Fellow computer dummies (Benchmark score)Follow

First of all, sorry for not posting in the benchmark thread, but I feel like my fellow computer-ignorant people might appreciate this information and there is a lot going on in that thread.

I managed to increase my benchmark score from 4961 to 7527 by changing a simple setting. In my Windows Control Panel under "Power Settings" I found that my setting was defaulted at "Power Saver" which "saves power by reducing performance where possible". All I had to do was click "High Performance" to get the change. No other changes we were made to my computer.

SpoilerFINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)
Tested on:8/1/2013 7:29:39 PM
Score:4961
Average Framerate:43.950
Performance:High
-Easily capable of running the game. Should perform well, even at higher resolutions.

Screen Size: 1280x720
Screen Mode: Windowed
Graphics Presets: High (Desktop)
General
-Enable HDR rendering and improve overall graphic quality. : Enabled
-Disable rendering of objects when not visible. (Occlusion Culling) : Enabled
-Use low-detail models on distant objects. (LOD) : Disabled
-Cache LOD data only when necessary. (LOD Streaming) : Disabled
-Real-time Reflections : Normal
-Edge Smoothing (Anti-aliasing) : FXAA
-Transparent Lighting Quality : High
-Grass Quality : High
Shadows
-Self : Display
-Other NPCs : Display
Shadow Quality
-Use low-detail models on shadows. (LOD) : Enabled
-Shadow Resolution : High - 2048p
-Shadow Cascading : Best
-Shadow Softening : Strong
Texture Detail
-Texture Filtering : Anisotropic
-Anisotropic Filtering : x8
Movement Physics
-Self : Full
-Other NPCs : Full
Effects
-Naturally darken the edges of the screen. (Limb Darkening) : Enabled
-Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur) : Enabled
-Screen Space Ambient Occlusion : Strong
-Glare : Normal
Cinematic Cutscenes
-Enable depth of field. : Enabled

System:
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130318-1533)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz
6142.305MB
ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series (VRAM 3827 MB) 8.17.0010.1041

SpoilerFINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Official Benchmark (Character Creation)
Tested on:8/4/2013 10:49:32 AM
Score:7527
Average Framerate:63.993
Performance:Extremely High
-Easily capable of running the game on the highest settings.

Screen Size: 1280x720
Screen Mode: Windowed
Graphics Presets: High (Desktop)
General
-Enable HDR rendering and improve overall graphic quality. : Enabled
-Disable rendering of objects when not visible. (Occlusion Culling) : Enabled
-Use low-detail models on distant objects. (LOD) : Disabled
-Cache LOD data only when necessary. (LOD Streaming) : Disabled
-Real-time Reflections : Normal
-Edge Smoothing (Anti-aliasing) : FXAA
-Transparent Lighting Quality : High
-Grass Quality : High
Shadows
-Self : Display
-Other NPCs : Display
Shadow Quality
-Use low-detail models on shadows. (LOD) : Enabled
-Shadow Resolution : High - 2048p
-Shadow Cascading : Best
-Shadow Softening : Strong
Texture Detail
-Texture Filtering : Anisotropic
-Anisotropic Filtering : x8
Movement Physics
-Self : Full
-Other NPCs : Full
Effects
-Naturally darken the edges of the screen. (Limb Darkening) : Enabled
-Blur the graphics around an object in motion. (Radial Blur) : Enabled
-Screen Space Ambient Occlusion : Strong
-Glare : Normal
Cinematic Cutscenes
-Enable depth of field. : Enabled

System:
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.130318-1533)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz
6142.305MB
ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series (VRAM 3827 MB) 8.17.0010.1041

Are you playing on a laptop or a desktop? If it's a laptop, you can change the setting much easier by just clicking the power icon in the bottom right corner of the taskbar. If on a desktop, you should always be running in high performance mode since power isn't really a factor.

Other things you can do for a very minute boost in performance:

disable windows aero theme

Remove bloatware from your computer

Update the drivers on your graphics card- nvidia AMD

You and me both!

I am PS3 all the way, And I personally don't want to spend thousands of dollars on gaming machines... when I can buy PS3's for a couple hundred bucks apiece.

My laptop actually failed the benchmark the other day... score was just over 700... lol.

Do you have DX9 installed? I've heard a lot of people having issues where they have DX11, but not DX9 installed.

Mine gave me a prompt to install DX9 before it would open the benchmark. I installed DX9 and it opened just fine, but the benchmark did not escape the load screen (even when turning off all graphics filters). The character creator worked, but chugged along very slowly. The music was nice though! Haven't heard the FF scales in a while =)

I feel silly. I was running on balanced.

Was. it stuttering or tearing ? Cuz my PC looked like crap till I forced v sync on my graphics card .

Well there's always that disclaimer they post at the end that says something like: your score is no guarantee of being able to run this.

Below spec CPU is going to be a major problem.. though as I recall, the requirements are pretty lenient (Core 2 Duo being the minimum? Something like that?). If you're happy playing on the PS3, then no biggie.

I tried that first link you posted and it helped me squeeze an extra 400 points out of the benchmark. I've been trying a lot of things I've seen posted on here and altogether I've brought my score from 2000ish to 3100. I'm not running a great computer so thats a pretty decent jump for me. My biggest boost was pretty obvious, I decreased the resolution.