Topic: Windows 10 + ASUS X99 A2 + UFX 2 = help

Hello

Just want to double check I've tried everything before I have to give up on this UFX 2

The last time I wrote about this problem (back in 2017) I decided to revert back to Windows 7.  It worked great on Win7 - absolutely love this soundcard so I'm pretty frustrated this problem is still here in Windows 10.

I've now had to update to windows 10 and can't revert back so I was hopeful that by now things might have been fixed.

Unfortunately it seems it isn't.

Audio just randomly start to stutter - almost like it's the wrong sample rate on everything.  It'll work for a few hours but then will just decide to crap itself out of nowhere.  It's not a few dropouts here and there - it's a constant stutter - including system sounds and DAW.

I tried disabling the Xhci handoff in bios - I've also added the -1 to the registry value to the mouse trails.
Updated to latest bios.
Also checked my graphics card (AMD Radeon RX460) isn't on some power saving setting or anything.  Incidentally, I had already downgraded to this graphics card in 2017 to try get rid of the Nvidea conflict thinking it was that.... it wasn't.

If there's anything else that I can try please do let me know.

And if not, can anyone recommend an RME soundcard similar to UFX 2 that's stable with the following:

Windows 10 pro
Asus x99 A 2
Intel i7-6900k 3.2ghz [8core]
64gb DDR4 Ram
AMD Radeon RX460
1 x Samsung 960 EVO
6 x Samsung 850 EVO


Thanks for your time

Re: Windows 10 + ASUS X99 A2 + UFX 2 = help

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Re: Windows 10 + ASUS X99 A2 + UFX 2 = help

Hello!

Have you optimize your pc for audio work?

I mean stuff like setting windows for background tasks, high performance in power options, disabling C/P/T states in BIOS, disabling unecessary windows services.

Also, try connecting your UFX to a different Usb port and unchecking the "Allow windows to turn off this device" option under :
Device manager -> Usb controllers -> Usb Hubs -> Right Click -> Properties -> Power Management

Also, how are your WDM Devices configured in the RME settings?

Also, here's a link to a long thread with various tweaks that can also be applied to your situation:

https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=29802

RME Gear: Digiface USB, HDSP 9632

Re: Windows 10 + ASUS X99 A2 + UFX 2 = help

Hey

Thank you so much for your ideas.

You may have solved my situation by putting me on the path of C states

I had all the high performance modes enabled in Windows but hadn't checked on BIOS level...
When I was hunting around in there I noticed Speed Stepping and Turbo Boost were on.  Turned them off - and for the last 6 hours - the system has been stable! I hadn't thought that my CPU clock speed could affect my audio drivers?

I'll report back if this suddenly goes nuts again but.... so far so good. 

Thank you again!!  I owe you big time if this has worked!!

Re: Windows 10 + ASUS X99 A2 + UFX 2 = help

Nice nice ...

BTW on my system I have to
- deactivate only C-States (C0/C1)
- leave Turbo and Speed Step on
then I can control the rest in Windows (CPU core parking, clock) simply by selecting one of the three power profiles.
Then in windows select power profile: "High Performance (EN)" or "Höchstleistung (DE)".
With a Xeon E5-1650v4 CPU (3.6 / Turbo 4.0 GHz) this leads to a constant clock slightly higher than base clock (3.6) and a little slower than Turbo (4.0) => 3.8 GHz.

You need to observe then with tools like e.g. HWMonitor (which is quite nice as it shows clock per CPU core) whether the clock is stable or whether it changes. If its stable then you should have the benefit as well running with a little higher clock rate compared to base clock.

But please check whether CPU temperatures are still fine, this you can also observe with HWMonitor.
You need to run it as administrator to get more details: https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Then you can tweak it even a little further with tools like parkcontrol: https://bitsum.com/parkcontrol/
Sorry this one only in German but look at the pictures, there I did some fine tuning for the older CPU model that I
had, the E5-1650v3 (Base: 3.5, Turbo: 3.8 GHz).
Depending on the Windows Power Profile I can select CPU core parking and clock speed:
High Performance: no cores parked, full clock
Balanced: 50% of cores parked, at least 1,9 GHz clock speed
Power Saving: as many cores as possible parked and a minimum clock speed of 1.2 GHz
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/ind … -X10SRi-F/

I tweaked then this even more by making use of special features of Process Lasso Pro:
Performance Mode and Idle Saver
My default Power Profile is "Balanced".
If there is no user activity (Mouse, Keyboard) for e.g. 15s (configurable), then it enters automatically "Power Saving" mode.
As soon as I start working again, the energy profile switches to the currently set which is balanced.
Then for certain applications where I want 100% performance I can configure to enter an energy profile for high performance. To ensure, that IDLE saver does not become activated I need to select not only a higher energy profile for such applications but also a "flag" Performance Mode. This mode hinders that IDLE saver becomes active.
By this I have a full automated selection of power profile based on the applications that I use.
And in the evening its quite nice, when I use the PC only for casual internet browsing, that I get a sufficient performance for internet browsing (as it stays in power profile balanced) and as soon as I continue watching TV, then PL Pro's IDLEsaver feature takes automatically care to select Power Saving as lowest energy profile.

Applications like cubase can activate their own energy profile or you choose "Bitsum Highest Performance", which  Bitsums own Energy Profile to ensure highest performance.

This article is a little older, meanwhile I selected a little higher clock for "Balanced" but am still parking 50% of cores.
Not 100% sure but in a good case of luck these 50% deactivate exactly the Hyperthread cores ...
Under Windows 7 I could notice that every 2nd core (the hyperthreaded cores) became deactivated.
Under Windows 10 the behavior of these Gadget tools for CPU changed a little, not sure whether Win10 is different in that regards, but I do not care too much.

PL Pro has btw also a steam detection, so that Bitsums Highest Performance is automatically being selected as soon as you start gaming. It gives you really some extra comfort options and even some more.

Don't get me wrong, I do not see a necessity to use PL Pro .. I only wanted to give you an idea whether this would also be of interest for you, that your PC can save some energy, if you are not recording or of you are away from the keyboard.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

6 (edited by MetalHeadKeys 2020-07-06 01:04:09)

Re: Windows 10 + ASUS X99 A2 + UFX 2 = help

cmds wrote:

Hey

Thank you so much for your ideas.

You may have solved my situation by putting me on the path of C states

I had all the high performance modes enabled in Windows but hadn't checked on BIOS level...
When I was hunting around in there I noticed Speed Stepping and Turbo Boost were on.  Turned them off - and for the last 6 hours - the system has been stable! I hadn't thought that my CPU clock speed could affect my audio drivers?

I'll report back if this suddenly goes nuts again but.... so far so good. 

Thank you again!!  I owe you big time if this has worked!!


You 're welcome! smile

About your question regarding clock speed, a short increase to 100 per cent even on one of the cores, is enough to create a "hickup" or audio dropout!

That's why these tweaks help maintaining stability. The lesser the processes for other stuff, the better it is for the CPU to not have big deviations from the required processing power at any given moment.

For more tweaking fun, you can follow Ramses' insightful suggestions!!

RME Gear: Digiface USB, HDSP 9632