Fixing High Latency Issues and Boosting Performance on Intel CPUs
TLDRThe video addresses the latency issues experienced by users with modern Intel Desktop processors, such as the 12th gen Alder Lake and 13th & 14th gen Raptor Lake CPUs. The creator shares personal experiences and insights from other tech YouTubers, highlighting problems like stuttering, lagging, and audio dropouts. The video explores potential solutions, including the use of LatencyMon to diagnose system latency and suggests tweaks like switching to Windows Ultimate performance plan and using Unpark CPU to keep cores active, reducing latency spikes. The creator also discusses the impact of these tweaks on gaming performance, encouraging users to share their experiences and solutions.
Takeaways
- 💻 Modern Intel Desktop processors, especially hybridized architecture like 12th gen Alder Lake, 13th and 14th gen Raptor Lake CPUs, are facing performance issues.
- 📉 Users are reporting latency problems manifesting as stuttering, lagging mouse cursor, unresponsive File Explorer, and audio popping dropouts.
- 🛠️ The video aims to provide potential solutions to these issues, which have been troubling users and the tech community.
- 🖥️ Personal experience with an Intel Raptor Lake CPU and a Ryzen 95900 X system highlighted differences in performance and issue occurrence.
- 🚀 An upgrade to an Intel i9 4900 K with DDR5 memory and faster storage improved system performance but introduced occasional mouse lag and audio issues.
- 🔍 Tools like LatencyMon can help diagnose system latency by analyzing kernel timer latencies, DPC and ISR execution times, and hard page faults.
- 🔧 Various fixes have been shared by users to address high DPC and ISR, including driver updates, core parking adjustments, and disabling certain Windows features.
- ⚙️ The video suggests tweaks such as switching to Windows Ultimate performance plan and using Unpark CPU to keep cores active, reducing latency spikes.
- 💡 Disabling Spectre and Meltdown mitigations was mentioned as a risky tweak that some users found beneficial for reducing latency and improving FPS.
- 🎮 Benchmarking post-tweaks showed minor improvements in certain games, but overall performance was largely unaffected for most tested titles.
- 🗣️ The video encourages users to share their experiences and solutions in the comments to help others facing similar issues.
Q & A
What is the main issue discussed in the video?
-The main issue discussed in the video is the high latency, stuttering, lagging, and audio dropouts experienced by users with modern Intel Desktop processors, specifically those using hybridized architecture such as the 12th gen Alder Lake, 13th and 14th gen Raptor Lake CPUs.
How does the video aim to help users facing these issues?
-The video aims to help users by shedding more light on the issue and providing potential solutions to rectify the latency and performance problems they are experiencing.
What are some of the symptoms of the problem mentioned in the video?
-Symptoms of the problem include a lagging or unresponsive mouse cursor, stuttering, an unresponsive File Explorer, audio popping, and dropouts.
What did the speaker do to test the system's latency?
-The speaker downloaded a program called LatencyMon to check the system's latency, which analyzes possible causes of buffer underruns by measuring kernel timer latencies and reporting DPC and ISR execution times, as well as hard page faults.
What is the significance of DPC and ISR in the context of the video?
-DPC (Deferred Procedure Call) and ISR (Interrupt Service Routine) are related to the time it takes for the operating system to complete certain driver tasks and the software routines that hardware invokes in response to an interrupt. Minimizing DPC and ISR is crucial to avoid lag, stuttering, or audio dropouts.
What was the speaker's personal experience with the issue?
-The speaker experienced occasional mouse cursor lag or freezing and audio popping and occasional dropouts after upgrading their personal rig with an Intel i9 4900 K and Asus Rog Maximus z790 Apex Encore motherboard with DDR5 memory.
What solution did the speaker find to fix the latency issues?
-The speaker found that switching to Windows Ultimate performance plan and using a program called Unpark CPU to keep all cores unparked (active and ready to handle tasks immediately) significantly reduced DPC and ISR spikes and the latency issues.
How did the video game benchmarks turn out after applying the tweaks?
-After applying the tweaks, the speaker observed some improvement in the 1% lows performance in certain games like Remnant 2 and Hogwarts Legacy, but the average FPS and performance in most games remained largely unchanged.
What is the potential downside to using the Unpark CPU program?
-The potential downside to using Unpark CPU is an increase in idle power consumption, as the cores are kept active and do not go into a lower power state when not in use.
What is the speaker's recommendation for users experiencing these issues?
