Martin Walker
Watcher Of The Skies
Joined: 28/02/01
Posts: 11258
Loc: Cornwall, UK
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Quote thenoizzbox:
But the thing
is, in relative terms, this machine is the fastest performing computer I've used yet and
in the end, isn't that all that matters? It lets me work with resource intensive graphic
apps without slowing me down and runs my audio software flawlessly. Whatever anyone may
say... I'm happy with Vista 
Well that's
all that matters in the long run - those of us with audio click/pop problems are more
likely to spend lots of time investigating the results of DPC Latency Checker than those
whose systems already run well down to a low audio latency 
Martin
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YewTreeMagic
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thenoizzbox
Joined: 09/04/08
Posts: 8
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Quote Martin Walker:
Well that's
all that matters in the long run - those of us with audio click/pop problems are more
likely to spend lots of time investigating the results of DPC Latency Checker than those
whose systems already run well down to a low audio latency
Of course!
And I'm not trying to diminish the real problems many people are having. I just think it's
unfair to solely blame Vista for them.
I didn't mention it here but I have a
second machine I built on the cheap with salvaged parts from my previous computer. It's a
32-bit XP Pro SP2 system running on an AMD Athlon X2 4400+ with 1 GB of Ram, 2 IDE drives
(my Vista box has 2 Seagate Barracuda SATA NCQ drives) on an inexpensive ASUS mobo who's
modle I forget at this time. That machine's DSP latency settings are typically much lower
than my Vista machine (they oscillate between 15 and 25ms) but it has much more frequent
"spikes" at around 200ms (nothing to write home about here) but every 20 seconds or so it
gets huge spikes that blow past the apps scale (between 17000 and 45000ms). I have Acid
Pro 6 installed on it and I definitely get occasional audio dropouts.
So,
beyond the fact that Vista does have higher average DCP latency and runs slower than XP on
the same hardware, the audio problems people are experiencing are IMO much more logically
caused by hardware or driver issues than Vista itself don't you think?
--------------------
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Dual Core, ASUS Crosshair mobo, 4 GB 800 MGHz DDR2 Ram, SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro, NVidia 8800GTS 640 MB DDR3, Vista Ultimate 64, Reaper 2.2
Edited by thenoizzbox (09/04/08 03:11 PM)
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Rudi
new member
Joined: 25/09/02
Posts: 14
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The thing is that even when ALL drivers are disabled (except the essential ones like HD,
mouse, and keyboard) the DPC latency remains much higher than on a similar XP system. This
would seem to point to the Vista code prioritising things differently from XP. For
instance my 6 year old 2GHz 1GB RAM XP machine can run at a much lower audio latency than
my one year old dual core 2GHz, 2GB RAM, machine.
Rudi
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Craigster
Joined: 26/01/08
Posts: 5
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Wow. Most of you have NO IDEA of problems!
I've been fighting this for hours
every day for a week now. I am in the midst of recording sessions on my custom built audio
PC and have been having nightmares.
My normal latency runs 6-20 microseconds.
However, the spikes start within 5 seconds of loading DPClat. Typical spikes are
40-60,000 microseconds and they've gone as high as 200,000!
I have stuttering,
sputtering, and sometimes even speeding up in Windows Media Player, i-Tunes, QuickTime,
and Magix Media player. My RME fireface 800 routinely shows errors. A typical latency
spike will result in multiple errors on the RME Control Panel, and sometimes coincides
with Lost Asio Buffers as I'm recording in Samplitude. There is not a direct
correspondence between the 3 categories of errors, but some noticeable overlap.
Very wierd: Each day (last 6), my machine is horrible early in the day. It will have
huge latency spikes every 10-30 seconds, coupled with sputtering audio, and increasing
BLOD crashes. Then after an hour or two of tweaking and reboots, it kind of fixes itself
and I'm able to get a recording session done, relatively problem free. So, I think I've
made progress. Only to find I start out the next day in the same predicament. This morning
my fireface wouldn't load (red light, no connection) until 3 reboots, and then needed a
reinstall of drivers and firmware. Then all worked like a champ. (It's kind of like having
the flu: You puke and then feel better. You make yourself believe you've improved, until
the symptoms return and the cycle restarts).
Can anybody think of why my
machine would seem to improve after getting "warmed up"? Is there a clue here
somewhere?
