10 days ago I got a new PC desktop (Dell XPS 8960 13th Gen I7-13700, 32G ram, Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti)
Cubase 13 Pro worked fine for the first few few days - as expected and I was very pleased. Dell techs were sorting out a different problem for which they did a few updates etc - nothing unusual and now Cubase 13 stutters terribly on playback etc on projects that were fine the previous few days.
LatencyMon shows an unacceptable average latency of 2000-5000 microseconds - Mostly from the Nvidia driver and wdf01000.sys. This would explain why cubase cannot work. However the Dell techs and myself have tried many things to get the latency back to 100 microseconds or so - but no success.
We rolled back the nvidia driver - no change. Eventually Dell had me completely re-install Win 11 Pro from scratch. Still no good. Of course they applied the latest Windows updates so it could be that I suppose.
So, Dell now thinks I have a bad PC and they are sending a new one in the next 48hrs they say.
I am increasingly concerned that perhaps this Dell model and/or Nvidia card are actually not suitable - although they really should be more than adequate in this day and age!. I am only a hobbyist and typically have just 10 tracks and a minimum of VSTs - mostly Steinbergs.
Anyone got insights into what the problem could be? Do you think it could really be some faulty hardware and a replacement will solve the problem - or am I facing having a complete refund and buying some other machine?
I will contact Steinberg support - but my experience has not been great in the pastâŚ
Thanks
Andy
What nvidia drivers are you using? You should be using the studio ones and nothing else. Definitely not the gaming ones or any of the other software that comes with it.
Indeed I am using the very latest Studio ones. Version 551.61
The capture from Latency monitor shows the lower latency that I see it is often around 2000-5000 microseconds
My question is whether the Dell 8690 with a Nvidia 4060 Ti should be expected to be adequate for Cubase 13. It worked fine for the first few days - and now, since Dell updated a few things (some of which were rolled back) it is far from adequate for Cubase.
Dell is guessing it is some kind of hardware fault⌠so they are sending a new one. Has anyone experienced anything like this?
Did they do a bios UEFI upgrade? These are known to cause issues sometimes. They can fix one thing and break another. As a rule it might be best not to update a bios, unless it fixes an issue you have.
So hit the drivers tab, and sort on the Total Execution Time column and check which drivers are chewing up your CPU cycles. I usually check the Highest Execution Time column too after sorting. You should have the Win NT kernel, Direct X, storage, audio, and graphics drivers at the top of the list (also the Resplendence Latency Monitor will be near the top - thatâs normal). Anything else should be checked out - either Google the driver/service and see what it does and is necessary, or disabled and see if there are any ill effects.
Thanks for the replies guys! @vinark - yes they updated the Bios. These tech support guys want to see everything with the latest versions and barrel ahead. It doesnât âproveâ a BIOS update is the culprit -but it sure is suspicious since it was fine beforehand.
@SF_Green - the highest driver culprit is the nVidia driver as was expected. That is why it was rolled back. (and made no difference). Right now it is the latest one again. The attached screenshot shows the Highest drivers after running for 10 mins or so :- Are these expected (typical values?) I guess not. but I see no bad things that can be fixed other than NVidia ?
I would looking to the CPU stepping settings first, a known culprit for certain motherboards and BIOS setups. (the power saving features)
It is a simple test to start with.
If not a more drastic test is to see if there is another slot you can put the gpu into and then try that.
I talked for a good while with Tim in Steinberg Tech support. He also couldnât get Cubase to work and was surprised at the high latency. I asked if he was aware of any isses wth the Dell 8690 and Nvidia 4060 Ti and he hadnât heard of any.
I am now rolling back to the very earlies nVidia Studio driver 536.40 and am going to work forward from that - will take a while !
Park control certainly helped a bit - but not much and not sufficient to make cubase work. Latency still too highâŚ
FYI - They also have this utility which is incredibly powerful (and technical) to really control your CPU. Not for the faint hearted! Since this Dell PC is being replaced I was able to see what could be done with it - it made much more improvement - but still not enough.
I would strongly suggest to do the BIOS tweak (core parking) manually and not via a app. Read your motherboard manual it will explain all the options.
I wish I could provide real instructions but at this point it is trial and error to find the culprit.
Then when you do, it would be a wise idea to reformat again after that so windows will for sure be setup correctly.
@beerbong Hmm - there is nothing in BIOS that relates to core parking that I recognize. Dell also does not supply a manual for their motherboard with the computer - but I daresay it is somewhere online - I will go look. Why do you strongly dislike a software app to control core parking?
Hi Hooby2,
I just had a quick look at the manual for you.
I would suggest trying - one at a time - these settings.
just turn on/off and see if it helps
Welp⌠Tried all three combinations with those two bios settings - no difference.
Running out of things to try now - I just hope I have faulty PC and the new one will fix it. Thanks for the suggestion though.
