Spread Spectrum

Separate area for niche lag issues including unexpected causes and/or electromagnetic interference (ECC = retransmits = lag). Interference (EMI, EMF) of all kinds (wired, wireless, external, internal, environment, bad component) can cause error-correction latencies like a bad modem connection. Troubleshooting may require university degree. Your lag issue is likely not EMI. Please read this before entering sub-forum.
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IMPORTANT:
This subforum is for advanced users only. This separate area is for niche or unexpected lag issues such as electromagnetic interference (EMI, EMF, electrical, radiofrequency, etc). Interference of all kinds (wired, wireless, external, internal, environment, bad component) can cause error-correction (ECC) latencies like a bad modem connection, except internally in a circuit. ECC = retransmits = lag. Troubleshooting may require university degree. Your lag issue is likely not EMI.
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Xehet
Posts: 24
Joined: 04 Sep 2021, 21:02

Spread Spectrum

Post by Xehet » 04 Sep 2021, 21:29

After reading several recommendations on enabling spread spectrum in bios, to combat emi and input lag, I modded my bios to make the option visible as it was hidden in all available bios versions, including beta versions.

Unlike what I have seen online, the available options for spread spectrum in my bios are
-Disabled
-11% to 50%
-Enabled
I believe “enable” is suppose to be auto as it gives the same result as 50%.

By default, spread spectrum was disabled and my BCLK, despite being set to 100.00, was 99.98 and every 3 seconds it increased to 100.01 for a second.

Initially, I decided to test spread spectrum options and choosing any option made my BCLK static, however from what I read online, this should not be the case.

11% option caused my BCLK (which was still 100.00 in bios) to be 99.98 static, without any fluctuations to 100.01.
50% and “Enabled” caused my BCLK to be 99.78 static. To make my BCLK as closed to 100.00 as possible I increased my BCLK to 100.23 (previous and next available BCLK values are further away from 100.00) which led to a stable, static 99.98 BCLK.

After enabling spread spectrum online gaming, specifically competitive FPS games felt better as I did not feel like my game was delayed anymore. However, after a week my BCLK became dynamic, despite not changing any bios/windows settings (I noticed the change as I constantly monitor my cpu).

Unlike previous days, my BCLK was constantly fluctuating between 25.xx to 200.xx. I do not know why this happened suddenly but clocking BCLK back to 100.00 made no difference, and with such BCLK fluctuations games began to stutter and I had to disable spread spectrum, even the lowest option 11% had the same issue.

I am not sure what changed during and after that week but prior to the fluctuations games felt much better than before. Anyone has any idea what happened in my case or any suggestions?

Unreazz
Posts: 164
Joined: 30 Dec 2019, 06:45

Re: Spread Spectrum

Post by Unreazz » 05 Sep 2021, 07:35

i randomly changed my blck today from 100 to 99.98 to check myself if i see any diffrences and after i applied, my pc immediatel shut down to restart. my rig was restarting but not with full energy somehow, my fans barely rotated and overall it was not booting. i scared the shit out that i messed something up and broke my rig soo i forced restart threw the power button and it booted normaly again.

when i was in the bios again i felt very weird mouse movement, like it was not 1:1 anymore... it was like ice skating sooo i changed it back to 100 and everything seems to be normal again

Xehet
Posts: 24
Joined: 04 Sep 2021, 21:02

Re: Spread Spectrum

Post by Xehet » 05 Sep 2021, 09:34

Unreazz wrote:
05 Sep 2021, 07:35
i randomly changed my blck today from 100 to 99.98 to check myself if i see any diffrences and after i applied, my pc immediatel shut down to restart. my rig was restarting but not with full energy somehow, my fans barely rotated and overall it was not booting. i scared the shit out that i messed something up and broke my rig soo i forced restart threw the power button and it booted normaly again.

when i was in the bios again i felt very weird mouse movement, like it was not 1:1 anymore... it was like ice skating sooo i changed it back to 100 and everything seems to be normal again
That sounds weird, I would get it if you went over 100.00 and had such issues due to unstable overclock but facing such an issue while going lower than 100.00 seems strange, even if you don't change your spread spectrum settings, or if it is hidden, changing the default BCLK value often disables spread spectrum, hence I don't think issue was caused by BCLK fluctuations, but something else.

In case you didn't know, if you have any issues after changing bios settings such as PC not booting correctly, you can clear your CMOS to restore optimal bios values. The whole process barely takes a few minutes.

aerin
Posts: 17
Joined: 24 Jul 2021, 02:22

Re: Spread Spectrum

Post by aerin » 05 Sep 2021, 11:02

Xehet wrote:
04 Sep 2021, 21:29
After reading several recommendations on enabling spread spectrum in bios, to combat emi and input lag, I modded my bios to make the option visible as it was hidden in all available bios versions, including beta versions.

Unlike what I have seen online, the available options for spread spectrum in my bios are
-Disabled
-11% to 50%
-Enabled
I believe “enable” is suppose to be auto as it gives the same result as 50%.

By default, spread spectrum was disabled and my BCLK, despite being set to 100.00, was 99.98 and every 3 seconds it increased to 100.01 for a second.

Initially, I decided to test spread spectrum options and choosing any option made my BCLK static, however from what I read online, this should not be the case.