I have followed the DPC latency checker instructions and
systematically disabled everything possible in Device Manager. Also, disabled virtually
everything in my BIOS and physically removed everything in my case (swapping out
components with components from other machines. All that's left untouched is my q6600
quad processor, my ABIT IP35 pro mobo, and my system hard drive, connected on the IDE
master port.
I have tried dozens of tweaks and suggestions by many audio gurus
who are valiantly stabbing at normal helps.
If anybody has an actual solution
that would be great!
System: (no wi-fi)
Abit IP35 pro (BIOS 14), Q6600
Intel core 2 quad, 2 GB Ballistix 6400 RAM, 2 IDE HD, RME Fireface 800, SATA and IDE
DVD-Rs. XP pro. SP2.
Craig Allen
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directresolution.com
Joined: 13/09/06
Posts: 564
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Have you checked temps of motherboard and CPU?
Have you tried different BIOS rev,
not just latest but previous versions?
Have you tried disabling firewire and
using you onBoard soundcard? (not as a solution but to identify firewire issues)
Sounds a nightmare! hope you can get it solved
--------------------
www.directresolution.com
home of the DARC audio computer
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cc.
getting into my stride
Joined: 11/03/03
Posts: 945
Loc: lisbon at the moment
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Quote Craigster:
... My RME
fireface 800 routinely shows errors....
A while back I suddenly started having problems with my fireface
that sound pretty similar to yours - ie completely weird! My problem turned out to be
something broken in the firewire port on the computer end, when I changed to another
firewire port all the problems went away.
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Martin Walker
Watcher Of The Skies
Joined: 28/02/01
Posts: 11258
Loc: Cornwall, UK
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Quote thenoizzbox:
So, beyond the
fact that Vista does have higher average DCP latency and runs slower than XP on the same
hardware, the audio problems people are experiencing are IMO much more logically caused by
hardware or driver issues than Vista itself don't you think?
This is a very likely scenario, and one that
should therefore improve as better drivers are developed. I've certainly received some
very good DPC Latency Checker figures for PCs running Vista, so I agree that problems are
probably not due to Vista itself.
As always, we musicians are relatively rare
in wanting continuous CPU overheads with no interruption - most people will never notice a
short break in foreground activity lasting even a few milliseconds, while we'll notice a
dropout lasting a single sample in length (depending on the sample rate this may only be a
few microseconds).
Martin
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YewTreeMagic
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Martin Walker
Watcher Of The Skies
Joined: 28/02/01
Posts: 11258
Loc: Cornwall, UK
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Quote Craigster:
My normal
latency runs 6-20 microseconds.
However, the spikes start within 5 seconds of
loading DPClat. Typical spikes are 40-60,000 microseconds and they've gone as high as
200,000!
...I have followed the DPC latency checker instructions and
systematically disabled everything possible in Device Manager. Also, disabled virtually
everything in my BIOS and physically removed everything in my case (swapping out
components with components from other machines. All that's left untouched is my q6600
quad processor, my ABIT IP35 pro mobo, and my system hard drive, connected on the IDE
master port.
System: (no wi-fi)
Abit IP35 pro (BIOS 14), Q6600 Intel
core 2 quad, 2 GB Ballistix 6400 RAM, 2 IDE HD, RME Fireface 800, SATA and IDE DVD-Rs. XP
pro. SP2.
Craig Allen
Sorry to hear of your problems Craig (welcome to the SOS Forums by the way!).
200,000 microseconds is a huge interruption (1/5 second) and indicates a major
problem somewhere in your hardware/drivers. I agree with directresolution that only some
fundamental problem is likely to result in such extreme interruptions. Overheating might
be one cause, and substituting another audio interface will help you narrow down possible
causes and eliminate Firewire problems such as those experienced by cc.
I do
however seem to remember some people have problems with connecting hard drives to IDE
connectors on the latest motherboards, as they are only really there to support optical
drives. I can't remember all the details (anyone?), but it might be worth connecting up a
SATA drive, imaging your current Windows partition to that, and then booting from it.
Martin
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YewTreeMagic
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aspenleaf
Joined: 05/04/08
Posts: 4
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Quote Craigster:
Can
anybody think of why my machine would seem to improve after getting "warmed up"? Is there
a clue here somewhere?
