WinXP Installation without ACPI - "Standard PC with C-Step i486?"

[MIDIman]

Hi all, as recommended by most PC-DAW magazines and users (PC Digital Audio Workstation), I'm doing a fresh installation of WinXP without ACPI. This offers a significant performance improvement, and most importantly, better control of IRQ's (apparently). I could honestly care less about the power features of ACPI anyway.

The general instructions say, during installation, to hit F5 when it says "Hit F6 to install third-party drivers, etc", and you get an option to choose between "Standard PC" or "Other."

My question is that instead of getting "Standard PC" on mine, I get "Standard PC with C-Step i486." What exactly does this mean, and how is it different?

The only really good reference I could find on Microsoft's site was here - Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 299340

My system is an i845 (Abit BD7-II), P4 1.6a, 512mb ddr, with two Seagate drives with multiple partitions.

Thx in advance

 

[LiLithTecH]

C-Step i486 Hal is for CPU's with the C designation (i.e. P4 2.4c).
Generally the final version of the CPU with many (not all) of the bugs removed.
Most of the bugs encountered are very rare so it generally is not an issue, unless
of course you are doing complex quantum algorithms for NASA.

Actually, you should press F7 (rather than F5) to let Windows choose the correct
non-ACPI HAL for your motherboard/system.

 

[MIDIman]

Yikes! Already installed WinXP last night...is it a super big deal, or can I just leave it?

 

[NokiaDude]

What is the performance difference between a Standard PC and ACPI?

 

[Pilsnerpete]

Originally posted by: NokiaDude
What is the performance difference between a Standard PC and ACPI?

I personally get far less skips from Winamp when I open other programs with it running. One quirk...when you install as Standard PC, you'll get the saying that began with windows 95. "It is now safe to shutdown your computer." It won't actually turn the power off till you enable APM in power settings.

 

[MIDIman]

when you install as Standard PC, you'll get the saying that began with windows 95. "It is now safe to shutdown your computer." It won't actually turn the power off till you enable APM in power settings.

Just realized this today - by switching this on, do I lose the performance improvements of installing as Standard PC?


Here is on article from Sterinberg's website concerning performance issues with ACPI, but you'll generally see it mentioned by just about everyone concerning professional audio systems.

 

[Pilsnerpete]

Just realized this today - by switching this on, do I lose the performance improvements of installing as Standard PC?

I don't have a problem with it. Like I said, Winamp would skip quite a bit, even when I was just typing or opening a small program. It doesn't now--even when the cpu is pegged @ 100% from Prime95. And I have the wav output buffer set to the minimum of 200ms. If you're concerned, you could enable the "instant off" in your BIOS settings and hit the power button every time you shut down, but that's a little TOO prehistoric for me.

[edit] I'm in a parallel install with the ACPI Uniproc HAL. Prime95 is running, Ride the Lightning is playing on winamp and [obviously] I'm typing. I don't get any skips now but I used to! Must've been a conflict or something. I don't really know; I've disabled usb and done some reg tweaks since I tested last. Man, I really gotta start keeping better data.