High precision timing question

dakota97

Centurion
Joined
Nov 14, 2003
Messages
116
Location
Pennsylvania
Hi all,

Anytime I've needed answers to questions, you guys haven't failed me yet, so here it goes.

I am developing an app that requires a high precision timer. I need something with the resolution that QueryPerformanceCounter provides, but I am finding that Intel SpeedStep, AMD Cool and Quiet, Dual Core, and just bad motherboards are causing QPC to return unexpected delta values. I have seen in a couple of different threads that using /usepmtimer will cause Windows to use the ACPI timer. Is this the best way to go?


1) For what operating systems will the /usepmtimer switch work in boot.ini? (2000? Dependant on XP service pack? Dependant on num CPUs?)

2) Will the /usepmtimer switch work with non-intel CPUs?

3) Does using the /usepmtimer switch mean that QueryPerformanceFrequency will always use the ACPI timer and return 3579545?

4) Is there an API or assembly to read the ACPI timer directly w/o needing to use the /usepmtimer switch?

5) Has anyone ever seen a case where QPF will change? I have tried SpeedSwitch XP and laptops with no A/C attached and can’t get it to do so.

6) Has anyone ever seen a case where QPF doesn’t change but acts as an order of magnitude difference? I have an end user who has a new Dual Core Dell and when they specify 1800 milliseconds for a duration value, it actually acts as 18000 (18 seconds).

7) Will XP SP3 when released fix some of the QPC/QPF anomalies?

8) I am aware there is a hotfix for dual core systems, what does it actually technically do?


If anyone can answer any or all of these questions, or point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

Chris
 
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