XP NTFS over FAT32 GAMING PERFORMANCE!?

[DarkFudge2000]

folks before I go all paranoid here.....is there a website I can read about the real world differences I will see with these 2 file systems??......I am from the old school of Hi END system tweaking and used to love WIN98SE because I was able to tweak the poop out of it.

Now my problem is simply this......I already installed XP PRO on my system and chose NTFS .....I have read a few posts that FAT32 is faster. Is it going to be a noticable difference for games or would the difference be minimal or would I gain more features or flexability in other areas with NTFS....ect??


basically I am wondering if I should reformat and reinstall with FAT32 or leave NTFS because the differences are minimal and provide other feauters?

Also would there be any other simple performance tips you could offer me to do on XP PRO to increase overall speed or system efficiency for games?

I see an awefully lot of PROCESSES running when I hit CTRL-ALT-DLT in the Windows TASK MANAGER.....is this boggin me down?

 

[SunnyD]

Suggestion - ALWAYS use NTFS no matter what, unless you need the drive to be seen by a local Win9X based install.

NTFS will be faster than FAT32. Also, keep in mind that FAT32 was essentally a hack by Microsoft to be able to use an old-style DOS file system with bleeding-edge harddrive capacities. FAT16 is actually faster than FAT32 if you're even counting.

An NT based kernel should use NTFS, and NTFS should be faster as it was designed around the 32-bit (and up) file systems as well as around NT.

SunnyD

 

[MGMorden]

Don't go back to Fat32. It's a LITTLE faster (I'd definately say not noticeable), but it's a lot more primitive of a system (I mean if you sacrifice all the new features why move from Win98 to WinXP in the first place?). One tip: WinXP defaulty gives you an account with administrative privileges. Don't use that for gaming. When logged in as an administrator a lot of extra processes start up. What you should do is create a normal user account and use that (you can use "Run as . . ." to install any software you might want to load). That'll give you a bit of a performance boost (and a bit more secuirity from viruses).

 

[DarkFudge2000]

mCGorden...thanks for the help you 2...I'm glad there are at least 2 people on Anandtech forums that know what they are talkin about when it comes to gaming performance and XP

now please elaborate on how to make a normal user account to logon to WIN XP with less Administrative resources running in the background??

thanks!

 

[ArchAngel777]

I prefer FAT8 myself

 

[emjem]

Here's an excellent thread on subject:

Formats

 

[DarkFudge2000]

Thanks for the article link to another thread...it was very useful...I think I'll stick to NTFS

Now as for creating a USER account in XP PRO and just using that account to log on, HELL....I noticed a TREMENDOUS cut down in the amount of PROCESSES run under the task manager versus those that were running when I was originally logged on as the ADMIN ( default setup )

but now my question is this......is there any way to convert my entire layout, preferences and all installed programs from my ADMIN setup???....it seems like creating a new user almost gives you a NEW machine but I really didnt want that....I just wanted to cut out all the goopy fat overhead from the ADMIN account that I was originally running

any ideas folks??