Craig Allen
I had a similar problem with an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard.
I couldn't figure out which of the components it was, and after about a year of putting up
with it, I RMA'd the motherboard to Asus. They said it was so bad that it was beyond
repair, and they sent me a new A8N-SLI Premium in it's place. I don't know if the
motherboard is your problem, but the symptoms sound familiar.
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Craigster
Joined: 26/01/08
Posts: 5
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Quote directresolution.com:
Have
you checked temps of motherboard and CPU?
Have you tried different BIOS rev, not
just latest but previous versions?
Have you tried disabling firewire and using
you onBoard soundcard?
Thanks for the ideas:
I originally was using BIOS 10. I updated to BIOS 14. There
is still one more current (16), but some reported false temp readings. I might as well
still try it. However, I'm not hearing a problem re: this issue on the Abit boards. Seems
to be unique to my system.
Yes, I have both disabled and disconnected my
firewire card. I've also tried the onboard firewire. I get the latency problems whether or
not firewire is part of the system. I've only confirmed audio problems with the firewire
engaged.
I'll try the onboard audio and see if the problems persist.
Thanks, Craig
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Craigster
Joined: 26/01/08
Posts: 5
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Quote Martin Walker:
Overheating
might be one cause, ...
I do however seem to remember some people have problems
with connecting hard drives to IDE connectors on the latest motherboards, as they are only
really there to support optical drives. I can't remember all the details (anyone?), but it
might be worth connecting up a SATA drive, imaging your current Windows partition to that,
and then booting from it.
Martin
Martin --
Thanks for a great forum and important
thread!
Interesting -- I've never heard about IDE connectors only to support optical
drives. This might explain why Abit/Windows see them as "SCSI", and don't show DMA details
in Device Manager. If you or anyone can hunt down any kind of confirmation on this, that
could be helpful.
My CPU is currently around 32 degrees at bootup and hovering
between 42-44 after extended usage. I'm assuming this is well within spec.
Thanks guys. Craig
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Craigster
Joined: 26/01/08
Posts: 5
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Quote Craigster:
Quote Martin Walker:
I do
however seem to remember some people have problems with connecting hard drives to IDE
connectors on the latest motherboards
Martin
Martine: God bless you! 
That was it!
I have likely tried every DAW optimization
commonly known and recommended. With no solution for the DPC latency spikes. (Still a
312,000 one this morning)
This evening, I put a SATA-IDE adapter on my primary
IDE OS drive and hooked it up via SATA. Made the change in the BIOS to make it the primary
boot drive, and voila: a working machine!
I tested DPAlat: humming along at 5-6
microseconds. 30-120 with programs running. No spikes!!!
I tested Windows Media
Player, iTunes, and Samplitude: No audio glitches, no stuttering, no Fireface errors, no
lost Asio buffers -- just clean music!
I'm a happy man.
Thanks
again, Martin and SOS forums!
Craig
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Mark F
member
Joined: 03/07/04
Posts: 87
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First of all sorry , I posted this in the wrong place, anyway;
I have just run
Thesycon's DPC Latency Checker and as I suspected my Belkin N1 wireless adapter is causing
huge latency problems every few seconds (the red bars are off the chart, in excess of
16000 micro secs). I have updated the driver to the latest version but the problem
persists so I'm back to disabling the adapter when I want to do some music stuff. This is
a pain because EZ Drummer insists on an internet connection to authorise it's self every
time I load it and also streaming audio/video is made to stutter when the adapter trips
it's self up, somewhat defeating the object of having a fast adapter in the first place.
Does anyone have any advice (apart from sacking the adapter)?
BTW, my system
is XP, SP2, Line6 Toneport.
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Mark F
member
Joined: 03/07/04
Posts: 87
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OK Guys, I think I have fixed it.
If it's of any help to any one, I allowed
Windows to pick the driver for the network adapter and it promptley picked an older
version (go figure).
This was fine except it caused the Belkin wirless utility
to fail to connect so I had to hand control back to the Windows wireless utillity.
I have not tested streaming audio but I am now reading a maximum latency of 1000
micro secs and an average of about 100 micro secs with an active wireless connection so
it looks promising.
