XXHighEnd

All,

The HPET (High Precision Event Timer) can be available in the BIOS for shutting On and Off. The default, I think, will always be On.
It has come forward in a number of posts in here, but never received explicit attention as an elementary SQ influencing phenomenon. But I think it can be important (and I was guided to it by the same person who came up with the USB3-for-NOS1-trick - just saying ...).

For those who can find it as a setting in their BIOS, and when it is On, can you switch it Off and compare with how you perceived SQ before ?
Do notice : Most probably this implies a few settings only on the XXHighEnd Clock Resolution setting (so, less choices than what you are used to). One of these will be 9.7 (ms) or so. I would try to use that setting first (the maximum number actually).

Curious to learn about the results ...
Peter

hello there, i was one of those who did try with HPET off. I can remember big differences in sound quality. But maybe - maybe it was a bit on  the crazy side. Guess i should try again. Remember , even if untrust measure , there was that huge fall down of the latency graph test when the timer was off . Stefano

I have been experimenting a few versions ago with this setting. The difference was quite audible and I preferred the hpet on with win 7. With all changes and additions I should listen again!

The biggest BIOS thing was the downtuning of the on board video though. I even like to listen the OS screenseetings with 16 bits colours in the lowest resolution I can work with.

Regards, Coen

Gave it a try and the difference is substantial and, I think, crazy good. Just about everything I listened too I increased volume one "click", generally 22.5 from 24. First impression is that it 's similar to increasing SFS in that its easier on the ears, but rather than the sound being muffled, as happens with larger SFS's, it became more refined with the timer disabled. Being more refined (less distortion I didn't know I was hearing before????), it is easier on the ears at louder volume. Everything else seemed to get bigger too: sound stage, separation of instruments and voices. At first it was such a big difference that it did sound a bit crazy. After a few hours though it just sounded incredibly good.

Maybe I'll hear it differently tomorrow.....hope not!  :)

My first impression is that switching the HPET Timer off results in better SQ. The soundstage is wider and deeper, and more inviting to listen to details.
I am going to keep this setting for while.

Cheers
Eric

Eric,

Your emphasis on off looks a bit confusing. Or it might to others. So, I want to again explicitly make clear that people should test with Off. This, while normally it will be On.

Btw, in my (Asus) MoBo there is no such setting in the BIOS (or I can't find it). Still in that case it will be On and it will be for the worse. Well, theoretically ...

Peter

Peter,
that is exactly what I did: testing with HPET off.
And yes, the default setting was on.
And I like the result in terms of SQ.
So, the tweak works for me in my setup.

I hope your confusion is gone now.
At least on this subject...... ;).

Cheers
Eric

The max ( HPET off ):

Is there any way to manually set the clock resolution to 7.8125, cause it's not an option in the clock resolution settings and one has to click away the message Stefan posted above before music will play.

Peter, with my ASUS mb the setting is found in the BIOS by entering the Advanced Mode then clicking on the Advanced Tab at the top of the screen. Then select the PCH Configuration in the drop down menu.

I can´t find it either in my Asus X58 Sabertooth mb. Can someone help?

Juan

I think the "Max for this system" setting should do the job for now ?

I found the HPET notification in the Bios of my gigabyte motherboards in the power managment setup. I can also hear thr difference: Chopin played by Arthur Rubinstein sounds more clear!

mood

Geeze, how did you get so frickin smart? Of course "Max for this system" works fine. :fool:

Anyway, this is a very significant tweek in my system. If there is anything that may not be "good", or at least it takes some getting used to,  it is simple vocals accompanied by just a piano or guitar. Rather than the intimate sound of the artist "being in the room," it now sounds like I'm transported to the concert hall with great seats just far enough back from the stage that the amplification is perfectly balanced. However, this sound is so refined and/or delicate that I just want to keep listening.

On the other hand rock bands and orchestras sound like never before, no question that its a nice step up in SQ.

Here I hear a big improvement too!
It sounds to me like analogue on a level no one can afford, if it exists at all.

Yes, very analogue. Also, base seems less pronounced, but, like the mids and the highs, much more refined sounding.

I disabled the HPET timer in my mobo and this resulted in a better, yes you might call it more analogue, presentation. I also varied the SFS settings (2, 10, 20) and found 2 to have a bit more detail and maybe more dynamical, but also more fatiguing. At 20 I found the "tone" or "timbre" to be real and convincing (this is an important "parameter" for me). Higher values started to veil the sound a bit.

Next is to compare the RAMdrive I use now with a Hitachi SATA HDD I just got. keep you informed.

Stanley

Well, after a week of increasingly feeling that something wasn't right, I re-enabled the timer. I spent an hour or so A-Bing and I think I'm back to liking the sound with the timer enabled. Though each has its own sound I found myself playing a bit louder with the timer disabled and over time it just felt like there was a weird distortion that was related to the volume. With the timer enabled and the volume down 1.5 db there is a  clarity and presence without distortion that I was trying to get by turning up the volume with the timer disabled. Hope this makes sense! :wacko:

For those who, like me, have a BIOS that does not allow to manipulate almost anything, I have found the following software that seems to fix this problem. I am using the free version:
http://www.lucashale.com/timer-resolution/
The free version is supposed to be intended for 32 bit systems but it's working in my 64 bit system. You have to keep it running when XXHE is playing in unattended mode so you need to include it in the corresponding settings window and set the clock  to "max for this system".
In my case, this software in combination with a lower FSB (as I said in a previous post) and the RAMDisk as playback drive have provide me the most detailed  and refined sound to date.
BTW for those who can set the HPET in the BIOS I've read that deactivating it in the BIOS it isn't enough. You need to deactivate it in windows too. I don't remember the process but If I recover the links I'll post them.

Maxi

Maxi and others,

No, don't use that. It is the very same as the Clock Resolution in XXHighEnd, and when you have this program running it will overrule that. So, just use the Clock Resolution settings in XXHighEnd (and set it to 1ms when you had the idea that this program improved your SQ - it will work ar 1ms).

About the HPET timer - do not mangle further with this. It is quite destructable. So, the one advise I gave is something for people to test with, and when they don't like it it can be reverted. When you go further it will be a mess.
The next version of XXHighEnd will allow for tweaking this formally plus sufficient insight to *not* making it a mess. So, wait for that or otherwise it will conflict with XXHighEnd's settings later.
Notice that almost all can be reverted, but it is up to you keeping track of what you changed. And this often goes wrong and ends up in reinstalling the OS. Besides that, some settings can not be reverted at all (because it implies many other changes by the OS) and then you *have* to reinstall.
These things really (really) happened in the past ...

Peter

Hello Peter,

Fortunately my bios doesn't allow me manipulate virtually nothing since I am a serious candidate to run into troubles because of my mania to touch first and ask later.  :grazy:

But the point is that the SQ is better now so I am going to try the 1ms setting without the set timer running.

Best regards

Maxi

Hey Maxi,

I already know that your not being to able to arrange things in the BIOS (hey, I can't myself either) is not important;
The next XXHighEnd version will arrange for it anyway.

Regards,
Peter

Alain, thanks for your post. I removed it because it creates confusion anyway.
My own fault, and I probably will remove the whole topic.

Btw, nothing (!) you did wrong. Just my decision and ideas about this.

Regards,
Peter