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"/UsePMTimer", Hotfixes 835730, 895980 & 896256, Intel Core 2 Duo, XP-SP2/SP3 Redux...

2011-05-23: ATTENTION New Readers - this initial post is more confusing than it is informative. Please skip to subsequent posts in this thread.

Hi Everybody

Please help sort out the confusing/ conflicting advice regarding WinXP and alternatives to using the default TSC timer. Having sifted through the original thread ( http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/t.mpl?f=pcaudio&m=86432 ), I'm at a loss to decide "what's best".

Are we really discussing two different mechanisms for "improving" the sound of a cMP2 ? Can they be used together ? Should they be ?

(BTW, my cMP2 is built on the GA-G31M-S2L/ E7200 platform, running WinXP-SP2).

The Microsoft KB articles I've found don't offer enough detail to form a definitive answer. While there's evidence the Intel Core 2 Duo processors can be affected by using the PM Timer (not just AMD CPUs), it's not clear if SP3 has this fix rolled in or not.

Microsoft describes using the "/UsePMTimer" switch by itself to cure TSC drift here -> ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895980 ).

However, in this article ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/835730 ) the Status section states "This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2." Furthermore, this Hotfix does not specify manual intervention to Boot.ini or the Registry (for WinXP). Just install and enjoy.

From that you might conclude that SP2 and above would not suffer a problem (when running on the affected CPUs) and the "/UsePMTimer" switch should have no effect. How then do we interpret the very real improvements reported by hfavandepas and theob ?

Can anyone summarize the points pertinent to running a cMP2 (on Core 2 Duo, under XP-SP2), and offer an opinion on "what's best". That would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Grant

That's not a Toy... IT'S A TOOL !!


Edits: 04/16/11 05/23/11
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