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Simeon
Joined: 06/04/08
Posts: 108
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I dont know if this helps u guys but i have a maudio delta 1010 and im pc is xp sp2 4gb
ram,asus p5vd2-mx intel pentium d 2x2.8ghz 12-20 microseconds on dpc latency checker .i
record with my dma buffer size to 512 so i have low latency but low cpu performance? when
im mixing and im using juicy vsts i put the dma buffer size to 2048 that drops my cpu
usuage down 25-30% and stops all drop outs etc it doesnt have any problems till about 90%
cpu usuage from then on. But seeing as it looks like my sound card is limiting my cpu
usuage maybe if my soundcard lags my cpu will with audio. So maybe even if u have the best
spec computer whats the point if ur sound card cant perform to match you pc spec and
vice-versa this was after changing my cpu heatsink and putting heatsinks on my ram seemed
to make my pc run smoothly before the m audio 1010 i had a emu 0404 which i ended putting
a heatsink on.
i hope this helps
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Martin Walker
Watcher Of The Skies
Joined: 28/02/01
Posts: 11258
Loc: Cornwall, UK
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Quote Craigster:
Quote Martin Walker:
I
do however seem to remember some people have problems with connecting hard drives to IDE
connectors on the latest motherboards
Martin
Martine: God bless you!
That was it!
I have likely tried every DAW optimization
commonly known and recommended. With no solution for the DPC latency spikes. (Still a
312,000 one this morning)
This evening, I put a SATA-IDE adapter on my
primary IDE OS drive and hooked it up via SATA. Made the change in the BIOS to make it the
primary boot drive, and voila: a working machine!
I tested DPAlat: humming along at
5-6 microseconds. 30-120 with programs running. No spikes!!!
I tested Windows Media
Player, iTunes, and Samplitude: No audio glitches, no stuttering, no Fireface errors, no
lost Asio buffers -- just clean music!
I'm a happy man.
Thanks
again, Martin and SOS forums!
Craig
Great news
- I'm glad you're sorted and that I could help. In your excitement you did manage to give
me a sex change operation, but I can cope with it. Now where's that lingerie catalogue 
Martine 
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YewTreeMagic
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willshak
Joined: 26/03/08
Posts: 5
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So what is a good  choice DPC and DAW wise for a new ATX motherboard supporting a Q9450 Core
2 Duo processor? All the new ones mentioned seems to have problems, at least with current
BIOS versions; which one to pick that has no significant known issues???
Thanks/Kristian
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Martin Walker
Watcher Of The Skies
Joined: 28/02/01
Posts: 11258
Loc: Cornwall, UK
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Welcome to the SOS Forums Kristian!
Well Intel's DP35DP often seems to be
recommended around here, and is specifically discussed in relation to the Q9450 in this
recent thread:
www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=587052
Martin
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YewTreeMagic
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Tímo
Joined: 25/09/02
Posts: 1805
Loc: Kaoss Central, England
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• Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 mobo (revision 2.1, BIOS version F12)
• Intel Q9450 2.66GHz
quad
• 2 x 1024MB Corsair DDR2 PC6400 CAS4
• MSI 512MB NX8800GT graphics
• 2x500GB SATA-II WD Caviar RE2
• Windows XP + SP2
Average screenshot of system idling,
oscillating between 5 microseconds and anything up to 1500 microseconds, so not chuffed.
Those same figures are there right after a clean Windows XP install (absolutely nothing
else installed), and remain like that at any time onwards (after all
chipset/graphics/LAN/audio etc drivers are installed, and after any of the usual XP tweaks
are carried out). The latencies appear to be very regular, ramping downwards in a
step-like pattern every other value.
Oddly, if I start the DPC monitor ASAP
after the Windows desktop has booted up, the latencies are nice and low for a good few
seconds before the spikage starts (as shown in the following screengrab), which may be
important (before a certain Service is loaded/executed at startup)?
However, I've already disabled every
non-critical Service, and disabled every non-critical device from Device Manager
(including the usual ethernet/LAN, DVD-RW, onboard audio etc.) to no avail. Have even gone
as far as completely disabling USB and firewire, and using a PS/2 mouse and keyboard. Also
disabled System.ini and Win.ini from Windows startup.
