Customized Windows XP

[March314]

Ok, so I may be late on hearing about this, But I just heard of certain versions of windows XP where certing things are removed for better performance. My question is are there any particular one thats better for pro tools or does anyone know of the best one. Im now on Windows 7 64 bit, (Love the OS but to much problems with pro tools at least for me), and Digi 002 with pro tools 8.0.4. Any help will be GREATLY appreciated.

[Benoni]

Originally Posted by March314

Ok, so I may be late on hearing about this, But I just heard of certain versions of windows XP where certing things are removed for better performance. My question is are there any particular one thats better for pro tools or does anyone know of the best one. Im now on Windows 7 64 bit, (Love the OS but to much problems with pro tools at least for me), and Digi 002 with pro tools 8.0.4. Any help will be GREATLY appreciated.

Are you referring to using N-Lite to whittle down the footprint of the OS, or do you mean actual versions of XP such as Home and Pro. If you are switching to XP then you should go with the 32 bit version as 64 bit drivers will never be written for XP. And XP Pro is the Digi approved version.

[March314]

Please dont laugh..I'm new..but what is N Lite?

[ryanwilsonfive]

I use XP Home with no problems. Isn't it Digi/Avid-approved as well?

[Benoni]

1. nLite allows you to customize your installation of Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 2003. You can integrate service packs and hotfixes from Microsoft directly into your windows distribution files without having to re-download and install them every time you need to re-install windows.

2. There is also the option to remove unwanted components from within windows. Many applications are automatically included every time windows is installed. Not every person needs or even wants all of these applications which Microsoft considers to be necessary. By removing these unwanted components you can free up space within your setup and ultimately save space on your hard drive after installation.

3. nLite also provides a way to customize your installation by allowing numerous tweaks to the way windows looks and operates after it has been installed. You can even bypass Microsoft's bulky unattended setup instructions and do it the easy way. The nLite way

http://www.nliteos.com/guide/

http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html

[Benoni]

Originally Posted by ryanwilsonfive

I use XP Home with no problems. Isn't it Digi/Avid-approved as well?

I think the Digi page use to say XP Pro was "Approved", and Home had not been tested but " no known issues". As far as I remember XP Media Center is NOT approved.

[March314]

WOW...N-Lite sounds amazing. I'm gonna check that out. Would you recommend any particular customized set up?

[Shan]

Originally Posted by March314

WOW...N-Lite sounds amazing. I'm gonna check that out. Would you recommend any particular customized set up?

Many of us jumped into nLite many years ago when CPU resources were valuable. The topic was quite common here on the DUC in the early days. These days, all you need to do with XP is just the standard Avid optimization settings and nothing more. You will have no other gains on todays computer systems spending weeks on end putting together an XP nLited system for PT. Many of us have been there, and done that.

If you have a ton of time to burn and want to go die hard, then nLite, Emerge Shell and Rainmeter Enigma will give you a pretty slick bare bones system. Once you spend all that time getting your OS gutted, you'll find that you'll get no performance boost in PT over the standard Avid optimization settings.

I'd suggest dual boot for now and just stick with the standard Avid XP optimizations. Official W7 64 support shouldn't be too far off in my opinion.

Shane

[March314]

Ok, Thanks Shan, I will take your advice.

[Benoni]

Originally Posted by March314

WOW...N-Lite sounds amazing. I'm gonna check that out. Would you recommend any particular customized set up?

I couldn't recommend anything with n-Lite, I'm not a user. iv never been a fan of XP personally. FWIW they also made a version of n-lite for Vista called V-lite. But im a die hard Windows 7 user now.

like it says above, as long as your PC is from 2005 and up i doubt you will really notice a gain in performance INSIDE of Pro Tools. But some people prefer to strip things down for other reasons....

What was the problem with Windows 7 64 bit you were having? my 003R has been great with Win 7 32 and 64 bit. But you gotta use what works for you, so if its XP, then its XP.