[*Unresolved* Issue] Alienware M18x: GTX 580M SLI DPC Latency Problems

[Aikimox]

Can we please try and keep this thread constructive? All these OT posts are just going to make it harder for the engineers reading this threat to find the info thats of use to them to help fix it.

Sorry for making non-constructive comments. Constructively speaking, from my personal testing (had a couple of green M18x in the past few months), the core of the problem is related to the way the GPU changes its clocks, something to do with Powermizer feature. All the red spikes of 8k+ where happening when the cards switched the clocks from the low to high states. Forcing the clocks to max "fixed" the issue. I didn't do much testing after that, was enough for me to get the unpleasant dejavu.

[skygunner27]

This is my original message:
"Hi guys,

First of all I want to mention that I am a complete noob.I have a very strange problem that is completely driving me mad.There is very strange sound coming from the speakers pretty often.Its hard to explain but it sound like a mixture of a falling water drop sound with echo and some electronic sound.usually it happens after the pc has been idle for a bit.And after the sound happens the fans usually kick in a bit.Is there a way to turn it off somehow?Please help me because it is driving me crazy.Thank you very much in advance for any response.I hope to hear from yall soon.

p.s. my system has 2nvidia gtx580 sli gpu

p.p.s. I am very sorry for my english/grammar."

Mr.Aikimox have responded to me and recommended to write in this thread because it is dedicated to latency problems.Is there a way to turn off that strange sound?

It also causes video glitches/artifacts in video editing in addition to annoying audio pops/clipping or unwanted DJ robo sounds.

That's dpc latency or the IDT control panel's power save mode.

[bragi]

From what I have understand by reading the thread if it is dps latency it should not be at present with nvidia 269.03 drivers.I have double checked the driver version from the nvidia control panel and it says that I have 269.03 installed... =(

I have checked the IDT power management is off on my computer.Are there any other suggestions ?Thank you.

[skygunner27]

From what I have understand by reading the thread if it is dps latency it should not be at present with nvidia 269.03 drivers.I have double checked the driver version from the nvidia control panel and it says that I have 269.03 installed... =(

I have checked the IDT power management is off on my computer.Are there any other suggestions ?Thank you.

I don't know how you continue to stay on 269.03. That driver is horrible for yesterday/todays games. You are right, dpc latency doesn't effect 269.03. Maybe some one else may have a suggestion.

[Mr. Fox]

I am using Verde 285.62 WHQL and it's a mystery to me how it ever got past Microsoft's qualification lab. It, as well as the beta drivers, including their most current hot and steamy colon loaf (290.53) not only have DPC latency issues, but also problems with TDR on some platforms. (Thankfully, the M18x is not suffering the TDR issues.) NVIDIA really needs to get their act together on this. The DPC latency makes their affected products unsuitable for multimedia editing and diminishes the quality of audio playback.

As far as games are concerned, I'm not finding any issues that I can pinpoint. The GTX 580M SLI is doing a superior job of gaming. In my view, there does not need to be a problem with gaming for the DPC latency issue to warrant resolution. If all I wanted was a gaming device I could save $3,000 by using an XBOX or PS3.

The sad thing is that NVIDIA's irresponsible driver development is causing potentially irreversible financial harm to Dell (and any other OEM) that sells products with malfunctioning NVIDIA drivers. The average laptop/PC owner is a technologically unsavvy noob that only knows two things: (1) the brand name on the product; and, (2) something is not working correctly. The chances of the OEM selling that noob another product with the same brand name on it is diminished.

Here's what the DPC latency looks like with NVIDIA's latest and greatest WHQL "Certified" driver:

Spoiler :

And, here's what it looks like with a video running...

Spoiler :

Finally, here's an example of what lost future sales might look like to the uninformed noob that doesn't know better and thinks it's a Dell problem:

Spoiler :

You would have thought NVIDIA might have learned a lesson from the last class action lawsuit, but it appears they haven't. It's got to be tough for a company like Dell, that truly cares about it's customers and their products, to have to work with a vendor that seems to not give a [insert expletive here] and considers the customer an "end user" without a name or a face.

