Gigabyte P35 motherboards and DPC

Has anyone else using a Gigabyte P35 motherboard experienced spikes in DPC Latency Checker? A web search has shown that this seems to be a widespread problem, and Gigabyte doesn't seem to want to address it. It doesn't affect Asus P35 boards, so it must not be a problem with the chipset. Here is what I'm referring to:

I have a Gigabyte G33 based board and I'm seeing the same thing. It doesn't seem to affect my low latency operation anymore after switching to a MOTU PCI424 based setup!

Rico

http://www.RicoBelled.com/

You're not by chance running Vista are you?

Psalm 30:12 (then click the "C" on the left)
On God's Kingdom and its Relevance
Fast Forward... to the End of Days

ORIGINAL: losguy

You're not by chance running Vista are you?

No. I'm using XP Pro 32 bit.

Hi Dan

I use Gigabyte! I remember several years ago I noticed that too but it didn't effect latency and/or PC performance at all. Hmm!!

My Music @ SoundClick.com
Custom Built PC by: Jim Roseberry

Hi SongCraft,

I just put together a new system, so I'm trying to see what it's capable of. Compared to my old system I can get very low latencies, but it would seem that the spikes must be limiting it from reaching it's full potential. Even my notebook (single core Pentium M 715) doesn't show these spikes.

What soundcard are you using and what latencies are you able to set?

I got exactly the same problems with my Gigabyte GA P35-S3g with an INTEL Q6600 quad core and XP SP 2.
Spikes in idle don't go over 850 but i remember my old MSI K8n Neo 2 with AMD X2 4200+ that remains a lot lower and
stable with no spikes at all!
I've try everything,turn off almost everything to see if spikes go lower (networking cards,cd rom,unused usbs,unused ide channels) nothing change!

ORIGINAL: Dan DAmico

Hi SongCraft,

I just put together a new system, so I'm trying to see what it's capable of. Compared to my old system I can get very low latencies, but it would seem that the spikes must be limiting it from reaching it's full potential. Even my notebook (single core Pentium M 715) doesn't show these spikes.

What soundcard are you using and what latencies are you able to set?

Back then I was using an M-Audio 24/96 pci card on a P3 running SONAR 4, I can't remember precisely what latency I had but there was no problem at all with latency although I was limited to the amount of tracks (18 to 20 audio tracks) due to my system being a P3 / 800 with 512 Ram. I did turn off all nonessential services and other apps whilst using SONAR but the spikes remained.

Maybe with some Gigabyte boards there's an indication of activity in regards to the OS, systems files, interrupts and whatever as these could be what's causing the spikes, I'm not sure! Also I think that particular Gigabyte board may have some sort of security features built-in (could be that) but I can't be sure.

My Music @ SoundClick.com
Custom Built PC by: Jim Roseberry

Interesting issue. If the Asus P35 doesn't exhibit the DPC latency spikes then it must be something about the Gigabyte that's doing it. Question is, what? I'm curious...

Psalm 30:12 (then click the "C" on the left)
On God's Kingdom and its Relevance
Fast Forward... to the End of Days

I did a clean install of Windows XP without any chipset, audio or video drivers to see if the spikes remain. To my dismay, they are still there.
I had an Acronis backup of my full install so I just restored it.

I've read that the GA-P35-DS4 rev 1 early (before F6) BIOS did not have this problem, but the later ones do. My motherboard has only 3 available BIOS, and I've tried them all to no avail. Gigabyte must have changed something. I've sent them an email about it, but I'm told they have isolated it to the southbridge, but haven't had enough demand for a fix to do anything. I'm hoping that if enough people contact them, they will release a BIOS that fixes the problem.

I'm sure it has been looked into already but are you using the latest BIOS? Updating mine improved PCI performance drastically. (I'm using an ASUS P5k fwiw)

Im getting some spikes as well, biggest one just past 500.
Rico had me check this a while back. Nice to have a good friend sonar user just down the street!

I must say this gigabyte rig runs awesome, OC'd from 1.8 to 3.0ghz

Still, I agree, ya wonder wut causes those spikes and do the effect something

http://dipdive.com/member/LanceJonesMusic
GA-P35-DS3L rev2.0
Q9550, 4 gigs ram
Echo Gina 3G
XPPro, Sonar 8.3
Behringer Mon800
Rode NTK, MCA SP-1, Alesis AM51
Presonus Eureka
Mackie HR824's

ORIGINAL: losguy

Interesting issue. If the Asus P35 doesn't exhibit the DPC latency spikes then it must be something about the Gigabyte that's doing it. Question is, what? I'm curious...