The only things I can
think left to try are switching to other SATA ports (Gigabyte have two of their own on
there, along with the others), possibly testing out different fan management settings in
the BIOS, trying out other BIOS revisions, testing and switching out the DIMMs, physically
removing the DVD and floppy drive connections to remove them from the equation, and ditto
with the the graphics card. Haven't tried installing Vista-64 yet, but might do just for a
laugh, seeing as I have it sitting next to me. Otherwise it doesn't look too good.
Anything else I could perhaps try, in the BIOS or the like? Already contacted
Gigabyte (waiting for a response), and the motherboard is still currently within its RMA
period too.
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 » http://Infekted.org « Access Virus news & community
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cc.
getting into my stride
Joined: 11/03/03
Posts: 945
Loc: lisbon at the moment
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Timo, yes there's a lot of talk about these boards right now! Seems the old versions
with old bios were ok, but not anymore, eg here:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1351472&mpage=2
And this
thread mentions a beta version of the bios that might fix it:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/247210-12-audio-latency-problem-ds3r
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Tímo
Joined: 25/09/02
Posts: 1805
Loc: Kaoss Central, England
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Quote cc.:
Timo, yes
there's a lot of talk about these boards right now! Seems the old versions with old bios
were ok, but not anymore, eg here:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1351472&mpage=2
And this thread mentions a beta version of the bios that might fix it:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/247210-12-audio-latency-problem-ds3r
Cheers for that, CC!
Greatly appreciated.
Seems it's also the same problem as HL (Hugo) was
experiencing.
Will see what Gigabyte say. Otherwise the mobo is going back.
Shame really as the connectivity and enthusiast clocking features are ace.
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» http://Infekted.org « Access Virus news & community
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Martin Walker
Watcher Of The Skies
Joined: 28/02/01
Posts: 11258
Loc: Cornwall, UK
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That does indeed look like the same problem that HL encountered with BIOS versions higher
than F4.
On that Toms Hardware forum thread estauber managed to run his RME
HDSP9652 right down to 0.7mS latency after degrading the BIOS to F4.
However,
another user named maddog2k continued to have spike problems even with an older EP35-DS3R
BIOS, until he unplugged his external eSATA backup drive, which cured his audio
glitching!
Given the number of threads that are now complaining of various
Gigabyte motherboard audio issues traced to BIOS revisions one would hope that the company
take them more seriously and sort the problems once and for all.
Martin
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YewTreeMagic
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AntiLuddites
Joined: 02/09/04
Posts: 1661
Loc: Airstrip One (Oceana)
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I have a Gigabyte P35C-DS3R revision 1. on bios version F2.
It is excellent.
The DPC latency is great at 20-30 microseconds.
I was this > < close, I tell
you, this > < close to updating the bios last week.
The F6 bios is the one that
supports 45nm CPUs.
Given that I bought the board for it's upgradability, I have
lobbied Gigabyte to sort this.
--------------------
With a boom-a-lacka, zoom-a-lacka, wee.
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Tímo
Joined: 25/09/02
Posts: 1805
Loc: Kaoss Central, England
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Quote AntiLuddites:
I have a
Gigabyte P35C-DS3R revision 1. on bios version F2.
It is excellent.
The DPC latency is great at 20-30 microseconds.
I was this > < close, I
tell you, this > < close to updating the bios last week.
The F6 bios is the
one that supports 45nm CPUs.
Given that I bought the board for it's upgradability, I
have lobbied Gigabyte to sort this.
The GA-P35C-DS3R is one of the affected boards, so if you stick to F5 or below
you should be alright, but the more people to lobby Gigabyte the better.
It
appears like it affects all of Gigabyte's "GA" range, as I've seen users specifically
highlighting the problem with the following motherboards P35-DS4, P35C-DS3x (x =
wildcard), P35-DS3x (x = wildcard), P35-S3G, P35-DQ6, G33-xxx (x = wildcard), X38-DQ6 and
X48-DQ6, all with "GA" preceding them, of that I've noted down on my travels over the
internet in the last few days. All show the same trademark 'off-beat staircase' patterned
DPC latency spikes. The problem is not with the Intel P35 chipsets, as other manufacturer
boards using that chipset work great, as we know. It's local only to Gigabyte's particular
latter implementations of their BIOS.
