HQPlayer4 EC modulator tips and techniques

[JTS]

Puget is a great place to start for solid builds. They test the hell out of stuff for video production work.

 

I am running W10 Pro on an i9-9900k on an ASUS WS Z390 PRO with 64Gb ram and a GTX1080. I have since simplified my overclock even further than previously mentioned on the HQ player thread.

 

I leave Turbo on and run all the cores at 4.7GHz (I found that the voltage required for 4.8 ran things a touch too hot for my tastes when rendering video). I run a power profile that allows the CPUs to throttle down when not in use (I used the balance power profile as a starting point). I have a middling GTX 1080 in there and can run the EC modulators with any of the filters in DSD256. It sounds glorious through my RME-ADI2 DAC in DSD direct (->Freya->Neumann KH120As)

 

In my experience, overclocking does not have to be super complex. I approach it as simply as I can. Don't take this as instructional, but as an example - there are many ways up the mountain.

 

Many people get into overclocking their cache and their ram etc. Across multiple machines (Like 5 that I run in the studio for rendering and animation work) I have found that research is the most important part - The big questions are what are other people running their cpu at and at what voltage with what cooler???

 

I have three machines in 2U cases for rendering that I have actually undervolted a bit to get temperatures suitable for the coolers that fit in the 2U cases. One thing that you will find in your research is that the defaults on a given MOBO are often inefficient. They dump gobs of power into your CPU which makes a bunch of heat without any return on speed increases.

 

For the overclocking process, I start by using default voltage and settings with everything except the CPU. Then I go through a process of balancing speed vs voltage vs. tempuratures. I have used this process to pretty good success over a number of years.

 

I cannot stress enough the value of using a great cooler. I don't run water as I have found loud and way too fiddly and unreliable. I run Noctua coolers. My i9-9900k uses the big 15" bastard with dual fans. (I might add that my workstation is in a quiet-ish isolation cabinet 8' from my desk.)

Here is how I (rather crudely) approach overclocking. I anticipate that there will be others with more refined methodologies that may chime in. Again I offer this up as an example rather than instruction.

 

My goal is always stable then fast then cool as I use my machines principally in a busy work environment.

 

- Check out the overclocking recommendations of your particular MOBO manufacturer. I mostly use ASUS and they have excellent tutorials on overclocking. Research research.

 

- Check out the thermal limits of your CPU on your manufacturers website. You want to be well under this as you work. For example, the 9900k limit is 100C. It's a hot CPU to begin with. I work so that full load temperatures are around 80-85 and any temperature spikes don't go far beyond 90.

 

- get a cpu monitoring software package like HWmonitor so you can see the temperatures of things as you work.

 

- I use the bios setting, not software settings in a package like Intel extreme tuning or Asus tuning utilities. It required more rebooting, but I like working with the bios.

 

- Set a target speed based on research

- Set a cpu voltage based on research

 

- Perform a reasonable stability test (AIDA or intel for example run it for a while - 15 minutes or so so everything has an opportunity to come up to temp)

- If you crash then increase voltage by .01 and repeat

- If it does not crash and I like the temps, and I want more, I'll go higher with the clock and the voltage and repeat.

- Once I feel like I'm in a good spot I move on to harder stress tests

 

- I like Prime 95 !!!WITH AVX TURNED OFF!!! (AVX will heat up your machine to the extreme - see their docs on how to turn AVX off)

- remember that prime 95 is the extreme of what your box will need to deal with...I have NEVER seen any temps like it in my video work, even when CPU rendering CGI.

- If crash then increase voltage by .01 if your temps are ok or decrease the clock by one step and repeat

- Once I have it balanced, I will let prime 95 run overnight. If it crashes, I run through the steps again.

 

Then...use the machine a bunch. You may get a BSOD when doing a bunch of stuff at the same time and you have a choice here, reduce clock speed or increase voltage.

 

There are many concerns about overclocking that you will find online. Remember that there are gobs of gamers doing this all the time and that your CPU will throttle down if you hit the thermal limit to avoid damage. In my opinion, if you leave all the safety mechanisms on in the bios (which are the default) you would need to work hard to damage your CPU.