I'm getting a flat line and no spikes with my Opteron based K8 board, so it seems to be isolated to Intel based boards, or a particular chipset.

ORIGINAL: Lanceindastudio

Im getting some spikes as well, biggest one just past 500.

Lance,

Could you send an email to Gigabyte tech support requesting that they address the problem? I'm hoping to get a few people besides me to contact them and get them to look for a fix.

I agree the performance is really good on these boards, but I believe it could be even better if they fix the problem.

ORIGINAL: Alndln


I'm getting a flat line and no spikes with my Opteron based K8 board, so it seems to be isolated to Intel based boards, or a particular chipset.

My Opteron, and even my notebook computer are all flat, also. I don't think it's the chipset because the Asus P35 boards don't have the problem. I think it's a BIOS issue in the way Gigabyte is using the chipset. Earlier BIOS don't seem to have the problem.

...well Dan, yours is better than mine, which occurs like clockwork every 63 seconds.

[image][/URL][/image]

This is a relatively recent occurance on a HP ZD7000 series laptop. I have done everything that I know and have recently learned to track this without success.



Laptop Specs:
Processor Pentium 4 3.06 GHz
Installed Memory 1024 MB (DDR SDRAM)
Hard Drive 80 GB EIDE, 4200 RPM
Display 17 in. WXGA+ TFT Active Matrix
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Mobile Technology Wi-Fi Certified
Processor
Processor Manufacturer Intel
Processor Type Pentium 4
Processor Speed 3.06 GHz
Motherboard
Bus Speed 533 MHz
Memory
Installed RAM 1024 MB
RAM Technology DDR SDRAM
Max Supported RAM 2 GB
RAM Speed 333 MHz
Installed Cache Memory 512 KB
Hard Drive
Hard Drive Rotation Speed 4,200 RPM
Storage Controller Type EIDE
CD / DVD
CD / DVD Type CD-RW/DVD-ROM
Display
Display Tech WXGA+ TFT Active Matrix
Display Size 17 in.
Display Max. Resolution 1440 x 900
Video
Graphic Processor NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5600
Installed Video Memory 64 MB
Audio
Audio Output Type Sound card • Speaker(s)
Operating System
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Platform PC
Technical Features
Expandability 1 x SD Card Slot, 1 x Memory Stick Card Slot, Docking Station/Port Replicator, 1 x MMC Card Slot, 1 x Type III PC Card Slot, 1 x Memory Stick PRO, 1 x SmartMedia Card
Expansion Ports 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x IEEE 1394a (FireWire), VGA out, Parallel Port, RJ-11 (modem), RJ-45 (NIC), S-Video out
Security Features Kensington Lock Slot, Power-On Password
Input Method Keyboard • Numeric Keypad • Scroll Button • Touchpad
Networking
Networking Type Integrated 10/100 Network Card • Infrared Port • Integrated Wireless LAN
Data Link Protocol Ethernet • Fast Ethernet • IEEE 802.11b • IEEE 802.11g
Modem
Modem Type Fax / Modem
Analog Modulation Protocol ITU V.90, ITU V.92
Battery
Battery Technology Lithium ion

I have tried to locate/fix the "spiking" issue with:

Doubledawg
DPC Spike Checker v1.03 (TcElectronics)
DPClat
KRview
MotherboardMonitor
Process Explorer
Ulysses
RATTV3

I have done the "turn off everything tilll it crashes" routine including all drivers and controllers.

This spiking issue continues.

The next step is the big "F".

F@KKER

/format, that is ;)

[edit] I have also (after the issue manifested) updated to SP2 and SP3, checked the HP site for and installed all the latest drivers, tried tweaking the NVIDIA GeForce card with Riva Tuner, ran XP w/o the video card drivers- still no success.

If it isn't broken, I didn't did it...

I have a P35 series Gigee-byter and your DPC screen looks like mine.
But. Mine runs like a deer so I don't care what that screen says.

:LSB

ORIGINAL: F@KKER

This is a relatively recent occurance on a HP ZD7000 series laptop. I have done everything that I know and have recently learned to track this without success.

That is very discouraging. Are you getting dropouts on your audio?

ORIGINAL: bitman

I have a P35 series Gigee-byter and your DPC screen looks like mine.
But. Mine runs like a deer so I don't care what that screen says.

Mine runs good, too. Maybe I just need to ignore it. Which model is your motherboard?

ORIGINAL: F@KKER
...well Dan, yours is better than mine, which occurs like clockwork every 63 seconds.

