redrol
Active member
Modern PCs have either AMD or Intel based processors. These processors have dynamic clock speeds which means they vary the speed of the processor based on workload and temperature. This is called Speed Step on Intel systems and Cool n Quiet on AMD systems.
I'm going to be using Intel processors in this example because they are the fastest and best and you should use one for a DAW anyways.
Ok so how does someone tell if their DAW setup is operating with low latency? Latency is the measurement of the PC's ability to react to realtime events. Things like applying VSTs to a audio track or monitoring inputs are reliant on low latency. Basically the lower your latency, the better and more 'realtime' your DAW will act.
Ok so lets measure your latency. We measure this in something called DPCs.
Ok so that is a bit of technical info about DPCs and latency. Lets check yours right now:
Download this app: http://www.thesycon.de/dpclat/dpclat.exe
Just put that file on your desktop or whatever and run it and you will get a graph like so:
This is my homebuilt Core i7 2600K based system with 16GB RAM and 2x120GB Solid State Hard Drives. Also I was playing music at the time I took the screen shot. This does show my system is capable of responding in under 100 microseconds and in most cases around 60-70us. This is incredibly good. Most systems I have tested this on range from 250-1000 microsecond latency and this is not good enough for a proper DAW system as there will be glitches and dropouts.
So how to make your Intel based system into a DAW monster? Simple, turn off Speed Step in your BIOS.
When the computer first starts you tap either DEL or F2 (depending on manufacture) to get into your BIOS and here is the toggle for 'speed step'.
The reason Speed Step is bad is not so much that it will run your processor at a lower frequency, which it can depending on load. The reason is because its the clock speed switching that incurs a DPC penalty. Shifting the clock speed itself causes the system to momentarly pause while the clock locks in and that causes major latency! TURN IT OFF.
Hope this helps. Getting that latency down below 100 makes a huge difference in overall system performance and of course even more for a DAW system.
I would be interested to know if this helps some people out.
[edit] Speed Step can also be called C4 Sleep (or some variation of the words, Speed Step C4 Sleep)
You can tell if speed step is changing your CPU speed with this program, ideally you want a fixed frequency which does not change:
http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.59-setup-en.exe
More Speed Step info
I'm going to be using Intel processors in this example because they are the fastest and best and you should use one for a DAW anyways.
Ok so how does someone tell if their DAW setup is operating with low latency? Latency is the measurement of the PC's ability to react to realtime events. Things like applying VSTs to a audio track or monitoring inputs are reliant on low latency. Basically the lower your latency, the better and more 'realtime' your DAW will act.
Ok so lets measure your latency. We measure this in something called DPCs.
Ok so that is a bit of technical info about DPCs and latency. Lets check yours right now:
Download this app: http://www.thesycon.de/dpclat/dpclat.exe
Just put that file on your desktop or whatever and run it and you will get a graph like so:
This is my homebuilt Core i7 2600K based system with 16GB RAM and 2x120GB Solid State Hard Drives. Also I was playing music at the time I took the screen shot. This does show my system is capable of responding in under 100 microseconds and in most cases around 60-70us. This is incredibly good. Most systems I have tested this on range from 250-1000 microsecond latency and this is not good enough for a proper DAW system as there will be glitches and dropouts.
So how to make your Intel based system into a DAW monster? Simple, turn off Speed Step in your BIOS.
When the computer first starts you tap either DEL or F2 (depending on manufacture) to get into your BIOS and here is the toggle for 'speed step'.
The reason Speed Step is bad is not so much that it will run your processor at a lower frequency, which it can depending on load. The reason is because its the clock speed switching that incurs a DPC penalty. Shifting the clock speed itself causes the system to momentarly pause while the clock locks in and that causes major latency! TURN IT OFF.
Hope this helps. Getting that latency down below 100 makes a huge difference in overall system performance and of course even more for a DAW system.
I would be interested to know if this helps some people out.
[edit] Speed Step can also be called C4 Sleep (or some variation of the words, Speed Step C4 Sleep)
You can tell if speed step is changing your CPU speed with this program, ideally you want a fixed frequency which does not change:
http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.59-setup-en.exe
