FastTimer

A Windows 11 utility for timer-resolution requests and repeatable Sleep(1) measurements. Built with Rust and Win32, FastTimer reports the system timer interval, its own request, and measured wake-up times separately.

Download for Windows · Windows CI · Документация на русском

Install and try it

The Windows 11 x64 release provides a per-user installer, a portable ZIP, a standalone CLI, and SHA-256 checksums. The binaries are unsigned. Compare a file's hash with SHA256SUMS.txt using Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256.

In the GUI, Fastest requests the shortest interval reported by Windows. Apply accepts a Native interval such as 0.5100 ms or a WinMM period such as winmm:1. Restore releases FastTimer's request. The tray provides background control and an explicit exit command. Startup is opt-in through a shortcut in the current user's Startup folder.

From a folder containing the CLI:

.\fasttimer-cli.exe status --json
.\fasttimer-cli.exe hold winmm:1 --seconds 10
.\fasttimer-cli.exe benchmark --cases 'baseline,fastest,winmm:1' --samples 200 --warmup 20 --rounds 3 --json .\sleep.json --csv .\sleep.csv

What the benchmark measures

Each case applies its request in the same process that calls Win32 Sleep(1). After warm-up, QueryPerformanceCounter measures elapsed time for each sample. The order rotates across rounds. JSON includes the raw measurements, while CSV summarizes each case. The benchmark measures scheduler wake-up behavior under the current machine and workload. Input latency and frame rates are outside its measurement scope.

The cross-process script compares an independent process with visible and hidden request holders. The Russian guide explains the statistics, process visibility, and Windows timer behavior in more detail. See research notes for methodology and past observations.

Build and test

Use Rust stable targeting x86_64-pc-windows-msvc, Visual Studio Build Tools with Desktop development with C++, and the Windows SDK.

cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --locked --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --locked
cargo build --release --locked

Cargo builds fasttimer.exe and fasttimer-cli.exe under target/release/. Install Inno Setup 6.3+ and run ./scripts/Build-Release.ps1 to build the distribution under target/distribution/. Windows CI builds the distribution and smoke-tests installation, CLI use, and removal.

• Timer requests pair Native and WinMM calls with RAII cleanup.
• Benchmark handles sampling, statistics, and JSON/CSV export.
• Win32 UI implements the window, tray, benchmark worker, and per-user startup.