59 replies to this topic 5 votes

[protocol7]

It seems to have had the opposite effect here too. I had HPET enabled in the BIOS already but hadn't set the useplatformclock boot parameter.

Without it, my clock ratio was mostly 1.0000, occasionally flickering to 1.0001. After setting it my clock ratio is mostly 0.9999, occasionally 1.0000.*

Here's the original post from the author of WinTimerTester 1.1. It explains the scenario better. Seems to be related to software overclocking utilities.

Quote

The problem is that for many computers, this function in Windows 7 is now based on the clock speed of the processor. If you overclock in the bios and then boot up, this timer is calibrated and will work 100% correctly. If you use SetFSB or a similar program and you change the bus speed from within Windows, you have now just screwed up this very important timing mechanism. The number of applications that can choke after you do this is surprising, especially games.

* After a few minutes it seems to have settled at 1.0000. I don't have any mouse ghosting.

[hardbag]

Jub Fequois, on 08 May 2012 - 12:21, said:

I had mouse ghosting and other nice things when doing it "your" way. Disabling HPET is the best way for me on a Sandy Bridge-E CPU and an ASUS Sabertooth motherboard.

Funny as I don't have any problems like that. my CPU is i5 3570K in Z77 mobo and Asus HD 7850. I do use CRT monitor.

Perhaps it's something else you need to adjust if you want to have best timer.

[Salty Wagyu]

Is this on TSC+LAPICs?



Plus I'm unsure if the Asus P7P55D Pro has a HPET toggle, will have to check later.

[Detection]

Well RAGE was smooth when it ran, but every few seconds was locking up for a few seconds

BF3 let me play it with CFX for the first time so it seems to have helped there

I`ll test a few more games but it seems to have negatives and positives for different things so far

[Nagisan]

I've read many people with the Intel X58 chipset have issues with HPET, checked my BIOS and it was enabled (in 32-bit mode yet I run a 64-bit system). Disabled it because lately my computer has hard locked twice while browsing the internet (hasn't done it in awhile though). So maybe my X58 chipset + HPET in 32-bit was part of the issue. Either way my system seemed more responsive on boot than usual, won't be able to tell if it helped until I get a chance to use it more or see if it freezes for no reason again.

[neufuse]

Nagisan, on 08 May 2012 - 13:25, said:

I've read many people with the Intel X58 chipset have issues with HPET, checked my BIOS and it was enabled (in 32-bit mode yet I run a 64-bit system). Disabled it because lately my computer has hard locked twice while browsing the internet (hasn't done it in awhile though). So maybe my X58 chipset + HPET in 32-bit was part of the issue. Either way my system seemed more responsive on boot than usual, won't be able to tell if it helped until I get a chance to use it more or see if it freezes for no reason again.

I have X58 chipset boards and never saw an issue with 64bit HPET

[Jub Fequois]

hardbag, on 08 May 2012 - 12:30, said:

Funny as I don't have any problems like that. my CPU is i5 3570K in Z77 mobo and Asus HD 7850. I do use CRT monitor.

I have 5µs latency with HPET disabled and 60µs with it enabled using your method, plus no mouse ghosting or stuttering which I get with it enabled. There is nothing else concerning this that I can 'adjust'. I guess my X79 board just feels better with it disabled or something.

[hardbag]

Salty Wagyu, on 08 May 2012 - 12:46, said:

Is this on TSC+LAPICs?



Plus I'm unsure if the Asus P7P55D Pro has a HPET toggle, will have to check later.

Hard to tell, it's either TSC+LAPICs or LAPICs. Your ratio is excellent so it might indicate that there is no sync - meaning you might have LAPICs. However hardware differs and even if your ratio is that exact in 1.0000 it still might sync TSC+LAPICs well - depending on hardware. Windows obviously uses LAPICs mainly for hypervisor/virtual machine and TSC as general, but it's a bit mystery what Windows 7 uses, a combination is the best assumption. Vista was heavily pushed into using HPET. I would say that you have at least TSC. If you want TSC + HPET enable HPET in bios. And if you want to test HPET only use the bcdedit /set useplatformclock true.

I think that your mobo has HPET in BIOS as HPET isn't actually anything new.

-----------------------------

Good to hear that people are getting good results with HPET (bios & os). However I have provided details about timer settings in the first page and how to revert back from HPET.

