XXHighEnd

I posted on Digi+ power management a few weeks ago with some screen shots giving a few “starter” settings.

www.phasure.com/index.php?topic=2664.0

For me these Digi+ settings improved the musical presentation and were worthwhile but also slightly emphasised a “hardness” in the upper scales that I had been trying to get rid of for a while. I suspect that the Digi+ settings and my graphic card together were contributing to this hardness. When using the VGA output of the graphics card sound is rounded and full but with the hardness whilst using the DVI output there was a smoothness to the sound and no hardness but the sound was slightly “light”For a while now I have had an idea for a while that the frequency of movements of data within the PC can effect sound.

 Nothing new here, Peter has provided a lot of settings which control frequency of operations within the PC and has done masses of work under the covers addressing this stuff. Under clocking also gives very good results here. So Digi+ Bios settings needed to be optimised and it might be worthwhile working with under clocking and Bios frequencies.

I'v been working with these thoughts in mind for a week or two and seem to have landed at a very sweet spot set of BIOS settings for the ASUS P9X79WS motherboard that I use. I know that a few members use this board (hi Brian, Mani  :)) and the settings could be useful on other similar Asus MoBos, so I thought I would post the settings to see what people make of them.  As I write they are making a really positive impact  on SQ here.

The changes are.

A) Digi+ settings that limit the Digi+ functions ability to play about with Power and where frequencies are set in make these differ from each other to “spread” the frequency of power change to the process and memory etc.

B) Underclock the CPU using the clock ratio (32 standard down to 18) and reduce memory speed but overclock the processor clock frequency slightly  to shift the memory frequency away from the VGA card processor frequency of 800mhz.

C) Tune XX settings to work well with the BIOS set up. the results are the best sound heard here to date by some way.

I have placed XX settings in my signature and BIOS screen shots for the P9X79WS follow.

Cheers,

Nick

Hi Nick,

it seems that different clock frequencies for the mobo components are useful and that the correlation depends on the mobo itself. I tried the settings with two mobos with different equipment (RAM, graphics, etc.) and there are different values necessary. So it's an individual finetuning ...

Georg

Hi Georg,

Agreed values will be different for each mobo graphics card etc. The order I came at this to find the sweet spot was to underclocking first using the clock multiplier and running slow ram frequencies for best SQ.

 Then set the digi+ settings as described (but had to spend a little time researching the parameters) to try to stop the function making adjustments on the fly.

Then tweak the digi+ frequencies so they are not all the same, and finally tweak the cpu frequency up just a little so that the the ram frequency was different  to my vga card cpu.

The settings should work for an asus mobo same as mine and possibly other x79 asus mobo chipsets. For other boards mileage may vary as they say but hopefully there may be something useful in the principles applied to decide on the settings.

Hopefully Brian might be able to give the settings a go to see if they work for the same mobo in a different system.

Cheers,

Nick.

Nick, will let you know how those settings sound here as soon as I get a chance to spend some time on it. Always appreciate your tweeks. I'm still getting used to the incredible difference the Seasonic PS has made. Many, many thanks.

Hi Nick,

I changed to a passive Seasonic PS too - it's worth every cent  :). Because the mounting holes of my computer case are at the top I turned the case upside down and turned the HD and DVD too. That works fine! Sooner or later I will get a new case ;)

Cheers,
Georg

Hi Nick,

In my X58 Sabertooth the Load-Line Calibration has three settings: Auto, Disabled (Follow Intel Spec.) and Enabled (Improve VDroop directly). You set it to Regular (0%), is this the same as Disabled?

What´s your xQ1 value?

Regards,
Juan

Hey Nick , based on your signature I assume you are not using the APEXI card?

Brain hi,

No need for the APEXI card for a while now since I moved to W8 and particularly now with the Seasonic PSU. Still use the card as a diagnostic but not for normal listening.

Nick.

My Asus mobo is antediluvian compared with yours Nick and so does not have the Digi+ feature. However I have under clocked by setting the CPU Ratio to 18. This is blind as I do not know what is max on my mobo (yet). I would say that there is a significant improvement but I have to be somewhat cautious because other things are changing in my system. The new S5's speakers are burning in and are changing rapidly hence the note of caution.

