As I said for me Windows had it set by default on my other Windows partitions on the same PC, this was a one off. So clearly there was  a system config error in my instance (not caused by me). Once I did it everything was snappier, windows would pop up immediately, latency was better. It totally worked for me no placebo effect here.
 
If you think about it... it makes sense having a hardware timer working rather than a software one, and MS switches this on by default in most Windows installations nowadays. I did research this fully, there was previously a lot of noise and sus-picon on the internet earlier on, but then people backed down when they saw the evidence and seeing that MS does it by default nowadays for most systems. My view is that windows initially err'd on the side of caution when enabling it for some installations. Check my WIKI link for full details of the background and do some research. 
 
There have been some reports that it hasn't improved their situation, I suspect it's because the hardware timer is faulty in their motherboards or they are in need of a BIOS update/update their chipset drivers. My get out clause is as I said do this at your own risk. It's not a one time operation you can always roll back (see 4). As I say always back up.

KPerry
Be careful on this one, but not for the reason you might think.
 
I discovered this a year or so back, but instead of changing the standard boot profile, I added a second one with HPET enabled, which allowed me to toggle between the two (for testing and just in case reasons).
 
There was a recent (last couple of months) Windows update that failed horribly on "dual boots": it won't install and caused a stream of reboots to fix itself that had me gritting my teeth in terror.
 
KB3033929 I think is the Windows patch reference.

Yup it might be advisable to make sure Windows update is up to date before you do it. I would also run the optional updates as well (lots of performance updates there). If you decide to do the hotfix make sure you do it last (just before you change the clock setting). as the patch may already have been applied by that stage.

For a basic hardware timing 55ms between ticks has been on every mb since day one on PC, usually for clock among other things.
High resolution timer, I used if available for benchmarking certain sections of code etc.
 
So have to look for this on my current daw too - even if not having performance concerns right now - thanks for tip.

I found the HPET enable/disable option in my bios.  But, when I ran the command line in windows and tried to disable HPET with you command, I got the following error:
 
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Larry>bcdedit /deletevalue useplatformclock
An error occurred while attempting to delete the specified data element.
Element not found.


What is wrong with this syntax?  How do I get the command to work?

mauryw
I found the HPET enable/disable option in my bios.  But, when I ran the command line in windows and tried to disable HPET with you command, I got the following error:

You need to enable it in the BIOS, and then enable it in Windows, as per the article. Probably best make sure Windows update is up to date as well... always backup ... yada yada :)


Cheers...

I would love Noel to weigh in on this...you should pm him and point him to this thread
I'd also suggest changing the title to be more specific to attract attention.... something like "Activating High precision event timer can improve computer performance"...
 
 
 
 

Ah they've probably already read this and have known about it for ages I'm sure :)

Great tip .. like Larry said, even if not having probs now its good to have in the tool chest and learn about.
 
Thanks.
 
 

I gave this a whirl today. HPET was enabled in bios but not in windows. I enabled it in Windows  and my latency increased with my aging evga x58 Mb and i7/970 hex core cpu. On the other hand I experienced a significant boost in performance by disabling it at the bios and in windows. I also found that Intel speedstep was enabled and I turned that off, but the boost was noticeable even with speedstep off.
 
I've read that certain chipsets show this behavior and it looks like I won that lottery. Or something. Thanks for the idea!

Hmm. This idea seems to be in direct contradiction to this:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Possible-Key-to-SONAR-Performance-Breakthrough-Check-this-Out-m3103263.aspx
Unless I am missing something...