Keith Albright [Cakewalk]

DesertHermit
Nope, not a laptop and no wi-fi.

Still worth running the utility.  It will show if system drivers are taking too long to do something.  
Sometimes background processes can contribute to the overhead as well.  It can take some detective work to figure out what to do based on the report, but at least it will give you a starting point.

Thanks. You're right, it's a great utility. Now I just need to understand the details. But, it does say, "Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts." One thing I noticed was the CPU report:
 
CPU SPEED
________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed:                                   3192.0 MHz
Measured CPU speed:                                   1776.0 MHz (approx.)

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.
 
Is that something I should be concerned about or is it just in the measurement?

DesertHermit

Keith Albright [Cakewalk]

DesertHermitNope, not a laptop and no wi-fi.

Still worth running the utility.  It will show if system drivers are taking too long to do something.  Sometimes background processes can contribute to the overhead as well.  It can take some detective work to figure out what to do based on the report, but at least it will give you a starting point.

Thanks. You're right, it's a great utility. Now I just need to understand the details. But, it does say, "Your system appears to be suitable for handling real-time audio and other tasks without dropouts." One thing I noticed was the CPU report: CPU SPEED
________________________________________________________________________________________
Reported CPU speed:                                   3192.0 MHz
Measured CPU speed:                                   1776.0 MHz (approx.)

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results. Is that something I should be concerned about or is it just in the measurement?

You should be concerned. Your CPU is running at 60% of it's rated speed. Turn off speed step or any BIOS apps that control your temperature. And set your CPU for high performance in your sys settings in windows to keep it running at 100%

This is a bios issue ... use cpu-z to confirm your cpu cores are running at 100%

Yup please report back when you've disabled speedstep (and what Brando says).

If that doesn't work consider a BIOS update.

In your computer's power plan, verify that the minimum and maximum CPU power settings are identical. One time they were different in my setup, and there would be a little click every time there was a power state change but only with FireWire interfaces. Probably worth checking...
 
As Mike Rivers once said about computers: "You learn something new every day, whether you want to or not."

[Deleted]

I was not successful in disabling speedstep. I looked all through my BIOS setup and didn't see anything resembling that or CPU temperature control. I'm on a Dell desktop. Any clues?

In my bios it is called EIST iirc see if that's what it is called in yours.

I know it's no help but my first core is also much greater than the others whilst using superior drummer. Freezing solves it.

I do have speedstep disabled as well.

OP, take a peak at my thread to see if it may apply: http://forum.cakewalk.com/Sound-Crackling-CPU-Latencies-When-MultiDock-Maximized-m2921285.aspx
 
Download and run a program called LatencyMon.exe.