[Mr. Fox]

Sorry for making non-constructive comments. Constructively speaking, from my personal testing (had a couple of green M18x in the past few months), the core of the problem is related to the way the GPU changes its clocks, something to do with Powermizer feature. All the red spikes of 8k+ where happening when the cards switched the clocks from the low to high states. Forcing the clocks to max "fixed" the issue. I didn't do much testing after that, was enough for me to get the unpleasant dejavu.

I have suspected as much and I have been searching for a way to effectively disable PowerMizer to see if the DPC latency issue goes away. The second screen shot in my post above this one demonstrates exactly what you are referring to.

So far, nothing I have seen or tried works. The app (posted on this forum, in fact) called "PowerMizer Switch" was designed to disable it, but it does not work on the M18x. Also, registry hacking to disable PowerMizer does not work on the GTX 580M. There is also a tech document in the Dell Level 3 Engineering docs about disabling PowerMizer, but it does not apply to the M18x.

Disabling AMD PowerPlay also makes the 69XXM video cards work properly. I've always found CrossFire to be very buggy with PowerPlay enabled. AMD drivers crash far less frequently with PowerPlay disabled.

[Aikimox]

Problem is, even if we could disable Powermizer and PowerPlay, it wouldn't be a proper solution as the cards would always run hot and force the fans.

[Mr. Fox]

Problem is, even if we could disable Powermizer and PowerPlay, it wouldn't be a proper solution as the cards would always run hot and force the fans.

Yes, I agree with that comment. But, zeroing in on the problem and proving it to be the cause is a great first step in holding them accountable for fixing their messes.

It's too bad that the NVIDIA Control Panel does not include an option to disable PowerMizer like Catalyst Control Center does for PowerPlay. It would also be nice to have a way to turn of tessellation with the NVIDIA drivers.

NVIDIA is probably going to have to work closely with Microsoft to get their mess straightened out. DPC latency has become more of an issue in this post-Windows XP era. The way WDM handles things in Vista and Windows 7 has created some issues. Threaded DPCs are available in Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, and this is where things started to get complicated.

An ordinary DPC preempts the execution of all threads, and cannot be preempted by a thread or by another DPC. If the system has a large number of ordinary DPCs queued, or if one of those DPCs runs for a long time, every thread will remain paused for an arbitrarily long time. Thus, each ordinary DPC increases system latency, which can hurt the performance of time-sensitive applications, such as audio or video playback.

The NVIDIA driver might be the primary cause for the DPC latency, but it could be the way that driver is interacting with something in the Windows OS or another device driver that is resulting in the latency.

[Aikimox]

Try this (credit goes to miemens):

1.Open up Regedit and go to \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\********\0000\
The *'s will be random numbers. There will be a few of them, pick the one with the most stuff in it.
2.Create the 4 Powermizer keys (these will all be DWORD):
PerfLevelSrc
PowerMizerEnable
PowermizerLevel
PowermizerLevelAC
3.Change the values (double click on them) to:
PerfLevelSrc 3322
PowerMizerEnable 0
PowermizerLevel 1
PowermizerLevelAC 1
4.Reboot and Powermizer will be disabled!

[neosis]

Try this (credit goes to miemens):

1.Open up Regedit and go to \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\********\0000\
The *'s will be random numbers. There will be a few of them, pick the one with the most stuff in it.
2.Create the 4 Powermizer keys (these will all be DWORD):
PerfLevelSrc
PowerMizerEnable
PowermizerLevel
PowermizerLevelAC
3.Change the values (double click on them) to:
PerfLevelSrc 3322
PowerMizerEnable 0
PowermizerLevel 1
PowermizerLevelAC 1
4.Reboot and Powermizer will be disabled!

Here's the problem(s) with doing this:

1. keeping track of these keys as nvidia driver updates come out.
2. making sure these key values don't change when new driver updates come out.
3. making sure these values don't somehow get deleted or reset when a new driver is installed.

It's a lot of work and upkeep for something that should instead be handled by the driver creator (nvidia).

If this does work, thanks for the short-term solution, but I refuse to muck up my registry, so I can't try this out.