Intel 12th generation - is it at all possible to get a fixed cpu frequency - no throttling?

[lfm]

Been looking through bios settings on Asus Prime Z690-P D4.

There are loads of power options, if OS or Intel manage cpu etc.
Thermal adjustment with voltages and whatnot.

High Performance power setting in windows 11 pro one would think no more throttling, but task manager still regulate between 1.6-2.1 GHz.

My former Dell computer did the same doing High Performance setting, but there was a setting in bios that removed throttling. Then settings in windows for min/max cpu disappeared even.

DPC latency seems fine, <0.2ms, but still have some ticks on usb audio in between. RME Digiface USB, 64 samples. Tested with higher and lower latency even playing Foobar2000 with 1000 samples and still occur.

So theory is that jitter on usb bus may be the cause, if cpu throttling do that, maybe.

Here are my settings

BIOS default then
- C-states off
- Intel Speed Step off
- turbo off
- boot max non turbo
- memory XMP-1 3200 MT/s
- thunderbolt off
- aura off
- hd audio off
- usb power soft state off
- connectivity bluetooth/wifi disabled
- Asus multicore Enabled-remove all limits
- performances cores, sync all cores
- efficient cores, sync all cores
- cpu load line calibration=7
- VRM thermal control disabled(intels own do this instead)
- PCH-FW->TPM descrete

Seems everything is on the verge of working unless adjusting voltages and frequencies all the time for temperatures in the newer cpu's. And of top of that to save energy which I am not interested in.

My CPU on 2.1 GHz is tops 65W, and I have a cooler that do 220W that would fix turbo if so. Highest I saw entering bios was 34 C, and if that become constantly 40+ C, I don't see a problem.

So tried to get as many cores working all the time as possible, and seems to calm down ticks a bit not starting stopping so much of cores.

The sound of ticks is pretty much as statics playing vinyl records for those that remember that. With the settings above spurious pop seems gone.

I have not started doing interrupt affinity policy stuff yet.

Thanks.

[lfm]

Found an interesting registry entry to make all kinds of options available in power plan settings
https://bitsum.com/files/parking_in_power_options.zip

This sets Attributes=2 and voila minimum cores setting shows up in ordinary windows dialogs.
But read description carefully since name on setting makes you think other way around, that setting to zero would disable core parking. It's about
Worked in my windows 11 too, as well as said on a page windows 7 and 10 are ok too.

And looking through the parent node
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00

I found some other settings too like Allow throttling on/off and just set attributes=2 and it shows up in windows power plan settings. Easier than registry.

Otherwise just read descriptions on each part and you will see if beyond what you want to mess with.
But be careful, there are probably things that can ruin your system if going wild. I just want clean audio no matter what, not burn anything.

As settings goes I could change registry and enter power plan and there it was. But setting might be active next boot, not sure.

And some settings in bios might overtake whatever settings there in OS as well.

[maanga]

No windows computer can be set to run at fixed frequency.
As cores are loaded, the frequency drops.
Some charts that I saw on the internet show, stable frequency for up to 2 cores, then another lower level when 3 or 4 cores used and a deep dive when more than 4 or mores used.
Regards.

[lfm]

I looked in Asus AI Suite 3 tool, and there I see all performance cores run at 2094,96 MHz but taskmanager in windows jumps up and own in frequcny. Not sure how that is measured.

So all cores run all the time for me, I can see in Process Lasso as I extended settings for power management. There is no drop in frequency at all doing that, at least. And temps are max 35 C so far, running all day.

But a lot these days is targeting boost and turbo features if that is what makes it go down to base frequency maybe. That is usually for limited time it can turbo. I have all that off anyway.

I also turned off Power Throttling in group policy. Task mananger still show frequency going up and own though. If that is also efficiency cores or something on different speed.

Found some other interesting things to turn off, apart from Defender scans
- FTH, fault tolerant heap, thing that developers use not to get applications while testing into some limbo that windows start to manage memory allocation and things.
- Compatibilty Assistant also turned off boost start of all applications and less interference with all background stuff started and stopped constantly. I had no need for running compatibility mode so far. Starting programs are instant with this off.

If having any crashes or freezes in a program the things above start to interfere doing things worse even, as I had it in Windows 7 even. Had to go through registry and remove stuff to get it working normally again.

So it runs ok now and think I am done. Tested and if any little tick are not entering a recording, just a playback thing it seems. I can get that just playing a piano all alone, no conputer running, so something on mains in between it seems.

I was so suspicious using usb interface so guess every little thing I blamed interface.

[SLiC]

I’m on a 12th Gen i9 and had some issues until I installed process lasso which I highly recommend.

https://bitsum.com/

It’s perfect for pro audio

[lfm]

I have a life time and multi computer license since 3-4 years of Process Lasso.
But never used it for some of what it claims to do. I was troubleshooting audio engine on Cubase at the time, that stopped at some pop in audio in that old daw computer. I ran the stress test and such things to boggle down cpu real hard.
But updated to latest just weeks ago, at no cost then.

Thanks for the tip to maybe use it as designed to regulate what is going on i computer.
It seems well designed and you can pick for it not to be more intrusive than you want.
That impresses a bit on me.

I shall read manual and see what it can do.

As I sit down and practice piano I also record all the time to be able to stop and listen if I hear a tick or stronger pop and if there in recording itself. So far it has not, so if something is on playback it's not there very often and not a real problem as of now. Once or twice every hour, and a tiny tick.

I also got reply from Asus support, they escalated to Taiwan but they had no real advice. But what was a bit strange is that RME Audio was not on their list of qualified vendors.

I could send my interface to them and yada, yada...at own cost.

