Optimize Your Windows 9x PC For Audio

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Wed May 16, 2001 8:59 am

These tips are specifically for people running Windows 95/98/SE/ME. The latest version of this guide can always be found at
http://www.infinitevortex.com

Users who have purchased Creamware gear from us have access to this information, along with guides, tutorials, and more! Simply email us for access, along with your full name, we'll look you up and give you the document you require.

Optimizing your Win9x PC for Audio
<div class=small>Updated July 25, 2001</div>
These tips are specifically for people running Windows 95/98/SE/ME for processing audio with low or zero latency. As usual, use these tips at your own risk. If you find any errors or omissions, please <a href=mailto:infinitevortex@timesync.com>email us</a> and we'll add/fix. Unfortunately, we can't help walk you through this, so do NOT email us asking for help. 

1. Static Swap File.
-Change Typical Roll of this Computer to "Network Server."

2. Remove Power Management. Also in Windows, Control Panel, Power Management "Always On" and everything to "Never."

3. Remove extra Startup programs. Start, Run, msconfig, [enter], Startup Tab. Disable Adobe Gamma Correction, and Microsoft Fast Find, Scheduling, PcHealth, and StateMgr, and anything else like WinAmp Agent, RealPlayer.

Probably okay to leave Taskmon, Scanreg, and Systray.

4. Partitions. Keep a Norton Ghost of your OS/Program partition, so you can quickly Ghost back to a "known good" configuration. Always keep a fresh Ghost handy before installing any new software!

5. Unless you backup frequently, avoid RAID 0 unless you're also doing RAID 5 (or another data redundancy setting). RAID 0 alone doubles your chances for data loss, even if it gains you performance.

6. If you're running Windows ME, then you should consider completely REMOVING System Restore from your system. Otherwise, at least disable it.

Always keep your machine updated:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

7. MIDI Loop Back drivers. If you experience MIDI timing issues, remove MIDI Loop back like Hubi or MidiOX

8. Be sure your Creamware Cards are not sharing any IRQ's with other cards in your system; Creamware Cards CAN share IRQs with each other though, and that is actually recommended.

9. Turn off CD-Auto-Insert-Notification.

10. PCI Overflow (I am working on an entire page dedicated to helping solve this problem). "PCI Latency Timer." Set this as high as possible--only if you have no other cards except Creamware cards and an AGP card--otherwise, set this to 64 or 128. installed. It's sort of a balance. If your BIOS doesn't have this setting (most non-ASUS boards don't), then you can get access to this using a program like TweakBIOS.

11. Make sure "DMA" is checked for your hard disks. Winkey+Pause, Device manager, Diskdrives, Properties. Or install Intel Application Accelerator.

<a href=http://www.infinitevortex.com>A more detailed version without pictures is available free in the Articles section. Users will get the most detailed version we have (once completed, this takes a lot of time), with pictures and more detailed explanations.</a>

[ This Message was edited by: subhuman on 2001-11-11 12:59 ]

[ This Message was edited by: subhuman on 2001-11-12 09:45 ]

[ This Message was edited by: subhuman on 2001-11-12 09:46 ]

[ This Message was edited by: subhuman on 2001-11-14 10:31 ]

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Wed May 16, 2001 2:05 pm

While doing searches here on planetZ just now, I also found <a href=http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... rum=3>this other post</a> that has some similiar suggestions that you might want to check out.

[john: fixed the link, as i moved that post from problem solving to tips & tricks]
[john: fixed it again, as we moved the forums to the new server]

[ This Message was edited by: John Cooper on 2001-06-12 09:20 ]

[ This Message was edited by: John Cooper on 2002-11-21 13:08 ]

Nestor · Post by **Nestor** » Fri May 18, 2001 1:30 am

Subhuman, thanks for the tips, great!

Most of us do not know how to perform those removing tasks exactly and these tasks ARE serious moves for the system operation in most cases so, please, if you could explain STEP BY SPET what to do, it will be very useful. I would suggest using the same method as used in the Pulsar manual. For instance: "Start > Find > File Folder" etc., etc… to reach safely the exact file. Thank you for your help, it is much apreciated.

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Tue May 22, 2001 10:39 am

Edit: More info about PowerMg remove and System Restore remove, more info about PCI Latency Timer.

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Fri Jun 01, 2001 8:12 am

^ BUMP.

Addendum to tip 3. You can see how many extra resources you have after disabling startup programs, by pressing "WinKey+Pause" after a reboot, "Performance" tab, and viewing the System Resources percentage. You should try to have more than 90%, otherwise, keep removing stuff

Addendum to tip 5. Some Onboard RAID now include RAID 10, which requires double the number of disks, since it mirrors as well. I would still suggest you avoid HighPoint controllers and stick with either the onboard IDE ports, or a Promise IDE card (at "worst.") Otherwise if you're serious about RAID, SCSI is still probably the best choice, but remember SCSI is usually pricey, louder, and hotter (due to faster spinning drives).

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Tue Jun 12, 2001 11:54 am

Forgot to mention changing "Typical Roll of this Computer" from "Desktop computer" to "Network Server."

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Thu Jun 21, 2001 11:16 am

Updated IDE RAID information with a new article explaining types of RAID (0,1,5, etc) and the current state of IDE RAID.

<a href=http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... i=1491>The Current State of IDE RAID, June 18, 2001</a> ...

Zer · Post by **Zer** » Wed Jul 04, 2001 7:46 am

Power management and ASPI:

In case you probably installed ACPI with incompatible hardware. Check the energy properties - click on the windows desktop with the right - choose screen saver + choose properties of the energysavings (well I don´t know the english expression, exactly) -
and within energy schemes choose standbymode = never and hdd power down = never , Sleepmode should be disabled, too. I guess that will solve your problem(s).