[Salty Wagyu]

hardbag, on 08 May 2012 - 17:21, said:

Hard to tell, it's either TSC+LAPICs or LAPICs. Your ratio is excellent so it might indicate that there is no sync - meaning you might have LAPICs. However hardware differs and even if your ratio is that exact in 1.0000 it still might sync TSC+LAPICs well - depending on hardware. I think that your mobo has HPET in BIOS as HPET isn't actually anything new.

Couldn't find anything in the BIOS, think it's hidden. Though I ran bcdedit /set useplatformclock true and I'm getting 14.31818 MHz now. But the ratio took longer to stabilise at 1.000 (took 180 seconds), it was alternating between 0.9997 and 0.9999 a lot.

Not spotted anything bad yet, like ghosting mouse pointer or such. My DPC latency remains unchanged, averages at 60-80us

[Mando]

Im running it on a i7 2600k@4.4Ghz (clocked in BIOS), and Asus P8Z68-V Pro mobo/NV 570GTX and enabling HPET & setting windows to solely use HPET via command prompt has fixed my micro-stuttering id see in BF3.

Result Cheers OP I owe ya a beer

[bjoswald]

Couldn't find any option in the BIOS, but I did perform the HPET only tweak.

Is this good?

[SierraSonic]

went from 3.3 to 14.3. Seems smoother.

[Nagisan]

Tried turning it on in BIOS and the OS, and I do notice the mouse cursor ghosting but it is very minor (drags about 5-10 pixels behind the main mouse and it's very hard to notice unless I'm looking for it) but no real difference in performance (haven't tried any games or anything yet).

That being said, mine takes about 300 ticks to get a ratio of 1 and my DPC latency averages around 100 (fluctuates from 70-120) both with and without HPET enabled (completely disabled has roughly the same DPC latency as completely enabled).....in terms of benchmark testing, I see no real difference on my system with and without HPET, but I guess only time will tell if it holds stable/doesn't lag.

EDIT: The only noticeable change is my QueryPerformanceFrequency went from 3.14 or so (can't remember exact values) to 14.32.

[jnelsoninjax]

What (if any) benefit would I see if I enable this in OS only, the BIOS does not have any option for HPET. Is it possible it might be labeled something else besides HPET?

[hardbag]

Salty Wagyu, on 08 May 2012 - 17:45, said:

Couldn't find anything in the BIOS, think it's hidden. Though I ran bcdedit /set useplatformclock true and I'm getting 14.31818 MHz now. But the ratio took longer to stabilise at 1.000 (took 180 seconds), it was alternating between 0.9997 and 0.9999 a lot.

Not spotted anything bad yet, like ghosting mouse pointer or such. My DPC latency remains unchanged, averages at 60-80us

One can still set the option in Windows if HPET is not found from BIOS. However if one has ACHI then it's a surprise if HPET is missing. One can also check HPET from device manager under system devices if you find "high precision event timer" then your hardware supports it. If you don't have HPET but use bcdedit to use platformclock,, you probably are better than TSC which is reduced timer. Actually Win Vista was heavily pushed towards HPET but they went backwards in Win7 for some reason, one is the green agenda.

Mando, on 08 May 2012 - 18:01, said:

Im running it on a i7 2600k@4.4Ghz (clocked in BIOS), and Asus P8Z68-V Pro mobo/NV 570GTX and enabling HPET & setting windows to solely use HPET via command prompt has fixed my micro-stuttering id see in BF3.

Result Cheers OP I owe ya a beer

Great! Good to hear. The best HPET result is that pushes that little extra by using accurate high frequency timer instead of TSC.

bjoswald, on 08 May 2012 - 18:13, said:

Untitled.jpg

Couldn't find any option in the BIOS, but I did perform the HPET only tweak.

Is this good?

What hardware setup you have? Your setting of use platformclock sure is a lot better than TSC. Did you test any games? TSC is the same or lower than 1 core clock (TSC is locked to frequency that I don't right now remember), so combination and sync might or might not be better depending on hardware. HPET frequency can run a lot higher than TSC.

jnelsoninjax, on 08 May 2012 - 18:35, said:

What (if any) benefit would I see if I enable this in OS only, the BIOS does not have any option for HPET. Is it possible it might be labeled something else besides HPET?

No not really, if you don't find HPET in BIOS then it's locked or completely unavailable. You can also check HPET from device manager under system devices if you find "high precision event timer" then your hardware supports it. If you don't have HPET but use bcdedit to use platformclock it will result to LAPICs which is better than TSC or TSC+LAPICs.

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One can only test and see. And especially test with games.
Also, always keep your drivers and BIOS up to date.
(There might be APIC or LAPIC in bios, check these with platformclock enabled / disabled to find best performance.)