Microstepping 1/32 or 1/16

My question is two fold. I’m wondering if the preflashed RAMPS kit from the store here is set to 1/32 stepping to use with the DRV8825s it comes with. I assume it is. I think it came with the jumpers all filled up, so 1/32.
The second part of this is: Why? Running the RAMPS 1.4 with 1/32 pretty much maxes out the arduino CPU and give NO additional precision. Most people that do it for 3D printers, do it to quiet the steppers. But that doesn’t matter to us…The steppers aren’t the loud part of the MPCNC by any stretch of the imagination. And, going down to 1/16 theoretically doubles your maximum speed and I believe it increases the available torque as well. So, any reason why we shouldn’t do that?

http://reprap.org/wiki/Step_rates

yup 32nd stepping shown in the assembly page.
Do you need more torque or speed?

https://www.v1engineering.com/software-updates/

Cutting we use the mpcnc at about 5-15mm/s, printing no faster than 30mm/s, speed is pretty much irrelevant. Acceleration comes into play, big machines simply should not move fast. We do not have torque issues on properly built machines. As is we can just about rip the machine apart with its own motors.

1-Speed is not an issue, because high speed on steppers is very low power, they have a very steep power drop off. shown in the linked page.

2-Torque is controversial, probably due to most armchair engineers not factoring in number one. I have seen papers showing torque and step rate in three different results. Im ny crude testing there is not a noticeable difference.

A better question to ask would be you need something specific how could you accomplish it. As is I am pretty happy with it.

As vicious1 pointed out, there aren’t any compelling reasons to go to 16th. But you also asked if there was a good reason not to go to 16th, and I haven’t heard any good reasons not to. You built the machine, you can change the software (although you really just need to change the settings) and you can try it. I’m guessing there will be no perceivable difference.

One not-so-obvious benefit of 32nd is that it’s common here, and that makes comparisons to other setups easier, if you are having problems.

IMO, There’s more interesting things to set/change/adjust than 16th steps. Changing it is pretty low risk though. Have fun!

Thanks Jeff, well put. Sometimes I get lost in my own words.

Mess with it, have fun, and let us know if we made a mistake.

Thanks guys. I’ll give it a shot both ways and see if I can find any difference.