Really hope that Gigabyte patch the
problem before my RMA goes through, as I'd love to keep the board. It has excellent
connectivity (12 x USB, 3 x onboard native Texas Instruments firewire, 8 x SATA channels,
3 x eSATA on PCI breakout, 3 x PCI-Express x1 slots, 2 x PCI slots, S/PDIF In and Out) and
has great enthusiast clocking features. It's fast as hell with the Q9450 in it. My
secondary choices were the Asus P5K and Abit IP-35 Pro which don't have as many PCI-E
slots, USB ports, nor native TI firewire (if at all), but I guess their simplicity perhaps
works in their favour in the stability stakes.
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» http://Infekted.org « Access Virus news & community
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Tímo
Joined: 25/09/02
Posts: 1805
Loc: Kaoss Central, England
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Update! Gigabyte personally issued me a fix, BIOS version F13b. I understand the "b" is
beta, and not an official version.
Their words:
"Attached
special bios is modified to support Q9450 and also keeping bios codes from F5 bios to
avoid DPC issue."
So it's similar to what they've given others.
Whatever, it's fixed the problem completely.
XP 32-bit BIOS version
F12:
XP 32-bit BIOS version F13b:
Anything from 4 microseconds to 22 at idle. I get an occasion
lone spike at 129 microseconds every 15 seconds or so. But the average toggles between 6
and 12 microseconds.
I used a hard-wired PS/2 mouse for the above
screengrab. My Microsoft wireless optical mouse was taking the latencies anything up to 42
microseconds whenever I moved it, but switching to a hardwired PS/2 mouse cut the
latencies by half.
I've just emailed Gigabyte back to see if the new F13beta
BIOS version is a universal update for all Intel Q9xxx and Q6xxx CPU users, but I suspect
it's just version F5 with Q9xxx support.
But for now I've zipped and uploaded
it for any other P35-DS4 users with specifically the Q9450.
http://www.gobo.dsl.pipex.com/data/Gigabyte_GA-P35-DS4_BIOS_Version_F13b.z
ip
To use: extract to a floppy, reboot, and then flash the BIOS during
the usual initial POST sequence (I had to hold down "End" to access the BIOS flash
menu).
Just about to test Vista-64.
This is what I was getting
using BIOS F12 in Vista64 after a clean install (with chipset and graphics drivers only. I
haven't updated Vista-64 via Microsoft Update yet, because Vista wont "see" my ruddy USB
Modem even though the modem has genuine 64-bit drivers! Gah!):
... A mirror image of what was seen in XP-32.
Opening a few windows sent it wappy, though:
Will test with the new BIOS...
--------------------
» http://Infekted.org « Access Virus news & community
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Tímo
Joined: 25/09/02
Posts: 1805
Loc: Kaoss Central, England
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Vista64 with Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 BIOS version F13b:
When it's all settled
down (there's absolutely loads of spikes when the OS has first loaded up), and without
optimising anything other than disabling ethernet, I get average of 59 microseconds. It
oscillates tightly between 57 and 60 microseconds, apart from random spikes (anything up
to 5000 microseconds):
Disabling Aero barely affected the values. However I went the
whole hog and disabled ALL fancy frills, setting processor scheduling to Background
services, etc., but then...
.. Disabling my Samsung SH-S203P DVD-RW drive
(via Device Manager) took the average down to 29 microseconds:
This doesn't bother me as I only use the DVD drive for
installations and making hard backups, so I can simply re-enable it when needed.
Still get spikes when changing windows and stuff, though:
... these can be anything up to 5000 microseconds, as
mentioned, and can last a second or two.
But still pretty surprised Vista got
down that far, on the whole. I haven't even updated it yet, or installed SP1, etc.
All my tests/screegrabs were when the systems (XP-32 and Vista-64) were IDLE. I
don't have any projects to test it as yet, as up until now I've generally been more
hardware based, with a little bit of software. I can now work to integrating all my
hardware with my computer, and get my hands more dirty with the software side of things.
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» http://Infekted.org « Access Virus news & community
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Tímo
Joined: 25/09/02
Posts: 1805
Loc: Kaoss Central, England
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PS > Just disabled the Samsung DVD drive on my XP-32 boot drive, too, and the average DPC
latency now hovers around 5 microseconds when idle, with peaks up to 17 microseconds only
when moving the hardwired PS/2 mouse. - Moving this mouse always increases the latency by
10 microseconds during movement. Is this still odd? Using a wireless mouse creates much
more though, as shown earlier.
