FINALLY, a stutter lag fix for games!

[fr33k]

Ok I didn't figure this out but a nice guy in another forum I visit did and I gotta say it works WONDERS, it removed the odd stuttering I’ve been having in games (not as bad lately but still there) So I’m hoping it resolves some problems others have been having (remember the game stutter thread?) Please let me know if this works for you, it worked for me, I can't believe how well it works! This has also been said to speed up mouse movement and remove mouse lag from games that have it really bad.
Enjoy! P.S. I am not responsible for ANY PROBLEMS YOU HAVE, I am not a tech either and I don't know if it will cause any problems with your system either, please read this over thoroughly.

http://www.transformerman1.plus.com/LtcyCfg.zip

Get the tool and see if your graphiccard is running at 248ms latency. Is it?

Decrease latency of it (or any other device with a latency, '000' means: has none) to 64 or below (below may not be faster, depends on system) and go into your favorite 3D game!

Any difference? I say YES and put my hands in fire for that.

Note that you can save the config it to a file (click 'add to list first' or it won't work) and load it via batch file (read me) when windows starts because otherwise windows will overwrite your settings with the next boot (JUST LIKE IT DOES WITH YOUR BIOS SETTINGS! GRMMF!)

Ok, to clear some things up.

1. The changes apply for AGP also!
2. You do not have to do it after every boot.

a) Start program and make the changes you want (enter number and click 'set now' for the device you want to change) - make sure you don't touch the devices that don't have 000 (no) latency at all
B) mark ALL entries and click on 'add to list', you will see a new column called 'new' on the right (means it's added)
C) press 'save as' and save the table to a config file with a name you like into the program folder I suggest
d) Go into the program folder, create a txt file and write into it:

C:\LtcyCfg\LtcyCfg.exe -f:C:\LtcyCfg\config.cfg <- Replace with your path and name of config file of course. (I think you could leave the folders away as the file resides in the same directory of the program, but I never trust windows in such cases)

Then save the txt-file and replace it's extension with BAT (if you can't see the extension you'll have to go to your windows-explorer->extras->folder options->somewhere...Google if you don't know and disable the 'hide extensions from known file types' or whatever it's called in the English version of XP)

e) Drag a shortcut of that BAT-file into your auto start folder

f) Done, if you want to make changes repeat step a-c. Happy gaming and more overall power (even on desktop)

3. Possible heat problem: I WOULD say no. Me and my friends (one doesn't even have a fan on his ATI!!!) didn't encounter any problems but only improvement of performance.

Let me try to explain why (simple words, I'm no technician):

Decreasing the latency does NOT mean INCREASING the response time of your hardware!

The BUS latency stands for: How much time does a component of your PC (graphic card, network card, and sound card) have to perform an operation before another component can! Note that only one component can use the BUS at one time, then the next, then the next. In other words: instead of letting your graphic card do 100 operations in 248ms you set it to a lower number of operations in 32, 64, 128ms. (32 is minimum and must be a number that can be divided by 8)

So the problem is while leaving the graphic card latency at 248ms - which it is mostly set to - that the component has TOO MUCH time and other important operations (soundcard for example) can not be performed in time, so the queue list is getting bigger and bigger-> CPU overload.

Experiment a little with the settings and see what gets you best performance. In my opinion it's mostly the graphic card latency that hogs the CPU but you may tweak a little more out of it. Depends on hardware I guess. I have all my components set to 32ms now.

For more info go here: http://www.mark-knutson.com/technique_to_target_inc/ (Note that at this URL you'll find another program called PCIDAWG. It does exactly the same but has no possibility of loading it with windows, anyway the information you'll find there is pretty good. It's written by the programmer of PCIDAWG)

- - - - -
ADDED SOME MORE INFO:

Some of you might wonder why you have the "PCI Latency time" option in your BIOS if the PCI latency is messed up if you don't use a program like this one here.

1. Windows overwrites this setting. *Duh*
2. Some manufacturers of graphic cards and (possibly other hardware) set the latency of their cards to 248ms internally on the card itself (the programmer of PCIDAWG says that they do it to boost performance and that they are obviously wrong with that in most cases)

Who knows why they didn't play out THAT joker by now. ; )
- - - - -

One more thing: Don't blame me for a blown up card. I do not expect this to happen as I made only (and many) good experiences by tweaking these settings on many different PC systems. I tried to explain why hardware damage is probably never going to happen above BUT AT LAST: I'm no technician and no graphic card manufacturer.

Thanks to electronikus FOR ALL THE INFO HERE! YOU RULE!!!
*edit fixed link

[onepairofpant]

I just opened it up and my video card is at 248 but why would they do that? just try and screw me over like that, there must be a reason for it being at 248

[Monarch]

I set it to 32 and I got BSOD a few minutes later when running a direct3d program

[whitedragon]

Higher latency gives the device the maximum compatability with as many configurations/devices as possible. Like the guy said, play around a little & see what gives you the best performance.

[onepairofpant]

I set it to 32 and I got BSOD a few minutes later when running a direct3d program

BSOD?

[Damien]

I set it to 32 and I got BSOD a few minutes later when running a direct3d program

BSOD?

blue screen of death

very nasty type of system crash in windows nt and up.

[onepairofpant]

eh if it aint broke dont fix it!

and its stutter not studder

[maxx77]

Hi Fr33k,

Thank you for the info, it's very interesting.

1) Please tell us in what games you were experiencing stuttering.
2) Is the stuttering gone completely in all your problematic games?

Thanks, very useful info

Maxx77.

[MaD]

From what I understand, AGP has it's own direct bus to the system. It is independant from the PCI bus (You can go check the agp specs).

This is why all AGP cards will have a latency of 248 (max), because there is No other devide which it shares with. There is only 1 AGP port and 1 AGP card so the AGP card should have the full lacenty timings.

So theoretically, changing the latency of AGP cards lower should not do anything at all.

From here on I'm babling and you can ignore or correct me if you're in the know.........................
For argument sake, you might say that though the AGP bus is independant, it still shares 'total system resource', and because of this, lowering the latency solves some stutter or tearing issue with graphics. I would agree with this, But this is just like underclocking.

The creator of PCIDAWG tool is basically doing it for PCI sound cards and addressing the problem of pops and crackles with sound.

I have previously owned many VIA boards from kt266-333 and have been following another PCI Latency 'guru', George Breese and his famous PCI Latency Patch. That also only modifies the latency for the PCI bus, solving issues with Sound, IDE and RAID and general stability.

[Glus]

Powerstrip does this also:
www.entechtaiwan.com

I have been using it on and off for years, I think it helped me back when i had a via board, cannot test it with nforce thou, as it has been a problem free board for me.

But I though I will take this opportunity to recomment powerstrip, hehe. Been using it for years to lock my refresh rates, overclocks, etc, and it never let me down. It is the ultimate graphic card's tweak tool!