Feature Suggestion: Disable HDCP

[hans_glans]

Timecard found some improvements with disabling HDCP like this (scroll down and click Findings and Analysis):

Windows Drivers

A research and evidence based approach to optimizing your gaming PC, configuration and setup. Recommendations found in this guide are based on curated reputable technical references, and personal research.

djdallmann.github.io

I use the tool on a regular basis and the msi mode feature was already a time saver!
Would you consider adding this to the tweak section too?

 

[W1zzard]

note to self

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0002]
"RMHdcpKeyglobZero"=dword:00000001

improvements

Which improvements?

 

[hans_glans]

Many users reported improved "responsiveness" and I measured this myself:

https://imgur.com/a/oXMDR3B

In depth measuring would require more testers and tests with xperf. Maybe something you can catalyse by adding it as an experimental feature.

Another users report:

This does not have to be universal:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0002

For me it's

[...]\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0000

for example

 

[W1zzard]

Does this build achieve what you need?

 

[hans_glans]

Yes, works for me! Did you account for possibly different regkeys for other users?

 

[W1zzard]

Yes, works for me! Did you account for possibly different regkeys for other users?

Yes of course

 

[poppe]

Maybe it's a known issue but this feature doesn't seem to work with the DCH drivers. At least NVCP still said my computer was HDCP-capable, now I'm on the standard driver and it works fine.

 

[W1zzard]

How interesting, I wasn't aware of that. Strange that there's a difference between DCH and non-DCH

 

[usama sattar]

For me, I installed the latest version of DCH driver using NVCleanstall-1.12.0 and HDCP has been disabled.
GPU: Gtx 960
OS: Windows 11 22000.318

 

[hans_glans]

Yep, it worked as expected for me in the past too with the DCH drivers.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Nice tip.

The thing that frustrates me more is that Geforce 7900 GS picture in settings... what's more frustrating, that I remember it still or the fact it control panel is a slow legacy mess.

 

[THU31]

Many users reported improved "responsiveness" and I measured this myself:

https://imgur.com/a/oXMDR3B

How is anyone getting these insanely low numbers? Never seen this kind of numbers on any PC I have had.

Right now current latency is jumping from 20 to 80, and I am always getting crazy DPC spikes from the NVIDIA driver (even above 2000).

 

[hans_glans]

How is anyone getting these insanely low numbers? Never seen this kind of numbers on any PC I have had.

Right now current latency is jumping from 20 to 80, and I am always getting crazy DPC spikes from the NVIDIA driver (even above 2000).

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c2-lUJq74wuYK1WrA_bIvgb89dUN0sj8-hO3vqmrau4/

https://github.com/BoringBoredom/PC-Optimization-Hub

https://djdallmann.github.io/GamingPCSetup/

 

[THU31]

Is your PC strictly for gaming?

I do use a lot of these tweaks, but there are many things that I cannot change or disable, because they are needed for various stuff.

When I decide to upgrade, I will probably build a second PC just for gaming, and convert the current one to an HTPC for everything else.

 

[hans_glans]

I multiboot differently configured versions of Windows for different purposes.
My 1709 install manages to be effective for gaming and productivity though.
Nvidia driver also plays a massive role, with 441.41 and 456.71 having lower latency than most recent driver versions.

 

[evernessince]

Just a heads up for anyone that wants to use this tweak, SteamVR requires HDCP so VR will not work if you choose to disable it.

I found this out after the fact and had to do another install to get VR working again.

 

[vander]

I tried before I read your comment and I had no trouble with steamvr. I use the current beta, maybe thats why?
What didn't work for you, was there an error message? SteamVR is known for plenty of missleading error messages, especially in combination with vr..

 

[samy223]

I want to report that I'm using this feature to fix a refresh rate issue with a multimonitor setup and the windows graphics driver.
I have two 4k 60hz monitors connected via dp to a lenovo thinkpad usb-c dockingstation to my laptop with an rtx 2070 via usb-c with dp passthrough. In linux both external monitors run with 60hz without any problems. If i boot into windows, i only get 60hz on one monitor and 30hz on the other. If i disable hdcp i get both monitors running at 60hz also in windows. It seems that hdcp somehow becomes a bottleneck?

 

[Laith1999]

For me, it causes random crashes in Windows and FPS drops in some games, especially with Vulkan ones. I don't know why.

It's a laptop, Aorus 17, with an RTX 2060 and i7 9750H.

I think with older drivers I didn't have any issues.