Either way, it's still a nice latency overall.  Really happy.
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» http://Infekted.org « Access Virus news & community
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Bimdimbo
Joined: 05/05/05
Posts: 29
Loc: East London
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Interesting stuff Timo, I have the exact same motherboard (Rev 2.0) as you. I'm wondering
if that beta bios would work on my system, I have an E4400 chip. Might give it a whirl
anyway, what could possibly go wrong
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Tímo
Joined: 25/09/02
Posts: 1805
Loc: Kaoss Central, England
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I'm guessing that the patch they gave me may have been the older BIOS version F5 but just
with Q9xxx support, rather than a logical linear extension from the former F12 version.
I'm unsure about that, and that is something I'm chasing up. So you may or may not just as
well try using version F5 beforehand until I hear more.
However, the P35-DS4
has dual bios chips! One's flash-able, and the other is read-only (for backup purposes).
So if something rather nasty happens during or after an update to the main bios, the other
bios chip re-flashes the main bios to restore it. Which gives a bit of wiggle room.
Funky!
P35-DS4 motherboard revisions 2.0 and 2.1 use the same BIOS versions,
so what works on one also works on the other. I checked this by downloading BIOS version
F12 for both revision 2.0 and 2.1 mobos and then running a byte-by-byte duplicate file
check on the two, and they were identical. So I would hazard a guess that the different
motherboard revisions are more likely to refer to slight physical alterations to the
hardware aspect of the motherboards, like a slightly different heatsink, or different
manufacturer of an element attached to the mobo, or similar, rather than changes to the
computation side of things.
--------------------
» http://Infekted.org « Access Virus news & community
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Bimdimbo
Joined: 05/05/05
Posts: 29
Loc: East London
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Your right, the only difference between 2.0 and 2.1 is purely a physical one. 2.1 boards
(and this applies to all new Gigabyte mobos), have the Dynamic Energy Saver system
installed, which has no bearing on bios revisions at all, it's purely a power saving
device.
Seeing as I've got an E4400 as my CPU, and this was supported pre and
post the F5 bios I think I'm safe to try the beta with little fear. I'll hold off until
I've got screenshots for a before and after post. Almost impressed with gigabyte for
sorting you out, theyve let me down a few times before so it's encouraging.
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Bimdimbo
Joined: 05/05/05
Posts: 29
Loc: East London
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Havent really got time to post pictures, but I can confirm that on my DS4 where I was
previously getting regular spikes of upto 600, the new f13b has reduced this to no spiking
and a peak value of no more than 23. Good work Timo!
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willshak
Joined: 26/03/08
Posts: 5
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Quote:
I'm getting a steady
1000us with occasional spikes to 35000us, that's pretty abysmal, considering that
everything (all USB, network, serial, parallel, audio, DVD…) is disabled, only hard disk
on SATA and Gfx connected.!
This with Vista SP1 32-bit Premium on ASUS P5LD2,
E6400, Gigabyte 7900GT.
A
loooong weekend later: same hardware reinstalled with XP+SP2 averages 30us! Upgrade again
to Vista brings it back to 1000us, even with almost everything turned off :-(
With both XP & Vista switching gfx resolution gives a 64000us spike, but I can
obviously avoid doing that during DAW use.
So
"Do I feel
lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"
Unless you just shouted YES!, stay away from
Vista for DAW use
Edited by willshak (21/04/08 08:56 PM)
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willshak
Joined: 26/03/08
Posts: 5
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More info for Vista users that like me are seeing a constant 1000us latency:
Using tracelog/tracerpt (part of Windows Driver Kit) shows that the culprit is mainly
the NDIS.SYS driver, with TCPIP.SYS coming in as #2 bad guy.
If these two high
DPC latency drivers could be removed/fixed latencies would still be 50-200us, much better
but still not good compared to XP or those who has Vista working well...
Any
ideas on how to fix esp. NDIS.SYS on Vista?
Cheers/Kristian
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bagginz
member
Joined: 29/07/03
Posts: 22
Loc: Switzerland
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Quote danf:
Back to the Dell XPS
M1330 again...
Seeing as the latency with vista was so poor (disabling every
possible device had no effect, neither did the fan control utility) I installed XP instead
and the improvement was significant.
