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In Reply to: The art of building Computer Transports posted by cics on April 5, 2007 at 08:00:10:
Hello all. I have some additional XP settings that I thought I’d offer up and see if anyone agrees on an improvement in sound. I applied all the common XP tweaks a year ago, but these I don’t think I’ve read about so I figured I’d post them. Nothing scientific, just using my ears.Try them one at a time if possible:Device Manager:System Devices:
Disable system speaker. Disable Windows UAA High Defenition Audio (if you have it). If it asks you to reboot, you can say no and still hear the difference. I disable other devices not in use. i.e. network adapter, DVD DRIVE, monitors..Anyone know of any others under System Devices that are safe to disable?
(Side question: What does disabling items in device manager actually do? Just stop data communications?)
next…but note that these steps may be annoying to try to use windows this way if you actually do more than listen to music on this pc. I’m going to see if I can adapt to navigating with the file explorer..
My Computer-Tools-Folder Options:
View tab – I have checks only on “Show hidden files/folder”, “launch folder windows in separate process”. “Show both parts but manage as a single file”. Everything else is unchecked.
At the top set all folders to “Like current Folder”.
General tab. Use classic desktop and folders. Open each folder in its own window. Single click to open/underline icon consistent with browser.
Again on the view tab set all folders to “Like current Folder”.I can hear improvements with all these settings. Anybody disagree with any of them? Any other uncommon settings I might not know about?
Also, is it safe to remove and replace power connection from the dvd drive while computer is on? I think people say that it helps.
Mike.
I use foobar asio out with rme digi soundcard .
Follow Ups:
My take: Its more than data comms. You free up important hardware resources & bandwidth (on PCI bus). If device is linked to a specific chipset, you get less power consumed. Associated Windows processing also stops meaning less overheads on CPU.
Yes - you must remove this drive for best sound (not just the power connections, also IDE bus cable). Keep away from IDE interface.
Thanks Mike,Just for clarity, this is the change I did:
Control Panel > System > Hardware TAB > Device Manager > expand System Devices > right-click 'System speaker' > Disable
You're right there's an improvement (one less item on PCI bus).
Also try disabling 'Terminal Server Device Redirector' (which is further down the list) this will force a reboot. Its a low-level change and in my system I get improvements. Redirector seems to add overheads.
Collectively, there's more air. Brilliant!
Don't have Windows UAA stuff. On folders/explorer, I don't use it but will try it (you never know with Windows).
Cics, I just disabled integrated audio in my bios and that seemed to improve the sound further. I'm going to investigate some of the other bios options. I was looking for the spread spectrum option, but I don't see it on my dell.I forgot to mention disabled terminal services, as one that I had already disabled, and that improvement was noticable as well. Also,I use an IDE dvd player to put movies on my hard drive quiteoften, so I'd like to keep my ide dvd drive plugged in for now.
Also, in the folder options, I've changed my mind and prefer the "show both parts and manage them individually" option what I said in my previous post.
Our home PC is a Dell and it also doesn't offer option to disable spread spectrum. Thats why I went with Biostar mobo as you want this disabled. Also, there are other PCI devices/features (modem, LAN, EHCI & emulation) in BIOS that you should disable - it all helps free up PCI bus traffic.On Folders/Explorer, I found very interesting stuff in Windows that you want to avoid/disable - I'll post the solution (which is a bit radical) once my test is 100%.
Yes, disabling 'Terminal Server Device Redirector' gives a good improvement. Likewise, the new stuff on Folders/Explorer gives yet more improvements.
I did like to see file details in my windows, but it seems that changing the view to List also helps a lot. All you do is right-click in any directory window and going under the View menu, change the view to List.
Them , as always, you need to go into the folder options--> View and hit the "apply to all folders": button to get the toal benefit.
I've posted a solution to get rid of Explorer effects. Please test and let me know.
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