2. The ernergy procedure has to be done using the BIOS of your PC, too. Customize your powermanagement or deactivate it.

[ This Message was edited by: Zer on 2001-07-06 09:55 ]

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Wed Jul 04, 2001 9:20 am

Thanks Zer, that's explained a bit in my tip #2 above. Power Management stuff never seems to work, always causes glitches and lockups when it's trying to turn off your various hardware, and it can cause glitches in audio that are hard to track down since it's constantly checking in the background if its time yet to turn off your monitor or hard drive

Zer · Post by **Zer** » Wed Jul 18, 2001 9:31 am

and here´s some advice how to deal with the unwanted startup programs.

I strongly recommend to disable all and espescially all cd burning startup programs using the msconfig utility. You can do so by
typing in msconfig at the run prompt of the start menu (works in every windows from win 98) - by the way you can use the msconfig utility to nearly configure everything to your likes.

Also very important is to check the file system using the control manager. Choose filesystem within and toggle it from desktop to network server, regardless of wether your pc is a network station or not.

Using win9X a good Idea is to limit the cache by inserting the foolowing lines into your system.ini

[vcache]
MinFileCache=16384
MaxFileCache=16384

wether the size is the RAM e.g. 128 MB : 4 x 1024 eg. 128:4 x 1024 =32768 etc.

That´s a little thing how to eliminate some frustration.

[ This Message was edited by: zer on 2001-07-19 08:34 ]

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Tue Jul 24, 2001 4:44 pm

Thanks Zer, I think the startup stuff is covered pretty well in #3...

Zer · Post by **Zer** » Wed Jul 25, 2001 1:01 pm

oh yes...sorry...overruled.

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Mon Aug 13, 2001 3:05 pm

IDE RAID update/addition:

I just wanted to add that if you're diligent about keeping good backups of the data on your RAID array, this can make a lot of sense, especially if you plan on recording 8 or more channels of audio while playing back 30+ channels, or if you're working with video.

In this case, I suggest you setup your OS on it's own drive independent of the array (with it's own partition for keeping Ghost images or backups for quick restore).

Just remember that a RAID 0 array doubles your risk for data loss -- backups here are really important! But for those of you who need the throughput of such a solution (you will know who you are), this can be a great alternative to loud & expensive SCSI raid solutions.

Finally, onboard RAID chips tend to share the PCI bus in just the same way a PCI-card RAID Solution such as the Promise card does-- I still suggest you stick with Promise RAID card or onboard chip if possible, over other brands.

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Fri Sep 07, 2001 10:39 am

Zer's VCACHE setting does make a nice difference on machines running 98/SE.

On WinME it's not as noticable, and I wouldn't bother unless you are a super tweak freak.

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Wed Sep 19, 2001 11:34 am

http://www.onlinehelp.bc.ca/tips.htm#virtual

I came across this webpage and found some of the comments interesting, especially since it seems to contradict some of the information widely provided about optimization techniques and settings.

Any comments?

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Wed Sep 19, 2001 11:48 am

I agree with a little bit of what the guy said: Any "static" rule for setting your swap file doesn't hold for all systems. I wouldn't really make my swap file bigger than a gig.

a STATIC SWAP FILE is undisputedly better for audio, who knows for what purpose that guy is optimizing his machine for. By not setting a maximum, the size of your swap file will fluctuate, causing disk trashing (extra reads, writes, and erases), which will slow down your computer and is horrendous for use on an audio-optimized PC.

A much better link if you want to know more, is this one: http://www.rojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/Sw ... ion_01.htm

It's going to be included in my Win2k guide which is coming "soon."

_________________
<a href=http://infinitevortex.com>Infinite Vortex Audio</a>

[ This Message was edited by: subhuman on 2001-09-19 12:48 ]

krizrox · Post by **krizrox** » Wed Sep 19, 2001 12:32 pm

Interesting. Thanks. By the way - that website seems to be suffering from broken links. It seems to die about half-way through. Too bad - looks like it was a good resource.

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Sun Oct 07, 2001 1:03 pm

I think that was simply the Nimda virus spreading, the whole web was like that for a little while... it is okay now I think.

ohmelas · Post by **ohmelas** » Fri Oct 12, 2001 3:59 am

In Response to using IDE Raid for Digital Audio I have to concur with Subhuman that RAID 0 loses files. I'm using Cubase with RAID 0 and I've lost several files when attempting to reload a song. I've since upgraded to RAID 0+1 (which not only gives you the speed of two drives but backs them up on another two drives...yes four 20GB Hard Drives) and I have had absolutely no problems and rarely go over 30% on the meter when recording and using playback! It's fast and solid!!!

check out the TH-7 RAID MOBO by Abit. I'm loving it even though the p4 stuff is a little pricey. Make sure though if you're using a MOBO with RAID that your RAID controller is on a different IRQ than your AGP and Creamware stuff. THE RAID Loves to share IRQ with the Card because of the way Win9x sees it.

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Fri Oct 12, 2001 8:30 am

Be wary of any Abit board with Highpoint. If you want to do IDE RAID, my advice is to get an IDE RAID controller card. The Highpoint can not be disabled, always takes and IRQ, and you must wait for it's separate BIOS to load every time you reboot-- newer HPT370 chips are usually implemented better -- no longer a problem with disabling them, and they can be a very cheap option to hold you til you get a 'real' RAID card.

[ This Message was edited by: subhuman on 2001-10-28 20:04 ]