[ejinbc]

Thought I would share my experiences with Win 10 - was on Win 7 with PT 12.4. Downloaded Win 10 'free' upgrade and installed it on a new SSD to get the licence established for my DAW. While the operating system was fresh I decided to test the 12.5.2 update. I also installed Waves Gold Bundle with HEQ, and NI Komplete. I use a MOTU 1248 interface - more details below.

I am pretty happy with the fresh install and everything seems to run great - the 4K monitor support is better in Win 10. However, when I record more complex sessions at low buffer (24bit/96kHz with 128 buffer) I get occasional spikes in CPU activity that cause clicks or CPU errors.

I remembered a thread here at the Avid Forums where someone was adjusting the CPU affinity to reduce the number of cores used by Pro Tools. To test, I adjusted the CPU affinity so that Pro Tools only used 6 of the 8 cores in my i7 3770K. Ta Da. No more pops, the CPU spikes decreased in magnitude, and I was able to run 128 buffer at 24/96 with VIs for recording (see below for more details).

After a quick Google I found a way to set affinity when Pro Tools is being loaded. Google "CPU Affinity Shortcut for a Program - Create in Windows"

For my i7 system with Pro Tools, I have found that leaving 2 cores for the operating system is optimum for best real-time performance - no clicks/pops at 128 buffer.

For example, the command line to start Pro Tools using only 6 of 8 cores for my install:

cmd.e x e /c start "ProTools" /affinity FC "C:\Program Files\Avid\Pro Tools\Protools.exe

<remove spaces in ".exe" above>

I can currently run 24/96 128 buffer while recording/monitoring 12 audio channels and multiple midi-controller-triggered VIs (Kontakt Session Drummer, Piano, EPiano and Horns, and Monarch-Reaktor). With this I get about 5 ms total round trip latency with no pops/clicks or CPU errors.

I will stay on Win 10 for now! My DAW PC never goes online.

Cheers

ejinbc


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Machine Details:
Asus P8Z77 MB, 3770K CPU, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 2 TB Data drive, Gigabyte 950 video card running HDMI 2.0 @ 4K resolution, all USB peripherals plugged into USB3 ports EXCEPT Motu 1248 which is plugged into rear USB2 port (no other peripherals plugged into any other USB2 channel - this was necessary to get the latency down without occasional pops in Audio with high midi traffic), Turbo Mode Off in BIOS, C-states Off in BIOS, WiFi Off in BIOS, BT Off in BIOS, On-board sound Off in BIOS, HPET Off in BIOS.

Midi input controllers:
Command 8, Roland TD6, Edirol PCR M80, Korg SP250, Korg Nano

Software:
Windows 10 (all standard DAW optimizations), Pro Tools 12.5.2 - uninstalled App Manager & Web Services, Waves Gold Bundle + Waves HEQ, Native Instruments Komplete 10,

Session details for typical recording:
24 bit, 96 kHz, 12 Audio Tracks, 16 multi-channel Aux VI Tracks, 16 MIDI Tracks, 6 HEQ instances, 1 HDelay instance.