Ouch. Looks like you were pretty thorough, so you probably already tried disabling the WiFi? That's been culprit #1 for laptops. (But you probably knew that already...)

Psalm 30:12 (then click the "C" on the left)
On God's Kingdom and its Relevance
Fast Forward... to the End of Days

ORIGINAL: Dan DAmico

ORIGINAL: bitman

I have a P35 series Gigee-byter and your DPC screen looks like mine.
But. Mine runs like a deer so I don't care what that screen says.

Mine runs good, too. Maybe I just need to ignore it. Which model is your motherboard?

I don't remember and I'm all compfy on the couch and all the stuff and manual is downstairs.

P35 somthin. Is has 3 PCI slots and (1) 1x pcie and (1) 16x pcie if that helps.

:LSB

Hey Dan, after reading my own post- I must apologize to you as my post appears as a hijack- sorry.

But in answer to your question, yes I am getting dropouts. I have spent a good 4 weekends on top of hours at a time weeknights and still no success. There is a rather large (45 pages or so) thread at the sos forum on this.

Additionally, I just tried installing the recovery disk drivers, there is no change. I just read that someone did a full format and the spikes are still there, so it must be either very low level -perhaps at the bios level or maybe a hardware issue.

This sucks because the laptop was my portable DAW and I spent a good amount of $ on specific gear just for this application.

losguy, yes, I disabled wi-fi -I even tried the remove hardware route to no avail. I did the same with usb and network adapters.



F@KKER

[edit] I failed to mention that I was running the laptop as it came from HP with 512 MB of Ram and it worked with no issues (other than FW-1884 issues, in which case I would use the Echo I/O sound card) and so I just installed 2 gb ram, still no change.

If it isn't broken, I didn't did it...

Dan,

Note the scale at the left hand side of the table. This tool reports in micro-seconds. The longest wait on a deferred call is still under 1 millisecond. You'll never notice a thing when the dpc queue is showing maximums at this level.

I can't get my ASIO buffers to adjust any lower than 2ms (128 samples) -- the driver doesn't go any lower. Generally, I run at 256 samples, corresponding to a 3ms latency which is virtually instantaneous.

Relax.

--kwgm

Yes and no. Even if it gets no higher than 1 msec, that's 1 msec eating into the latency that you would have otherwise had. If you're wanting to run at low latency, or loading your CPU up, or both, this is mission-critical time that's getting eaten up with system whatnot.

Psalm 30:12 (then click the "C" on the left)
On God's Kingdom and its Relevance
Fast Forward... to the End of Days

I've flashed latest beta bios from gigabyte site (F3b) and spikes increased over 1000 micro seconds (over the yellow line)!!!!!
Ro back to latest non beta (F2) and spikes go back under the yellow line (max 900 micro seconds).
That's it....

Seems that a lot of people have the same problem :

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/247210-12-audio-latency-problem-ds3r

ORIGINAL: KWILD

I've flashed latest beta bios from gigabyte site (F3b) and spikes increased over 1000 micro seconds (over the yellow line)!!!!!
Ro back to latest non beta (F2) and spikes go back under the yellow line (max 900 micro seconds).
That's it....

What model is your motherboard? Also, have you or would you be willing to email Gigabyte tech support to ask them to address the problem?

Like i've written some posts ago my board is a GA P35-S3G , yes im think to contact the Gigabyte tech support,but i think is better to do that all togheter.
Let me know if u are thinking to write a single comulative mail asking to fix that problem.

Thanx.

http://myspace.com/_kwild

Hi Gigabyte P35 MB owners - see here for my post / solution:-

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1353232

Thanks,
Tim

ORIGINAL: timboe
Hi Gigabyte P35 MB owners - see here for my post / solution:-
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1353232

Hey Tim, great work digging this out.

Over on the Tom's Hardware forum, someone posted this:

On my P35-DS3R Rev. 1, the problem was solved by going from F11 back to F5 (original BIOS that came with the board). F11 added a High Precision Event Timer in the system devices, so maybe that's the source of this latency issue...

Maybe someone could try disabling the High Precision Event Timer to see if it fixes the problem. I can upload F5 later if anyone would like to try it. BTW, I also had higher NB temps with F11 for some reason.

Seems a reasonable thing to ask. Maybe someone here could try disabling this in their BIOS, before rolling it back, just to see if it works? It might be a way forward instead of backward...

Psalm 30:12 (then click the "C" on the left)
On God's Kingdom and its Relevance
Fast Forward... to the End of Days