Hello danf,
what video driver are you using for the Dell XPS
under XP?
I have created a second bootable XP in my DEll XPS 1530install but as
yet cannnot find an XP driver for the video card , which is a Nvidea GeForce Go M8600GT
Any pointers from anyone else would also be appreciated...
Cheers,
bagginz
--------------------
www.myspace.com/cosmosis1
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AntiLuddites
Joined: 02/09/04
Posts: 1661
Loc: Airstrip One (Oceana)
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Gigabyte now have a beta bios for GA-P35C DS3R
It is F11b available from tech
support for those that need it.
Well done Gigabyte.
--------------------
With a boom-a-lacka, zoom-a-lacka, wee.
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John Reid
member
Joined: 11/09/02
Posts: 65
Loc: Ireland
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I just got an F11f BIOS from Gigabyte for the GA-P35C-DS3R and it cures the problem
completely, in that there are absolutely no audio glitches whatsoever, even on my
"general" partition with Ethernet active.
The strange thing is, with this new
BIOS, even though the DPC results are <20uS when there is no activity, there are some very
high spikes (>1.5S) when running Cubase 4 under load, but they are occasional and have NO
detrimental effect on the sound.
As a test, I could go from running 62 GEQ-30's
to 78 !!!
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Tímo
Joined: 25/09/02
Posts: 1805
Loc: Kaoss Central, England
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Good news all around then regards the Giga boards.
Update: I have confirmed
from Gigabyte that BIOS version F13b for the GA-P35-DS4 motherboard is for ALL the latest
775-socket CPU users (not just Q9450), AND includes all the updates from version F6
through to F12!
So for P35-DS4 users:
BIOS F13b inc. floppy support (extract, copy files to floppy, and then
flash during BIOS startup [by pressing the "END" key])
Or you can download
just the BIOS file itself, without the executable:
http://ggts.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/594495/p35ds4.13b
--------------------
» http://Infekted.org « Access Virus news & community
|
_Nuno_
Joined: 20/05/06
Posts: 759
Loc: Cork, Ireland
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Well, people like to speak a lot of bad things abvout Dell, but my experience has been
very different.
I just got a Dell Vostro 200S desktop, for internet use, on
sale for 198.59 euros (ex VAT, inc Shipping).
It has an Intel microATX board
(don't know the model right now), 2 GB of RAM, a E2160 (1MB L2 cache), 80 GB, DVD RW
drive.
I installed a Ralink wireless card, and a M-audio Audiopphile
192.
The results below are with AVG antivirus on (and scanning!), firewal
on, firefox, wireless internet and nothing disabled on the BIOS.
I left it running for half an hour with no
latency spikes at all
For 35 Euros I can get a RAM upgrade to 4 GB so I think I'm
using it as FX-Teleport slave after all.
Ralink seems to have good
drivers that don't cause latency spikes, at least on this particular card.
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Patrice Brousseau
Joined: 14/09/04
Posts: 13
Loc: Montréal, Canada
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Here it goes:
1.Intel Q6600, Asus P5N-E SLI, 2Gb of Kingston Value RAM DDR2
800, Asus 8600GT Silent (Nvidia), WinXP Home SP2, Edirol FA-66
2.Oscillate
between 8 and 20 us and occasional peaks at 120 us, probably related to the video activity
or ethernet activity... This is on my primary office/web boot.
On my DAW only
boot (no Internet, no usb, services at minimum), it's more around 7 to 10 us.
--------------------
Patrice Brousseau
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Bimdimbo
Joined: 05/05/05
Posts: 29
Loc: East London
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Quote Tímo:
Good
news all around then regards the Giga boards.
Update: I have confirmed from
Gigabyte that BIOS version F13b for the GA-P35-DS4 motherboard is for ALL the latest
775-socket CPU users (not just Q9450), AND includes all the updates from version F6
through to F12!
So for P35-DS4 users:
BIOS F13b inc. floppy support (extract, copy files to floppy, and then
flash during BIOS startup [by pressing the "END" key])
Or you can download just
the BIOS file itself, without the executable:
http://ggts.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/594495/p35ds4.13b
I updated using the @bios utility from
within windows. No probs there if anyone was wondering. Maybe only me and Timo have this
board :P
Wonder if giga will release this an official update.
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