I have a second older machine that is now only used sometimes to make music, I feel it’s a waste to keep it running full throttle with all powesaving in bios settings disable, meaning it runs 100% of the cpus in vain most of the time.

Would love some help here to know the following

1-which of these will enable basic reasonable power saving when full performance is not needed? I can imagine not ALL are needed, I have following choices (all disabled)

CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)
C3 State Support
C6/C7 State Support
CPU EIST Function


2- which of these will enable sleep? And what sleep variation is “best”, seems there are a couple of types of sleep, saving to disk and “only” sleeping…

Thanks for any guidance

 

I have all the C-states enabled but I have a overclocked i9-9900K cpu and I simply switch the power plans. The default plan is set for the cpu to run at 95% (if I am not mistaken even 99% will work) and this keeps my cpu at under 2GHz. Then the Ultimate plan (or whatever is called the most capable plan in your windows version) runs the cpu at 100% (constant, stable 4.9 GHz), no power saves for USB ports and drives - and this one keeps the cpu at full speed. When I don't make music I keep the first power plan active and when I make music, I keep the second one active. For that, I use a script that detects the audio apps: http://www.bigsoft.co.uk/blog/2013/09/30/change-power-plan-when-application-starts

 

Last edited: Sep 13, 2022

You mean the bios are totally overridden by the windows power plan settings!?

I thought there were some extra gain in going to the bios …
Well if so that is very convenient to say the least

 

Last edited: Sep 13, 2022

I made that configuration 2 years ago so I don't remember too much - I was very careful with the configuration, I used Intel Power gadget (and some other CPU tool I can't remember the name) to confirm that the cpu behaves as stated above (and I also used help from reddit). It may be only for my generation of CPU, I don't know... My settings (with the overclock settings which are insane - load lines, voltages, multipliers etc - I had to nail proper voltages to not damage the cpu, to have a manageable heat production and not to undervolt the chip because it will freeze) the whole tuning took me a good 2 months. What I am sure is this - no C-states were touched, but there is a chance EIST is deactivated for me aswell. That's what's keeping the cpu at constant clock. Try the power plan at under 100% and see if the cpu slows down

 

Deactivate CPU power management

1. Press the Delete key during the boot process to enter the BIOS
2. Go to -> Advanced CPU Configuration -> Advanced Power Management Configuration
3. Change Power Technology to Custom and Energy Efficient Turbo to Disable
4. Switch to CPU P State Control, deactivate EIST (P-States) and Turbo Mode
5. Then switch to CPU C State Control, change Package C State Limit to C0 / C1 state
and deactivate CPU C3 Report, CPU C6 Report and Enhanced Halt State (C1E).

You can find more information here:
- Don't let audio glitches ruin your performances!
www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/
- The Ultimate Guide to Optimize your Windows PC for the Stage
https://gigperformer.com/docs/ultimate-guide-to-optimize-windows-for-stage/index.html

 

Last edited: Sep 13, 2022

To have an easy way to switch, you can add to the Windows context menu and choose a plan.
I like to just alter the default plans and not create my own-named plan, so i can just use the default selections, but you can make your own and change the .reg files if you want:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/6039-choose-power-plan-context-menu-add-windows-10-a.html

 

Power Management
Nearly every PC today ships with Windows configured to save power when not in use.
In general this is a good thing and we should all be doing our bit for the environment.

However,when it comes to real-time audio nearly all of these settings are detrimental to reliable audio.

Don't let audio glitches ruin your performances!
www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/

Spoiler: You use the following links to optimize your computer for music production.

You use the following links to optimize your computer for music production.

0.) Don't let audio glitches ruin your performances! www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/
1.) The Ultimate Guide to Optimize your Windows PC for the Stage
https://gigperformer.com/docs/ultimate-guide-to-optimize-windows-for-stage/index.html
2.) LatencyMon 7.20
The LatencyMon software analyzes and identifies which device, which driver or which service is causing audio dropouts or malfunctions. Real-time audio suitability checker for Windows 10/8.1/8/7/2016/2012/2008 (x86 and x64)
Scroll Down to: System Monitoring Tools www.resplendence.com/downloads
3.) Windows Tuning Tips for Audio Processing
https://support.native-instruments....1729-Windows-Tuning-Tips-for-Audio-Processing
4.) PreSonus - Optimizing Your Computer for Audio - Windows 10
https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-...Optimizing-Your-Computer-for-Audio-Windows-10
5.) Ableton - Optimizing Windows for Audio
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209071469-Optimizing-Windows-for-Audio
6.) FL Studio - Optimizing FL Studio performance
www.image-line.com/fl-studio-learning/fl-studio-online-manual/html/app_opt.htm
7.) Steinberg - Windows: How to set-up and optimize a Digital Audio Workstation
https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/...t-up-and-optimize-a-Digital-Audio-Workstation
8.) Focusrite - Optimising your PC for Audio on Windows 10
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10

 

Actually all of them. Under normal circumstances there's also no reason to disable them. C6/C7 might have just a minimal effect though and your power supply has to support it.

None. Sleep is an independent feature.

The difference is where the session data is stored – RAM (ACPI S3, "Sleep") vs. disk (ACPI S4, "Hibernation"). RAM is faster, but volatile. The computer still consumes power to keep the data in the memory. An interruption of power supplies leads to data loss.

 

yeah, i noticed that they all do like a little bit of it independently, i have enabled two so far and it enabled W10 power settings again, before when disabled the cpu run full throttle whatever setting you choose.

thanks @Olaf for your answer,
and for for actually reading the freaking post lol

 

Umm .. like, yeah.

My link was about when you are NOT USING YOUR COMPUTER TO CREATE AUDIO.
It is a simple option to switch to power-saving mode when you are browsing the internet and then eating lunch and riding your bicycle and having sex.