( 23772 )

        My corporate supplied computer at work doesn't have many settings to change.

        And I have never associated Windows with performance. Unless it is "poor" performance. As a simple example, the software I develop at work takes about 4 hours to completely build and test on Linux. It takes about 60 hours to do the same on Windows. And that is after copying every single needed file to the local hard drive (while Linux gets almost everything from the network). By the time Linux is done, Windows is about half way

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @09:28AM (#56128108)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by vux984 ( 928602 )

      "ultimate performance: God is dead and you now sit upon the throne in this wasteland of pure and unadulterated windows. The seals have been unlocked and the runes aligned as you see once and for all the true blistering power of Minesweeper. Cortana is replaced with a cursed portrait of W.E.B. Du-Buois into which you whisper your darkest desires (and save your passwords.) The startup sound is the entire 16 hour watergate deposition. the shutdown sound is a sacrosanct quote of your last words before you die a

    • *Golf Clap*.
  • Finally Teams will be able to get all the CPU it needs just tor me to type in a message. Damn thing spins up my i7 NUC's fan per keystroke.
  • I've been tweaking any box I run that requires Windows using recommendations from Black Viper [blackviper.com] for YEARS! It's a handy resource. It's amazing seeing everything that is running in the background.

  • Does this disable OneDrive? (Score:3)

    by hackertourist ( 2202674 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @09:55AM (#56128224)

    Because OneDrive has replaced antivirus as the single biggest performance drain on my computer. I regularly find OD pegging one of my cores at 100% load.

  • What an idea! (Score:5, Funny)

    by GoTeam ( 5042081 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @09:58AM (#56128248)
    That's a good start Microsoft. Now they need to invent a way that you can toggle this feature on and off with a physical button. They could put the button on the case, but they'd have to put a word above it to describe what it does... Maybe "Turbo"? Yes, they should invent the turbo button. That's forward thinking!!!!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zifn4b ( 1040588 )
      Nice try. The turbo button was a way to change the FSB multipler which is a hardware feature not an operating system feature.
  • If Windows isn't already tuned to give you raw horse power and performance, then switch to Linux based OS.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zifn4b ( 1040588 )

      If Windows isn't already tuned to give you raw horse power and performance, then switch to Linux based OS.

      As soon as Linux runs all the games and apps we know and love, it will be the end of Microsoft.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zifn4b ( 1040588 )
      No it really doesn't. It shipped at about 8-9 and now disables its own bloatware so it can actually go to 10.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Option available on some ancient mac programs in the System 6-9 era. You can force quit the Finder (vague analogous to Windows Explorer, the standard built-in file browser) so that you can run those programs that need just a little bit more memory and processor time.

    This reminds me of that.

    • Not really processor time. MacOS back then didn't have a thread interrupts. Once your application's thread is running it keeps going until it gives back control to the OS or you hit the debug button.

  • Need "Ludicrous Speed" (Score:3)

    by grumpy-cowboy ( 4342983 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @11:42AM (#56128942)

    Let me know when you support Ludicrous Speed! ;)

  • You could always roll back to 7. 7 is a lot faster on my rig than 10. YMMV thou
  • No real content and then in an article titled "Windows 10 Is Adding an Ultimate Performance Mode For Pros", we have this paragraph at the bottom as extra filler because there wasn't really any content:

    There are additions for people using everyday PCs. Like Samsung, Microsoft is moving toward more familiar emoji. It also helps you search for those emoji in more languages, and provides you more control over file system access for Universal Windows Platform apps. As a rule, though, this preview is aimed at pros who want to see how well a workstation can run when there's nothing holding it back.

  • I've seen those words before, but never in the same sentence.

  • Wouldn't be necessary if (Score:3)

    by nehumanuscrede ( 624750 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @12:14PM (#56129124)

    Microsoft would turn off or disable all the silly unnecessary bullshit running in the background.

    Cortana, all the Telemetry crap, and probably a big chunk of all the running processes that are enabled by default.

  • In case anybody's wondering why the mode is disabled for laptops, it's because quite a few literally *can't* run for extended periods of time at full-bore speed without overheating. For YEARS, companies like Toshiba were advertising specs based on CPU specs, but underclocking them behind the scenes to reduce heat. Most current laptops can (mostly) run at full-speed without crashing, but will gradually cook their electrolytic capacitors & other components to death if you insist.

    Now, the big question is..

  • Some of you might remember the PC/XT and AT clones back on the day that had the flashy "TURBO" button on the front that would increase or even double your processor clock speed, and was marketed as something of an upgrade. The reality of it was that this switch actually cut your clock speed in half. Tons of old DOS programs used to just run as fast as the processor would let them, so older games would run at ridiculous speeds on these newer machines with their sweeet 16mhz processors or whatever. Manufactur

  • How about dealing with the basics first, like that ability to walk away from the computer with your multi-application state arranged as you see fit and return WITHOUT FINDING THAT ALL YOUR PREPARATION HAS BEEN LOST BECAUSE WINDOWS USES A DEAD-MAN SWITCH METAPHOR when asking for permission to reboot to install updates!

    What the hell is wrong with you people?

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