11% option caused my BCLK (which was still 100.00 in bios) to be 99.98 static, without any fluctuations to 100.01.
50% and “Enabled” caused my BCLK to be 99.78 static. To make my BCLK as closed to 100.00 as possible I increased my BCLK to 100.23 (previous and next available BCLK values are further away from 100.00) which led to a stable, static 99.98 BCLK.

After enabling spread spectrum online gaming, specifically competitive FPS games felt better as I did not feel like my game was delayed anymore. However, after a week my BCLK became dynamic, despite not changing any bios/windows settings (I noticed the change as I constantly monitor my cpu).

Unlike previous days, my BCLK was constantly fluctuating between 25.xx to 200.xx. I do not know why this happened suddenly but clocking BCLK back to 100.00 made no difference, and with such BCLK fluctuations games began to stutter and I had to disable spread spectrum, even the lowest option 11% had the same issue.

I am not sure what changed during and after that week but prior to the fluctuations games felt much better than before. Anyone has any idea what happened in my case or any suggestions?
Spread spectrum is known to mess with BCLK, but it should be totally fine as long as it fullfills its purpose.

Xehet
Posts: 24
Joined: 04 Sep 2021, 21:02

Re: Spread Spectrum

Post by Xehet » 05 Sep 2021, 11:09

aerin wrote:
05 Sep 2021, 11:02
Spread spectrum is known to mess with BCLK, but it should be totally fine as long as it fullfills its purpose.
I am well aware of the fluctuations spread spectrum causes on most systems, what I don't understand is why there were no such fluctuations/stutters and games were smooth during the first week I enabled spread spectrum. When BCLK constantly switches between 25 mhz to 200 mhz, CPU changes spikes between 1200 mhz to 9600 mhz, which causes games to stutter a lot and become unplayable mostly.

SixRavens
Posts: 26
Joined: 05 Jun 2021, 11:08

Re: Spread Spectrum

Post by SixRavens » 05 Sep 2021, 11:31

My Bus Speed fluctuates no matter what. And when I try to increase value to 100.1 - pc shuts down after restart)

Xehet
Posts: 24
Joined: 04 Sep 2021, 21:02

Re: Spread Spectrum

Post by Xehet » 05 Sep 2021, 11:45

SixRavens wrote:
05 Sep 2021, 11:31
My Bus Speed fluctuates no matter what. And when I try to increase value to 100.1 - pc shuts down after restart)
Are you using XMP profile for your ram? If so try to disable it before changing your BCLK that might help. Also changing your PLL and filter might fix this issue, if those options are available in your bios.

SixRavens
Posts: 26
Joined: 05 Jun 2021, 11:08

Re: Spread Spectrum

Post by SixRavens » 05 Sep 2021, 12:39

Xehet wrote:
05 Sep 2021, 11:45
Are you using XMP profile for your ram? If so try to disable it before changing your BCLK that might help. Also changing your PLL and filter might fix this issue, if those options are available in your bios.
Ye, I do. If I disable XMP - Spread Spectrum option disappears from bios for me) Didnt find anything like PLL in bios. Also what sort of filter are you talking about?
Kinda tempted to try and unlock hidden bios settings, but too scared :?

Xehet
Posts: 24
Joined: 04 Sep 2021, 21:02

Re: Spread Spectrum

Post by Xehet » 05 Sep 2021, 13:37

SixRavens wrote:
05 Sep 2021, 12:39
Ye, I do. If I disable XMP - Spread Spectrum option disappears from bios for me) Didnt find anything like PLL in bios. Also what sort of filter are you talking about?
Kinda tempted to try and unlock hidden bios settings, but too scared :?

I can help you with modding your bios to unlock hidden options, such as spread spectrum without XMP or if there is any other specific setting you are looking for.

PLL stands for Phase Lock Loop, in some bios you can change PLL settings for Clock and Filter, both PLL Clock and PLL Filter have, often, two options, one for low BCLK, which is your default BCLK value, and one for overclocking your BCLK. People who have such options in bios can increase their PLL Filter and PLL Clock values to increase system stability while using BCLK values other than 100.00.

Also, since your PC is not stable with BCLK values over 100.00, did you try to lower it to see its effects?

SixRavens
Posts: 26
Joined: 05 Jun 2021, 11:08

Re: Spread Spectrum

Post by SixRavens » 06 Sep 2021, 17:49

Xehet wrote:
05 Sep 2021, 13:37
I can help you with modding your bios to unlock hidden options, such as spread spectrum without XMP or if there is any other specific setting you are looking for.

PLL stands for Phase Lock Loop, in some bios you can change PLL settings for Clock and Filter, both PLL Clock and PLL Filter have, often, two options, one for low BCLK, which is your default BCLK value, and one for overclocking your BCLK. People who have such options in bios can increase their PLL Filter and PLL Clock values to increase system stability while using BCLK values other than 100.00.

Also, since your PC is not stable with BCLK values over 100.00, did you try to lower it to see its effects?
Downclocking seems to work tho PC has booted weird: slower and more silent than usual. Still fluctuating with and without Spread Spectrum(
I would say that overall games feel better for me with BCLK Spread Spectrum disabled and there are less fluctuations in Bus Speed. Might there be more hidden Spread Spectrum settings that are affecting it? Or perhaps some interrupt settings that make the system "stutter" a bit?
Or there is just some voodoo stuff :shock:

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