# Bottleneck in new PC build, advice?



## Nicktwo85 (Sep 18, 2021)

[Solved, see below]

Hi all,

Apologies if this is in the incorrect section (seemed appropriate), please let me know if this should go elsewhere.

Issue: I recently had an upgraded pc built as I have a rather large template and was hitting cpu bottlenecks. I'm still seemingly bottlenecking somewhere and I can't quite determine where. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Specs:

Intel Core i9-10900K CPU @ 3.70GHz
Windows 10 Pro 64bit
64 Gb RAM (G.SKILL 4X16 D4 3600)
MSI Meg ACE Z490 Motherboard
Samsung EVO 970 NVME M.2 System Drive
Samsing EVO 970 NVME M.2 Audio File / Session Data Storage Drive
Various Samsung EVO 860 SSD Sample Library drives 

Audio Interface: Babyface Pro FS

VEPro 6 (same machine) hosting all VSTi's (3 instances in the project, capped to 6 threads each, although I've tried various approaches here)

DAW(s): Cubase, Pro Tools, Reaper all having this issue

Cubase and Pro Tools seem to handle a little more than Reaper before audio issues kick in. I'm having to keep my buffer size at 1024 to avoid crackling, which doesn't seem right given the specs. I keep my Kontakt instances purged and I've followed what optimization tips I could find and CPU and RAM usage look good numbers-wise, but still running into audible problems with seemingly not much going on sample-wise.

Would love to know if I'm missing something before spending more money on wild guesses like upping my RAM to 128Gb, etc.

Cheers.
-N


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## sundrowned (Sep 18, 2021)

A very basic suggestion, but I've been caught out by it before. Making sure power options is on high performance.


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## Nicktwo85 (Sep 18, 2021)

Yup. Power is set to High Performance.


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## Pictus (Sep 18, 2021)

Try:

- Verify with https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

- Sometimes this FIX 
https://rejzor.wordpress.com/2016/06/18/windows-10-system-integrity-check-sfc-dism/
- Disable Windows 10 Hibernate


https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2859-enable-disable-hibernate-windows-10-a.html



- Set Power Options like this


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## Collywobbles (Sep 18, 2021)

Ram would only be an issue if you're trying to use more than you have, so my guess would be it is software/cpu related. When it crackles, what is the actual cpu utilisation level?

Two other things to possibly look at could be:

1. Is there a benefit to using the newer version of VEP? I believe you can demo it in some way.

2. Have you looked into the ASIO-guard settings, since I've heard that people have issues with it relating to VEP. This is specifically for cubase though.


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## Nicktwo85 (Sep 18, 2021)

@Pictus Thank you for the detailed response! Latency mon reports usable for realtime audio, but I'll dive into those numbers to learn more. I also found some corrupt files and repaired them via the command prompt fix. I'll do some testing to see if that solves it and report back. 

@Collywobbles Thank you, as well. If these fixes don't work, I'll def give VEPro 7 a shot if I can demo. I also haven't looked into the ASIO Guard settings, but will do so and report back. Although, it's happening across my other DAWs as well, so hopefully I find a fix for all of them.


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## Collywobbles (Sep 18, 2021)

I'd also like to add, since your issue seems VEP related, that you should reach out to vsl's support if your issues persist. I haven't really needed to contact them myself but their reputation precedes them in terms of customer service. They are also pretty active right here on VI-C so you could reach out that way as well.


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## Nicktwo85 (Sep 18, 2021)

Thank you all! The combination of the fixes above seem to have solved the issue (in Cubase, haven't tested Pro Tools or Reaper yet). I'm currently sitting a very nice 64 buffer setting with no dropouts or crackling. ASIO Guard is turned off. Multi-processing turned off in Cubase (VEPro set to 6 threads each instance). 

Thank you, again! What a relief.


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## PaulieDC (Sep 18, 2021)

Good deal, I was going to say, you have a very similar rig to mine, it should fly!

Also, one last thing to check, maybe you did this: most motherboards don't turn on the XMP profile in the BIOS for the RAM, which gives it the speed you paid for. If you got that covered, great. If not it's a VERY easy item to turn on in the BIOS.

Oh, s previous tip was given that I do to all PCs I build for people, and that's turning off Hibernation with the *powercfg -h off* command in the CMD window (run it as admin). Glad that was mentioned. You gain back about 3GB on your C drive also!

Nice rig! Have fun with it!


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## PaulieDC (Sep 18, 2021)

BTW, I'm also glad someone posted the system file checker command *sfc /scannow*, that one is always good to run from time to time. I run it after every Windows update, like the ones Microsoft pushes down on Patch Tuesday (2nd Tuesday of the month). Every time, SFC finds and fixes something, lol! Then I reboot after I run it because of any potential Registry change, plus if it fixed a file, I want to boot off the fixed version.


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## Nicktwo85 (Sep 18, 2021)

PaulieDC said:


> Good deal, I was going to say, you have a very similar rig to mine, it should fly!
> 
> Also, one last thing to check, maybe you did this: most motherboards don't turn on the XMP profile in the BIOS for the RAM, which gives it the speed you paid for. If you got that covered, great. If not it's a VERY easy item to turn on in the BIOS.
> 
> ...


Oh wow. This was eye-opening. My 3600 RAM was running WAY lower (something like 2600). Entered BIOS and enabled XMP Profile 1 and now it's running at the correct 3600. 

Cheers!


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## ashX (Nov 8, 2021)

Pictus said:


> Try:
> 
> - Verify with https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
> 
> ...


Sorry to bother. But I turned off hibernate and my ssd disk isn't recognized by system and bios if I turn my pc back on after I turn my PC off for a night. Is it because of that? Cuz maybe when I turn my PC off, it doesnt shut down but goes in some special sleep or hibernate fast boot mode? BIOS recognizes my M2 NVME disk if only I turn off and on my PSU and then launch my PC.


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## Pictus (Nov 8, 2021)

ashX said:


> Sorry to bother. But I turned off hibernate and my ssd disk isn't recognized by system and bios if I turn my pc back on after I turn my PC off for a night. Is it because of that? Cuz maybe when I turn my PC off, it doesnt shut down but goes in some special sleep or hibernate fast boot mode? BIOS recognizes my M2 NVME disk if only I turn off and on my PSU and then launch my PC.



I am glad to help.
I doubt it, disabling Hibernate also disables the Fast Startup that is know to cause problems.

1 - If it is AMD, make sure to install the latest chipset driver
2 - Make sure the motherboard BIOS is updated
3 - In the BIOS make sure to:
ErP Ready [Enable(S5)]
Energy Star Ready [Disabled]
ECO Mode [Disable]
Power Supply Idle Control [Typical Current Idle]


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## ashX (Nov 8, 2021)

Pictus said:


> I am glad to help.
> I doubt it, disabling Hibernate also disables the Fast Startup that is know to cause problems.
> 
> 1 - If it is AMD, make sure to install the latest chipset driver
> ...


I just checked it out and Fast Startup was ON but hibernate was OFF. Because I turned hibernate off through the command prompt and didnt change other setting in windows.


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