I am trying to find out how long does it take each thread timeslice (quantum) in Windows but the only information that I found out is about the clock ticks being from 15 to 20ms or 20-30ms. How can I find this information ? I think it may vary from OS to OS, but I am not certain. I appreciate any suggestion on this subject.
Thank you.
Time slices not only vary between operating systems, but between processors as well. i can't think of a way to find out for certain (as micro-benchmarking will not work due to the OS being in the way regarding time slice allocations).
This KB article has some information on Windows 2000 Server editions:
Currently in Windows, 3 quantums are equal to either 10 milliseconds (single processor) or 15 milliseconds (multiple-processor Pentium). This depends on the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) selected for your computer. Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) HALs may have a different value. Time slices that are fixed at 36 quantums are currently used when background services are selected (as you might choose in a typical server installation).
So on a multi-processor Pentium, a quantum would be 5 ms and a time slice as long as 180 ms. That seems quite large to me, though...