DPC latency better with AMD graphic cards (3 card comparison)

[Lesha]

I have replaced my graphic card recently, had an nVidia GTX 750 Ti and got a second hand AMD RX 460. It was slightly defective so I got a new RX 560D shortly afterwards.

These test runs confirm what I have read previously from various sources that nVidia's driver is problematic for audio production. I am thrilled with the current card's performance and now I can run more plugins without clicks or crackles at lower latencies than before so I thought I could share my findings with you.

Here are the results:

1: nVidia GTX 750 Ti





2. AMD RX 460





3. AMD RX 560D

[benjamind]

Good thing is that the AMD cards are reasonably cheap...

[dusted william]

Thanks!

[Elektroid]

Very interesting, thanks for the info.

I'm planning a new build at the moment, with a Ryzen 2700X and was looking at the RX560's for the GPU.

Which Brand / Model of RX560 is it or doesn't it matter? will any RX560 or RX550 etc with current drivers be good?

[Lesha]

Which Brand / Model of RX560 is it or doesn't it matter? will any RX560 or RX550 etc with current drivers be good?

I am using a Sapphire Pulse 560 (SKU 11267-19) with fewer stream processors and compute units than the regular one. Using a Crimson Edition WHQL driver as I am still on Win 8.1, there are newer Adrenaline driver versions for people using Win10.
Mine is pretty quiet and comes with a 6-pin power connector which previous RX 460 didn't have. The driver is being delivered by AMD so I think you can't go wrong with any brand. XFX, Powercolor and Sapphire are AMD only and I've read good things about all of them. I guess others are fine, too.

[Kaine]

You should be running DPC latency for around 10 - 15 mins for a more accurate representation in my experience, as some background processes, won't trigger within a 3 min period.

Regarding "problematic". Anything under 700µs is fine and certainly won't be problematic, it won't start to glitch until you hit 1000µs, but it's of course always nice to have some overhead.

Nvidia - did you remove the "experience" component? normally brings it down.

[Lesha]

Nvidia - did you remove the "experience" component? normally brings it down.

I did, telemetry also, everything but the driver removed.

[Lesha]

Here is a 20 minute run, DPC is at 60 µs.

[Kaine]

I did, telemetry also, everything but the driver removed.

Cool, yeah, certainly also worth doing.

[lfm]

If you don't have interference from DPC with the ASIO buffers you run - it really does not matter.

I always ran Nvidia cards, not almost 15 years on computers - and never had that problem. Rather about poor written drivers for certain technologies like firewire I've had issues with evalutating that 2010, but skipped firewire due to using so much cpu just keeping audio up.

I've ran 64 samples now for 8 years - with RME internal cards.

[Ben H]

So you only tested ONE nvdia card?

That's a pretty flawed test then.

[Lesha]

So you only tested ONE nvdia card?

That's a pretty flawed test then.

It has been known for years -> nVidia DPC latency

[Kaine]

It's a pretty average score for the current Nvidia driver set to be honest. Some score higher (the 1030's can be awkward), some score lower (a couple of the 1070ti's I've seen pull better scores than those ATI's in some rigs) but in general ATI has been lower as long as I can remember, but then a lot of media creators have use for CUDA handling which why the Nvidia cards tend to stick about, at least for me.

With DPC it's either a pass or a fail, a score of 350 is no worse in day to day use than a score of 60, with the only cavete that it would obviously be nice to have the extra headroom in the event that something else gets installed with a DPC of 700... although, ideally you wouldn't be doing that either.

The other selling point for Nvidia currently is the larger range of passives and they tend to run cooler and have more advanced hybrid cooling as Nvidia has been pushing it as a feature at the firmware level for years, where ATI only seem to have recently started paying attention to it... I'm not even sure if it's in the default firmware yet or still needs to be handled by the individual card implementation at this point?

[Lesha]

nVidia's GeForce Partner Program was the last straw for me, I just couldn't allow myself to continue supporting a corporation which is using such disturbing practices.

Anyway, AMD always had better drivers for us audio guys so this is my small contribution by letting people know about it so they could make an informed decision.

[Pictus]

UPDATE, all the updated tweaks in
viewtopic.php?p=7624448#p7624448


Thank you for the report!

Debloated NVIDIA Geforce Graphics Driver Repack
https://github.com/alanfox2000/repack_N ... hicsDriver

For anyone interested, for Nvidia better to install only the driver
https://www.ghacks.net/2017/06/30/insta ... ics-cards/


Disable Nvidia Telemetry!
Can download the program HERE!!


Nvidia users may also want to set the GPU to MSI(Message Signaled-Based Interrupts) mode
https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/windo ... ts.378044/
Can use MSI utility v2(run as administrator)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2kkkvko7e ... til_v2.zip


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For AMD GPU better do a custom GPU driver installation and install only the GPU driver and the HDMI Audio and nothing else.



After reboot go to "Device Manager" and disable the "AMD High Definition Audio Device".


To further tweak get Autoruns for Windows - Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Docs
go to the TAB "Scheduled Tasks" and Delete "AMD Updater" and "AMDInstallUEP".


Go to TAB "Services" and Delete "AMD External Events Utility"
(If you are using FreeSync, do not delete/disable)
In the latest drivers is best not to delete even without FreeSync...



If ever want to update the GPU driver, use DDU and allow it to boot into safe mode to remove the installed driver.

Some AMD models are easier to clean like the Sapphire(570 or +) models with Quick Connect


Even more the XFX models with hard swap fans