Yet another nice tweak though Nick I will investigate further when things in my system settle down further.

The S5's wow eeeee that is a whole other story - which is coming soon - watch this space!!!

Paul

Juan hi,

I would try "disabled" as the load line setting first. I don't think my BIOS has an xQ1 setting so I'm not sure what to set on this one, try a few values and have a listen.

Cheers Nick.

Hey Nick, here are a few preliminary observations. After applying all underclocking and DIDGI+ settings you posted above, it seemed there was a slight improvement in clarity and dynamics, though I wasn't sure if this was placebo because it was not a significant difference. Previously I was using the "OC Tuner" option on the AI Tweaker tab main page, running the memmory at 1330 instead of 1600. However, I was very pleased that my cpu temps dropped by about 5 degrees centigrade: from around 40 to around 35. I then borrowed a monitor with a DVI input because my cheap Dell only has a VGA input. I was pretty shocked at the difference the dVI connection made. Definitely smoother and more relaxed! However, I only had about 20 minutes of listening time so I didn't do any fine tuning with XX settings.  Will let you know more when I get a chance to know more.

Again thanks for sharing your tweaks! 

Hi Nick, the xQ1 value I was asking for is the one in XXHighEnd, I don´t see it in your signature.

Regards,
Juan

Thanks Georg. You turned me upside down too until I get a new case!

Had a good "listen" last night. Best ever, one would think I mounted a turntable somewhere inside the PC. Is it the speed of DVI that makes such a difference?

From the Seasonic Owner´s Manual:

"For Platinum-400 /460 /520 Fanless: The power supply unit must be mounted into the computer case with the ventilation top cover facing UP. Extra mounting screw holes, on the back of the power supply, are provided for reverse mounting, if necessary, to ensure the ventilation top cover is facing the proper direction"

(The bold is mine)

Juan

Thanks Juan. By turning the PC case upside down, I was able to follow exactly those Seasonic instructions. Now the PS is on the bottom of the case but by flipping it, the vent is on top with nothing obstructing it.  :)

Juan hi,

Q1 of 10 with SFS at 1.6mb. Gives a very dynamic sound.

Cheers,

Nick.

Thanks Nick, I understand that you have both Q1 and xQ1=10. With your Q settings the minimum SFS I can get is 14Mb.

Following your changes in the BIOS I found these as my best settings:

CPU Frequency: 1995MHz
DRAM Frequency: 1066MHz

Best regards,
Juan

Juan hi,

Regards SFS, 14mb does not seem very low for the power of your PC. I had a problem a couple of times where I could not get SFS below 4 without breaks in music. I had to go back to full OS then re minimise in XX for another reason after I did this SFS worked down to 1.5mb. It might be worth trying this to see if you can go lower.

Regards,

Nick.

Hi Nick,

I only can go that low with this Q settings:

Q1:10, Q2,Q3,Q4:0, Q5:2 and xQ1:1

This is the reason why I asked you what was your xQ1 (Q1 Factor) setting. With Q1:10 and xQ1:10 for me was impossible to go lower than SFS:14Mb

Now, with the new settings I can go as low as SFS:1,4Mb

Would you please check again your xQ1 setting?, I thing that must be a misunderstanding about it.

Tomorrow I´ll play music at normal volume level to see the SQ with this settings, now is too late here.

Best regards,
Juan

I will never use that sh*t VGA again. Without thinking about I connected the TV to the PC via the VGA interface. What a big mistake! When the monitor is connected via DVI the music is more analogue again and the locating phantastic. Many thanks for the reminder of the DVI interface  :)

Georg

....to Nick!

Yes, give credit where credit is due  :)

Georg

What I'm wondering is has the use of DVI for video operation been known to help SQ or, Nick, did you just stumble into this discovery? Really, it has been one of the most significant tweaks I've ever experienced with my system. Have others tried this too? Perhaps Nick, Georg and I happened to drink from the same batch of cool aide? It's sort of weird that others have had nothing to say about this.  :scratching:

I've been using the DVI (and a fanless psu) from the very beginning. Coincidental ignorance I must admit, but it turned out right  :blush1:.

Stanley