# BIOS Settings for stability?



## composerguy78 (Jul 3, 2020)

I have been trying to eradicate all clicks and pops from my system. I have managed to get rid of most but there are still some that occur. I'm running windows 10 latest version.

Does anyone have any suggestions here what I could change here to improve stability?

Below is a list of my computer parts and here is a link to screenshots of my BIOS:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k3ellt2qhq...tings.pdf?dl=0 Also task manager: 

Please let me know if there are any relevant pages of settings missing which I should include.

I would really appreciate any suggestions.
Thank you!

Intel - Core i7-7800X 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor
Corsair - H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
ASRock - X299 Extreme4 ATX LGA2066 Motherboard
G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 128GB (8 x 16GB) DDR4-2800 Memory
Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Seagate - Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Seagate - Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Zotac - GeForce GT 730 2GB Video Card
SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Platinum 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Lite-On - iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer
Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit


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## Pictus (Jul 3, 2020)

Look https://vi-control.net/community/threads/nvidia-driver-no-latency-anymore.87448/#post-4489683


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## composerguy78 (Jul 3, 2020)

Thank you Pictus. I have enabled Ultimate Performace and also set "Prefer Maximum Performance" on my NVDIA graphics card.


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## MartinH. (Jul 3, 2020)

If you haven't already, try enabling "anticipative fx processing" in reaper.


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## composerguy78 (Jul 4, 2020)

brilliant - thank you!


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## CoffeeLover (Jul 5, 2020)

i do recoment "ShutUp10" from O&O
check it out


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## JohnG (Jul 5, 2020)

There's another thread you could peruse; it's not curated by IT professionals, so have a care when implementing anything.

Put another way, it's amateur hour, but many of those fixes I've implemented and my idle CPU dropped way down.






Windows 10 settings / stuff you can turn off for music?


Adjustments to Windows 10 PC Slave [edit: updated BIOS changes Feb 11, 2016] Hello all, Thanks to everyone who chimed in on two threads. Here's what I did to 3 different PC slaves, all running Windows 10, VE Pro standalone, and each having Kontakt 5 and PLAY on them. In aggregate, these...




vi-control.net


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## composerguy78 (Jul 6, 2020)

much appreciated John! Thank you!


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## Keith Theodosiou (Jul 6, 2020)

I had the same issues as you with Windows 10. It was driving me nuts, i was getting stuttering, clicks, pops, all sorts. I did all the performance things for windows but still no good, even with only a few instances open in Cubase 10.
Then i saw on one forum in the settings of Cubase, turn off multi processing.
As soon as i did that, not a single problem sinse so that may be worth checking in your DAW


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## vitocorleone123 (Jul 6, 2020)

No BIOS changes here - except to overclock. Seems to work fine.


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## Zero&One (Jul 6, 2020)

Also worth checking your Anti Virus settings, on-access scan can cause issues.
You can also disconnect from the web, disable protection, see if problems persist.


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## GNP (Jul 6, 2020)

Turn off C-States and anything that fluctuates power supply. Make sure it's all optimized for performance, and not energy-saving.


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## vitocorleone123 (Jul 6, 2020)

GNP said:


> Turn off C-States and anything that fluctuates power supply. Make sure it's all optimized for performance, and not energy-saving.



Only if you're having problems and have tried everything else.

Again, my CPU is modestly oc'd with all power saving states enabled and I can record a hardware synth with virtually no latency without pops and clicks. Power saving keeps the CPU cooler and saves electricity.

My Windows, on the other hand, is, indeed, optimized for performance, not power saving. It's a balance.


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## Nekrokefali (Jul 7, 2020)

composerguy78 said:


> I have been trying to eradicate all clicks and pops from my system. I have managed to get rid of most but there are still some that occur. I'm running windows 10 latest version.
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions here what I could change here to improve stability?
> 
> ...




The click and pops are most likely jitter. What sound card are you using?
The usual suspect has to do with clocking your audio DA (digital to analog).
The best way to get rid of your jitter is to change your sound card or to add an external word clock like the Antelope Audio OCX or the Antelope Audio Atomic Clock which is pricey, and slave all your gear to that.

