If your RAM permits, you should increase the size of the dbcache setting to further speed up your device with v29.0 if you have at least 4GB of RAM you should ideally set dbcache=2048 (2 GB) in your configuration file if not, it's safer to set it to about 512 MB this significantly reduces slow disc reads by allowing more of the blockchain data to remain in memory to save resources reduce resourceintensive features like indexing and background apps while syncing
Yeah, I extended it yesterday after reading your reply and I also downloaded few blocks and noticed a few changes. I haven't really checked it out today because of my busy schedule. And, I also use an SSD, but not a very large size. I will download few blocks when i'm less busy before the day runs out.
A reasonable value for dbcache without inducing memory pressure to the system has likely a better effect on performance than trying to tweak the par option.
Disclaimer: I've only played with dbcache, never touched par, so you should take my comments as an educated guess only.
I'm not sure if I have tampered with anything outside the dbcache and allocated storage. And, I am not using my PC for anything else at the moment, so I will have to observe its performance to decide whether to allocate more dbcache space or not.