 

The greater concern is stability. It can take weeks to get it all dialed in so that you're system is rock solid. I run my machines 24/7. My old, but still killer, overclocked (4.2Ghz on a tiny Nocuta in a 4U case) 5960x is almost 4 years old and is happy as can be.

 

In any event, I think for a chip like the 9900k, allowing all the cores to operate simultaneously without any time limit at 4.7 or 4.8 makes a huge increase in performance over what the original spec allows. My overclock is a gentle one by many standards, but it is enough to give me the performance boost and stability I want.

 

It rocks as a production machine and, as I mentioned, it runs any EC modulator with any filter at DSD256 without any complaints.

[JTS]

4 hours ago, asdf1000 said:

Can your i9-9900K actually do PCM 24-192 => EC DSD256 x 48 with poly-sync-ext2, without overclocking?

 

No idea. It's an active production machine I spent some time on balancing, so I'm not going to test this. It was overclocked with production in mind - as a side benefit it runs HQPlayer EC modulators with any of the filters.

 

There are likely other users running stock 9900K processors that could test this. I think there is someone on the main HQPlayer thread running one.

[JTS]

One thing worth mentioning. My home setup uses an older video production machine. It's loud, but I keep it in a separate room altogether and use a Mac Mini running W10 as an NAA running into an Intona, SU-1, Holo Spring. For those looking for a "silent" solution, this is one possibility.

 

I think it would be next to impossible to run EC modulators without running fans - though that industrial box looks super cool. It has a wimpy GPU, though, which would limit your filters use.

 

Putting the box in another room and using a quiet NAA was the workaround for me.

[JTS]

1 hour ago, StreamFidelity said:

My system:

 

@StreamFidelity, what cooler are you using? I'm using the Noctua NH-D15S 140mm cooler with two Noctua 15" fans. It is very quiet.

 

I'm running the 9900k cores at 4.7 Ghz and the cache at 4.3 with turbo on and an offset voltage of 1.35. Everything else is set to auto.

 

This is what I am getting running redbook into HqP upsampling to DSD 256 with ADSM7EC and poly-sinc-xtr-lp.

 

 

 

[JTS]

On 8/8/2019 at 5:26 AM, asdf1000 said:

Can your i9-9900K actually do PCM 24-192 => EC DSD256 x 48 with poly-sync-ext2

@asdf1000

 

Well curiosity got the best of me. Grrrrr.

 

I saved off my OC profile and used the defaults in the bios. I don't have any 192 here (mostly upressing from redbook), but loaded in some 96/24 and had no issue with the stock settings. Inface, I'm getting performance comparable to my overclock (maybe losing about 3-5% on benchmarks) The temperatures are pretty great, too.

 

So i9-9900K with stock settings on an ASUS Mobo = EC modulator happiness. The tempuratures and benchmark performance are not quite as good as my overclock, but as they say in the industry, good enough for TV.

 

[JTS]

10 minutes ago, rando said:

I can certainly point you towards a 176/192 sample file or two if you have interest.

 

Done. No issues at all with the stock settings on the i9-9900k.

 

Sounds glorious.

[JTS]

4 hours ago, ted_b said:

I gotta assume OC produces more heat, right?

 

My overclock is a "Gentleman's Overclock". It pushes less voltage than the defaults = less heat. The defaults are like hitting a butterfly with a sledgehammer 🙂

[JTS]

Back to the sound of all of this. I usually listen on monitors, but I am working late tonight for a deadline and listening with a newly acquired pair of minty HD600s (HD650s going up for sale soon!) with HQP ADSM7EC/EXT2 DSD265>RME ADi-2fs>Eddie Current ZDTJ. Effing eff, it's...great!

 

Get it going on, it's glorious.

[JTS]

33 minutes ago, k6davis said:

I really like DSD5EC too. Which is "better" depends on personal taste

 

I am spinning it up right now. It is beauty. With the studio music - listening to some old Sparklehorse right now - I feel like it integrates everything into the picture nicely - with my system I hear a less depth, but a more well rounded image. Thanks for the recommend.