A brief respite until the next Foster iteration.
I'll give it around a week.

 

Last edited: Feb 23, 2025

Yes, there can be advantages to using an older machine, depending on the use case. Some people prefer older operating systems for compatibility with legacy software, especially in industries where specialized programs don’t work well on newer systems. Others find that older machines are still sufficient for basic tasks like web browsing, writing, or media playback, making upgrading unnecessary. Additionally, some users prioritize privacy and control, avoiding forced updates or telemetry in newer OS versions. That said, security risks are a major downside, so it’s important to take precautions like using updated browsers, firewalls, and offline usage when possible.

 

A lot of folks seem to whine about having "to be rich to own more than one machine"... Older machines can be had for mere cents on the $ compared with the cutting edge stuff. There are enough of them available that you can shop around either in pc recycle stores in your area, or on ebay and get fantastic deals on an exact machine configuration that fits your special needs. You can do this pretty dam cheap.

Example:
Intel core i7 3.6GHz 4 core hyperthreaded,
16GB ram,
1TB SSD,
Intel HD graphics chipset
GigaBit ethernet
USB3
BD burner optical drive

...all for less than 200$. Great internet warez gathering box, or hardware firewall, VPN, seed box, etc...There are hundreds of similar examples and configs available to fit just about any secondary need. Personally, I would not be running that above config to be doing any sort of production, but for the secondary usage cases listed it's perfect for any of them.

 

IMHO XP could be the ultimate, or 7, and just leave it off line.

 

Seven days ago, I took the plunge and replaced my old Xeon E3-1230 v3 with a 12-core AMD Ryzen 9 7900. Since then, I've been glued to my computer, trying to get it to function as smoothly as my old system that was upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

I haven't started a single project. Instead, I've been testing VST plugins to see what works and what doesn't. A Windows 11 update wiped out nearly two days of configuration work.

Then suddenly, after a Microsoft update, all my DACs and audio interfaces were deactivated, leaving me without sound. Every morning when I sit down at my computer, I'm afraid a Blue Screen of Death will appear.

The hardware isn't the issue at all. The real problem is Microsoft Windows 11 and their quality management.

Today is the first day I've turned on the computer without receiving any strange messages. Assembling my new computer took 3 hours, but dealing with Windows 11 and its poor updates took a good 7 working days to install everything and hopefully achieve stability.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings. My old computer with Windows 10 is going into a new case, and I'm keeping the old system intact as a safety net in case I encounter more problems with Windows 11.

It's quite risky to commit to Microsoft Windows 11 nowadays if you need your computer for work. I would think twice about it today.

Best regards, Niko!

 

In reality, Windows 11 works perfectly and without problems once you have configured it correctly.

If you install a new processor, you should definitely make sure that there is an available BIOS update.

You should also run this program first:
O&O ShutUp10++:Free antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11 --> www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

Then you should first install all updates and current drivers.

The free CCleaner has a button "EXTRAS" --> Autostart, where you can deactivate all autostart entries that you don't need.

How to enable Administrator account on Windows
https://blog.wijman.net/how-to-enable-administrator-account-on-windows/

Spoiler: Then optimize your computer for music production:

Then optimize your computer for music production:

0.) Don't let audio glitches ruin your performances! www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/

1.) The Ultimate Guide to Optimize your Windows PC for the Stage
https://gigperformer.com/docs/ultimate-guide-to-optimize-windows-for-stage/index.html

2.) LatencyMon 7.20
The LatencyMon software analyzes and identifies which device, which driver or which service is causing audio dropouts or malfunctions. Real-time audio suitability checker for Windows 10/8.1/8/7/2016/2012/2008 (x86 and x64)
Scroll Down to: System Monitoring Tools www.resplendence.com/downloads

3.) Windows Tuning Tips for Audio Processing
https://support.native-instruments....1729-Windows-Tuning-Tips-for-Audio-Processing

4.) PreSonus - Optimizing Your Computer for Audio - Windows 11
https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-...Optimizing-Your-Computer-for-Audio-Windows-11

5.) Ableton - Optimizing Windows for Audio
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209071469-Optimizing-Windows-for-Audio

6.) FL Studio - Optimizing FL Studio performance
www.image-line.com/fl-studio-learning/fl-studio-online-manual/html/app_opt.htm

7.) Windows: How to set up and optimize a Digital Audio Workstation
https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/...t-up-and-optimize-a-Digital-Audio-Workstation

8.) Focusrite - Optimising your PC for Audio on Windows 11
https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2025 at 8:31 AM

so windows works perfectly, once you disable half of its functions?

damning with faint praise is a phrase that comes to mind.

 

It's an operating system made by people for people and it's always the same Windows. It's just always updated.

It's designed so that every user can use it immediately.
On the other hand, if you're a musician you have to get involved yourself.

You should also always be clear in advance what you're using and that big tech giants always want data from you, because data is the new gold.

On the other hand, criminals also want your data, passwords and money, which is why Windows 11 has become even more secure, but also more difficult to change data yourself.

 

little update:

I spent the whole day testing today.

Games, DaVinci Resolve, Studio One, Cubase, Macrium Reflect, Bitsum ProcessLasso, OpenShell, Winstep Nexus Bar, Brave and Vivaldi browsers.