I'd rather buy a Gigabyte MB and test that. Or get a RayDat which is similar but internal card, but have to solve headphones out which I use mostly, not having to power up hifi amp, a dac also to do the basic recording and mixing. That was the smooth thing about Digiface USB, it had phones inside too.

Will see when using multiple midi interfaces at the same time, which are over usb too, and see if any signs of not handling usb audio properly.

Sonar is using Pro Audio profile in windows, where audio threads have higher priority.

[SLiC]

It worked for me- main thing I use it for is to prioritise my AISO driver so it gets the high priority...
I also use Bitsum highest performance setting.

[lfm]

Thanks.

It seems this is not only thread priority thing. Will get back when I know more.

[uOpt]

There is ThrottleStop by the people over at the techpowerup forum. It sound like what you want. I didn't try it myself:

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/te ... ottlestop/

[lfm]

Thanks for the tip.

[Pictus]

- cpu load line calibration=7

Asus with CPU load line calibration 7 is too aggressive and creates overshoots, better leave at default.
https://elmorlabs.com/2019-09-05/vrm-lo ... isualized/



Some BIOS settings I like:

SB Clock Spread Spectrum [Disabled]
ASUS Performance Enhancement [Disabled]
Performance Bias [None]
VDDCR CPU Switching Frequency [350] (If the default is higher, keep the default)
VDDCR CPU Power Phase Control [Extreme]
VDDCR SOC Switching Frequency [350] (If the default is higher, keep the default)
VDDCR SOC Power Phase Control [Extreme]
ErP Ready [Enable(S5)]
Energy Star Ready [Disabled]
Download & Install ARMOURY CRATE app [Disabled]
ECO Mode [Disable]
Power Supply Idle Control [Typical Current Idle]



Good Windows tweaks for lower DPC latency and better USB:

Disable Windows Hibernate
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/285 ... -10-a.html

Disable Core Isolation and Memory Integrity
https://www.thewindowsclub.com/core-iso ... windows-10

Do the "Processor idle demote/promote threshold" tweak
use the Windows power plan settings explorer utility
and unselect "Processor idle demote/promote threshold"


New options will appear and set the Threshold to 100%.
Also disable the USB selective suspend setting and PCI Express.


Use the Realtek LAN driver from Realtek site
https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zo ... s-software

[lfm]

Many thanks, Pictus, will try it all.

Tried the "spectrum" thing and search in bios for before, but did not find that.
They rename stuff it seems.

I stumbled on something when computer was just assembled and up that were some multiplier range or similar, but did not take notes and have not found it again. But you could not turn off completely.

Don't know if this is FCC rules for US that enforce this.

[2DaT]

Don't know if this is FCC rules for US that enforce this.

There is no reason to disable spread specturm. If anything, this will reduce the EMI from your computer.

Most of the time you shouldn't mess with the stuff too much. For example, windows in "high performance" mode will keep the cores from going into sleep even with c-states enabled. Disabling turbo will actually hurt your performance. Setting interrupt priorities is just asking for trouble.

I didn't have to do any of this, apart from setting windows and NVIDIA driver to "high performance" mode. And NVIDIA already acknowledged the problem that causes audio glitches.

[lfm]

Don't know if this is FCC rules for US that enforce this.

There is no reason to disable spread specturm. If anything, this will reduce the EMI from your computer.

Most of the time you shouldn't mess with the stuff too much.

And who cares about EMI?
- we are surrounded by mobile phones and masts
- we surrounded by wifi routers looking for clients

I live far out on the countryside and am a bit disturbed by how many that show up in the list of routers to connect to. I cannot fathom how it is in big cities.

I don't mess with computer, computer mess with me.
- so I tweak it until it does what I want it to do
- well!

Default settings in bios and such are for gamers mostly. That is a major market for MB makers.

We that meddle with sissy stuff like audio have to turn some knobs down a bit.

Default settings in windows is for general public that use pc online all the time and loads of security stuff that slow things down. No reason to hang on to that.

It's clearly noticable turning compatibilty assistant off and everything starts at an instant. This goes for background jobs that start all the time too, that no database to look through first if compatibility options are to be applied etc. Some have programs that need this, but I don't.

My new daw computer has been good enough for a month or so and I can stand anomalies and live with that now. But still looking for perfection. Also a bit fun to learn new things about current computer generation.

Here are my bios settings as a link, to long to post inline
http://cloudmanfilms.ownit.nu/mybios1_setting.txt

This was before changing some Pictus stuff.
- changed cpu load line to 3 which is default from 7
- VRM switching frequency to manual and then 350
- cpu phase control to Extreme
- pci express native power management Disabled(os do no ASPM)
- disabled Armory Crate install

Did not find anything else to name given.

PowerUtility
- processor idle threshold visible and set to 100%

Here are a screen dump how audio can look recorded from outs
http://cloudmanfilms.ownit.nu/digitest-1949tick.jpg

Bright track is analog, and dark track below digital recorded from adat. You see absolute smashed audio, both channels.

So you see audio is suddenly zero level for 16 samples or so.
- reported to RME and will see if in interface
- I see nothing on LatencyMonitor at this time

And I have other smaller ticks that are in one ear only, so not on analog side, I think.
http://cloudmanfilms.ownit.nu/digiface96-righttick.jpg

Had to set dictaphone to 24/96k so nothing is truncated to capture this little tick on one ear.

So far I have not gotten ticks in recorded audio. I have heard ticks while recording, but seems on playback side only. If it were on recorded stuff I could not live with it at all.

[2DaT]

Did you try a different interface or integrated audio? Could be the bad drivers of your interface or a defective hardware.