What Win32 Priority and Timer Resolution are, and which value is best

What Win32 Priority is

Win32PrioritySeparation is a Windows value that sets how long programs get the CPU per turn, and how much more the window in front (your game) gets than the programs in the background.

Windows reads only the lowest 6 bits, in three parts.

• Turn length: short or long.
• Fixed or variable turns.
• Priority separation 0, 1 or 2: with variable turns the window in front gets turns 1, 2 or 3 times as long, and its threads get +0, +1 or +2 priority when they wake up from a wait.

That is why 0x28 and 0x2A are different, even though the numbers look close.

Which value is best

No single value is best on every PC. In the VALORANT input lag test the program quotes (11 values, measured with NVIDIA's analyzer), the best and worst values were only about 0.26 ms apart (3.645 to 3.909 ms), and the value with the highest FPS was not the one with the lowest input lag.

Savenz uses 0x2A by default but recommends testing on your PC. The Win32 Priority page has a Compare button that measures what Windows really does with each value on your PC: the turn length and the priority boost after a wait.

What Timer Resolution is

It is how often the Windows clock ticks. Windows' default is 15.625 ms and the finest is 0.5 ms. Games and programs ask for a finer clock so each wait is more precise.

Savenz Optimizer can hold the timer from sign in with a small helper of the program, with no admin rights and no service. SavenzOS sets 0.5 ms for you.

Is 0.5 ms always best?

Not always. On some PCs a value just above 0.5 ms, such as 0.501 to 0.510 ms or 0.52 to 0.60 ms, makes Sleep(1) wake closer to 1 ms with less jitter, depending on the PC's timer hardware.

The Timer Resolution page in the program has a benchmark that measures Sleep(1) 150 times per value in a new random order each round, then shows which value is best on your PC.

Test it in the program

1. Open the Win32 Priority page and press Compare to see each value.
2. Open the Timer Resolution page and run the benchmark.
3. Use the value that did best on your PC.
4. Measure with Result Card before and after the change to see it in a real game.