The internal clock of a digital audio device like a computer, sound card, and anything that is dong AD/DA conversion, run from a crystal, and the crystal is susceptible to heat.
When the temperature of the equipment raises, then the clock speed is altered, and the bits don't line up correctly, resulting in jitter. 

The OCX uses an oven baked crystal. 
It heats up the crystal to a much higher degree than it would normally do from the ambient environment, and so the crystal is maintaing a constant temperature and thus speed.

The results are impressive.
With an external word clock


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## composerguy78 (Jul 11, 2020)

Thank you so much for looking though my settings. I really appreciate it.

As it happened my system is now in limbo. I was moving it into a new pc case and then when I tried to boot up, the mobo died -probably something I did wrong. Anyway, I have ordered a new motherboard and CPU (just in case it is the CPU) and will replace.

The crackles and pops I was getting were very minor, but still annoying. I am intimately familiar with buffer settings but this was happening just in the standalone version of pianoteq or Kontakt no matter what the buffer setting. Like I wrote however, it was very minor. I think what is most likely the cause is the fact that I have my computer in a machine room and I have all my peripherals on extension cables including my UA Apollo twin USB. Apparently this is an issue with those devices according to UA and they should not be attached via USB extension cables. My new setup with the new motherboard, case and possibly new CPU will be in the same room without using extension cables. I will update here and see if the issue persists.
Thanks again for your reply!


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## rrichard63 (Jul 11, 2020)

If the video chip on your motherboard can handle your monitor or monitors, try disabling the GeForce graphics adapter. For the purpose of experimenting with this, you don't have to physically remove the card. Just hook your monitor up to the motherboard and disable the drivers in the Startup tab of the System Configuration applet (that's Windows 7 jargon, Windows 10 is probably different).

I bought and installed a GeForce card in the mistaken belief that my motherboard video doesn't support a new superwide monitor. When I discovered that it does, overall performance improved quite noticeably.


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## composerguy78 (Jul 11, 2020)

Thank you very much for the suggestion! I will try that. Hopefully I will not need to when my replacement motherboard arrives.


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## Nekrokefali (Jul 13, 2020)

composerguy78 said:


> Thank you so much for looking though my settings. I really appreciate it.
> 
> As it happened my system is now in limbo. I was moving it into a new pc case and then when I tried to boot up, the mobo died -probably something I did wrong. Anyway, I have ordered a new motherboard and CPU (just in case it is the CPU) and will replace.
> 
> ...


Extension USB cables are known to create clicks and pops.
I think you're on to something.


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## rojarvi (Jul 13, 2020)

Keith Theodosiou said:


> I had the same issues as you with Windows 10. It was driving me nuts, i was getting stuttering, clicks, pops, all sorts. I did all the performance things for windows but still no good, even with only a few instances open in Cubase 10.
> Then i saw on one forum in the settings of Cubase, turn off multi processing.
> As soon as i did that, not a single problem sinse so that may be worth checking in your DAW



I made the same observation a while ago. With Cubase multi processing enabled, there are clicks and pops more frequently. I’m using RME FF800 in i7-6950x system and if I disable multi processing I can go as low as 64 buffer with single Garritan CFX loaded. Once enabling MP it becomes totally impossible to use that small buffers - around 256 it starts to stabilize.

I have disabled HT, EIST and C-states and stopped pretty much all unnecessary background services - nVidia GPU is also set not to save power. Latencymon shows everything is just peachy... I’d say there are some serious problems in Steinberg audio engine when it comes to multi processing. However, currently I’m OK with running buffers at 256 - that’s low enough latency. No problems here. 

So, it has also a lot to do with DAW used. Tips like disabling HT may be valid for Cubase because of Steinberg engine problems - not sure if it is a good generic advice for other DAWs...


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## composerguy78 (Jul 15, 2020)

Okay, I am happy to report that the USB extender cables were clearly causing the (minor) crackles and pops. I have the new motherboard and graphics card in my system too. I should try plugging in the extender cables just to be sure but at present it's working crackle free!


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