QuickTick

QuickTick is a high-precision timer library for .NET 8.0 (Windows only), designed for scenarios where accurate and low-latency timing is required.

It is inspired by discussions in the .NET Runtime issue #67088 and is based on the high-resolution timer implemented by Microsoft's Go team, as detailed in this blog post.

QuickTick leverages IO Completion Ports (IOCP) and NT system calls to achieve precise and efficient timing without needing to fiddle with the system clock rate. It enables the creation of a Timer and the use of Sleep and Delay functions with precision below 15.6 ms, ensuring accurate timing without impacting other parts of your application.

QuickTickTimer Class

Definition

Namespace: QuickTickLib

Provides a high-resolution timer using IO Completion Ports (IOCP) and NtAssociateWaitCompletionPacket for precise timing events under windows. Similar in use to the System.Timers.Timer class.

public class QuickTickTimer : IDisposable

Inheritance Object -> QuickTickTimer

Implements IDisposable

Example Usage

The following example shows the usage of the QuickTickTimer with an interval of 500ms.

using QuickTickLib;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        using QuickTickTimer timer = new QuickTickTimer(500);
        timer.AutoReset = true;
        timer.Elapsed += Timer_Elapsed;
        timer.Start();

        Thread.Sleep(5000); // Run for 5 seconds
        timer.Stop();
    }

    private static void Timer_Elapsed(object sender, QuickTickElapsedEventArgs e)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Timer elapsed! Scheduled: {e.ScheduledTime}, Actual: {e.SignalTime}");
    }
}

// The example displays output like the following:
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:21, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:21
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:22, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:22
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:22, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:22
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:23, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:23
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:23, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:23
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:24, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:24
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:24, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:24
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:25, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:25
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:25, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:25
    //Timer elapsed! Scheduled: 05.03.2025 18:52:26, Actual: 05.03.2025 18:52:26

Remarks

QuickTickTimer is a timer based on IO Completion Ports for high-precision timing. Using the windows function NtAssociateWaitCompletionPacket it can go below the default windows timer resolution of 15.6ms without needing to set the system clock rate using TimeBeginPeriod. The timer therefore has no influence on the remaining program and calls like Thread.Sleep or Task.Delay are not affected.

Important

The QuickTickTimer class is only available on Windows. It is not compatible with other platforms. If cross-platform compatibility is required, consider using one of the built-in .net timers instead. For non windows platforms the built-in timers deliver a relatively high precision as well, as they are not based on the windows timer system and its default timing of ~15.6ms.

Important

The elapsed event is fired on a completion thread. This thread is not the same as the thread that started the timer. Make sure the execution of you elapsed event does not take longer than the interval of the timer or consider using a decoupling mechanism to process the event on a different thread.

This class implements the IDisposable interface. When you are finished using the timer, you should dispose of it to release all associated resources.

Note

The actual timing accuracy of the timer is mostly based on the systems thread scheduler. On average the system takes around 300µs to signal the timer thread after the interval finished. This can change based on the system load and other factors like energy saving settings. To improve the timing accuracy of the timer you can set the Priority property to ThreadPriority.Highest.

The timer tries to keep the average interval as close to the specified interval as possible. But the actual interval can vary based on the system load and other factors. Typically, the timer is within 0.6ms of the specified interval, but it can be off by several milliseconds in some cases.

Constructors

QuickTickTimer(double interval)

public QuickTickTimer(double interval)

Initializes a new instance of the QuickTickTimer class with the specified interval in milliseconds.

Parameters

• interval (Double): The timer interval in milliseconds. Must be greater than zero.

Exceptions

• ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Thrown if interval is less than or equal to zero.
• PlatformNotSupportedException: Thrown if the platform is not Windows.
• InvalidOperationException: Thrown if system API calls fail during initialization.

QuickTickTimer(TimeSpan interval)

public QuickTickTimer(TimeSpan interval)

Initializes a new instance of the QuickTickTimer class with the specified interval as a TimeSpan.

Parameters

• interval (TimeSpan): The timer interval.

Exceptions

• ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Thrown if interval is less than or equal to zero.
• PlatformNotSupportedException: Thrown if the platform is not Windows.
• InvalidOperationException: Thrown if system API calls fail during initialization.

Properties

Interval

public double Interval { get; set; }

Gets or sets the time, in milliseconds, between timer events.

Exceptions

• ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Thrown if the value is less than or equal to zero.

AutoReset

public bool AutoReset { get; set; }

Gets or sets whether the timer should restart after each elapsed event.

• true: The timer restarts automatically.
• false: The timer stops after firing once.

Priority

public ThreadPriority Priority { get; set; }

Gets or sets the priority of the completion thread handling timer events.

Methods

Start()

public void Start()

Starts the timer.

Exceptions

• InvalidOperationException: Thrown if system API calls fail when setting the timer.

Stop()

public void Stop()

Stops the timer if it is currently running.

Dispose()

public void Dispose()

Stops the timer and releases all associated system resources.

Events

Elapsed

public event QuickTickElapsedEventHandler Elapsed;

Occurs when the timer interval has elapsed.

Event Arguments

• QuickTickElapsedEventArgs: Contains information about the scheduled and actual firing times.
  • SignalTime (DateTime): The actual time when the event was triggered.
  • ScheduledTime (DateTime): The originally scheduled time for the timer event.

QuickTickTiming Class

Definition

Namespace: QuickTickLib

Provides sleep and delay functions with high precision using IO Completion Ports (IOCP) and NtAssociateWaitCompletionPacket for precise timing events under windows.

public static class QuickTickTiming

Inheritance Object -> QuickTickTiming

Methods

Sleep()

public static void Sleep(int sleepTimeMs)

Blocks the current thread for the specified number of milliseconds. If the sleep time is less than or equal to 0ms, the function will behave the same as Thread.Sleep() will in this situation.

Exceptions

• PlatformNotSupportedException: Thrown if the platform is not Windows.
• InvalidOperationException: Thrown if system API calls fail during initialization.

Delay()

public static async Task Delay(int milliseconds, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
public static async Task Delay(TimeSpan timeSpan, CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)

Asynchronously blocks the current thread for the specified duration. It allows cancellation via the CancellationToken.

• milliseconds and timeSpan specify the delay time.
• If cancellationToken is triggered, the delay will be canceled early.

Exceptions

• ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Thrown if interval or timeSpan is less than or equal to zero.
• PlatformNotSupportedException: Thrown if the platform is not Windows.
• InvalidOperationException: Thrown if system API calls fail during initialization.