-The speaker recommends that users experiencing these issues share their experiences in the comments section, as it might be helpful to others, and suggests trying the solutions provided in the video to see if they can alleviate the problems.
What is the speaker's conclusion on the impact of disabling core parking on gaming performance?
-The speaker concludes that for most of the games tested, there wasn't a significant change in performance due to disabling core parking. However, the impact may vary depending on the game, and some titles might show a more noticeable difference.
Outlines
💻 PC Performance Issues with Modern Intel CPUs
The paragraph discusses the prevalent performance issues faced by users with modern Intel Desktop processors, particularly those with hybrid architecture like 12th gen Alder Lake and 13th & 14th gen Raptor Lake CPUs. These issues manifest as stuttering, lagging, unresponsive File Explorer, and audio popping or dropouts. The speaker shares personal experiences with these problems and introduces the video's aim to provide potential solutions. The speaker also talks about their personal rig upgrade to an i9 4900K and the issues they encountered post-upgrade, including occasional mouse cursor lag and audio issues despite having a high-end setup.
📊 Investigating System Latency with LatencyMon
This section delves into the use of LatencyMon, a program that analyzes system latency, especially for real-time audio processing. It identifies buffer underruns by measuring kernel timer latencies and reports on DPC (Deferred Procedure Call) and ISR (Interrupt Service Routine) execution times, along with hard page faults. The speaker's experience with LatencyMon on their system showed high spikes in latency, which correlated with the reported issues. The paragraph also touches on the broader impact of these latency issues across different systems and users, and the ongoing search for fixes, including driver and software updates.
🛠️ Implementing Fixes and Performance Tweaks
The speaker describes various fixes and tweaks they applied to address the latency issues. Switching to Windows Ultimate performance plan and using Unpark CPU to prevent core parking were two significant changes that helped reduce DPC and ISR spikes. Additionally, the speaker mentions the controversial option of disabling Spectre and Meltdown mitigations, which some users reported helped with latency and FPS. After applying these tweaks, the speaker observed an improvement in audio popping issues and conducted benchmarks to test the impact on gaming performance. The results showed minimal to no significant changes in most games, with a few exceptions showing slight improvements in FPS and 1% lows.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Performance issues
💡Intel Desktop processors
💡Latency issues
💡LatencyMon
💡DPC and ISR
💡Core parking
💡Windows performance plans
💡Spectre and Meltdown mitigations
💡BIOS update
💡Real-time performance
💡System benchmarking
Highlights
Modern PCs with Intel Desktop processors, specifically 12th gen Alder Lake, 13th and 14th gen Raptor Lake CPUs, are experiencing significant latency issues.
Latency issues manifest in various ways such as stuttering, lagging mouse cursor, unresponsive File Explorer, audio popping, and dropouts.
The video aims to provide a solution for the latency issues affecting many users with modern Intel processors.
The speaker used an Intel Raptor Lake CPU for benchmarking games and did not initially notice any strange issues.
The speaker's personal rig had a Ryzen 9 5900X with fast memory and an RTX 3090, which served well without any problems.
After upgrading to an Intel i9 4900K and Asus Rog Maximus z790 motherboard, the speaker experienced occasional mouse cursor lag and audio popping.
LatencyMon was used to check system latency, revealing high spikes and frequent issues with DPC and ISR.
DPC (Deferred Procedure Call) and ISR (Interrupt Service Routine) are critical for minimizing lag, stuttering, or audio dropouts.
Many users have been facing similar issues, as discussed by various tech YouTubers and content creators.
The speaker tried various tweaks and fixes, some of which worked for others but not for their system.
Switching to Windows Ultimate performance plan and using Unpark CPU helped reduce latency spikes and improve system performance.
Unpark CPU ensures all cores are unparked, reducing latency by keeping them active and ready to handle tasks immediately.
Disabling core parking can lead to smoother real-time performance and reduced DPC and ISR spikes.
Some users reported that disabling Spectre and Meltdown mitigations helped with latency issues and boosted FPS.
After applying various tweaks, the speaker noticed a complete disappearance of random audio popping.
Benchmarking games showed some improvement in performance, particularly in titles like Remnant 2 and Baldur's Gate 3.
The majority of the games tested showed results within the margin of error, indicating that the tweaks might not impact all games equally.
The video encourages users to share their experiences and solutions for high latency issues in the comments.
The information provided is meant to help users experiencing high latency issues and stuttering with their games.