I've backed up images of the system drive on various storage devices in case anything happens.

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900 runs very well in ECO mode, super quiet.

My Studio One projects have gone from 60-80% CPU usage down to 20-35%, and that's in Balanced Power Mode.

The Samsung EVO990 Plus boots the system in under 30 seconds. (no fast boot active)

Really impressive. Before it took 1 minute or longer.

Great rig

 

@N.Sodokin surely impressive. I missed the change made before, and I am a bit lazy to scan the thread..

 

I didn't read all 7 pages, but something else to keep in mind is people who use older machines are also using older software. Software and games seem to bloat as hardware has gotten better. Devs get lazier and less motivated to optimize. I remember running early versions of ableton live and fruity loops on a 1.6ghz with like 1GB of ram. MIDI keyboard and an M-Audio AUDIOPHILE 24/96 2i2o PCMIA card... i dont remember a lot of latency. You couldnt load a ton of plugins at once, but i have specs magnitudes better than that now and stuff doesnt run magnitudes better.

 

One more reason: old gear that doesn't have an updated drivers... in my case I have a sound card SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum pro,
it's 20 years old, but it still works on Win7/64, some say on 10th too, but, this is an exception to the rule (happy to me), just one person (from all over the Earth, Carl!) has been updating drivers for free for this interface for 15 years... but others, who have an old gear are forced to use an older PCs/OS

 

I call this the update trap, the manufacturers have to keep up with the competition and make money too, so of course the products get better but also bigger and more resource-hungry. You can always see that in the minimum system requirements.

Of course, with the latest generation of CPUs/RAMs and Windows 10 or 11 you can do a lot that you couldn't do back then. In principle, everything has gotten better, provided you upgrade your PC, which always comes at a cost. It is sometimes better to go back to an older version so that, as you have already noticed, the software loads faster again.

Because with every update, new data is often added that requires more computing power and the endless presets and samples that multiply every day also need loading time. As you said @hed0rah, despite the SSD and new CPU, the speed increase for some plugins is zero.

I think you should get rid of some software and install other comparable products or downgrade and install older, slimmer versions.

 

The only reason is money, older computers are cheap

 

No doubt performance is better now. Real-time audio input effects (without latency) were virtually non-existent on a home computer back then. But does it perform 1000x better? because taking into account RAM speeds, and multi-threading, and SSD's thats the multiples we are talking about in terms of hardware performance.
For the record I hate AI for making music/art, but this did seem like a good question for a LLM. I had it compare a Pentium 4 versus my gaming laptop.


1. CPU Performance

• A 2002-era Pentium 4 1.6GHz had 1 core / 1 thread.
• Your Intel Core i9-13980HX (or similar high-end CPU) has 24 cores / 32 threads and turbo speeds up to 5.6GHz.
• Single-core performance is ~30-50x better and multi-core performance is ~100-200x better.

2. RAM

• 2002 PC: 1GB DDR SDRAM (~266MHz)
• Titan GT77: 64GB+ DDR5 (~5600MHz)
• RAM speed and bandwidth are over 20x better, and capacity is 64x greater.

3. GPU

• 2002: Integrated Intel Graphics or Radeon 9000 (~10 GFLOPS)
• Titan GT77: RTX 4090 Laptop (~40-45 TFLOPS)
• GPU performance is ~4000x better.

4. Storage Speed

• 2002: IDE HDD (~50MB/s)
• Titan GT77: NVMe SSD (~7000MB/s)
• Storage speed is ~140x faster.

5. Overall Speed Boost (Estimate)
Considering CPU, RAM, GPU, and storage improvements, your Titan GT77 is conservatively 5,000 to 10,000 times better than a 2002 PC in overall performance.

 

It's nice that you took the trouble to calculate it. This way you can see the technological progress more clearly.

From hikers to horses, to carriages, then the invention of the diesel engine to today's electric cars and airplanes.
Energy efficiency has also increased with very good power supplies and CPUs.

My formula is: More speed and storage capacity for data and information. Faster communication worldwide.

 

I know of one business that has an older computer than any listed. They have a Pentium 4 with a Linux squid proxy sitting on their incoming connections monitoring traffic. Apparently they have only had to reboot it around once a year for caching. They do of course have another already built which is more modern in readiness for when it does finally die, but they have used the philosophy if it works, does the job, then it isn't broken so do not fix it.

 

This is not meant to be bragging. I was also one of those who have defended their computer since 2014.

Finally, I have my new computer ready: a Ryzen 9-7900, 96GB DDR5, 2x Evo990plus, Aorus 870E motherboard, and 4x 1TB SSDs. After days of tinkering with Windows 11 and its quirks, today a new AMD chipset driver was released, and it has completely transformed everything.

Whatever AMD did, now the machine runs on adrenaline with only 65 watts.

Everything is incredibly fast—real-time conversion of VST to .wav in Studio One, endless VSTi until the CPU reaches 50%.

I can back up my 90GB system partition c: as an image in just 48 seconds.

My old Xeon1230v3 was always sacred to me, and until ten days ago, I thought it was still super good.

The new computer is many times faster, no matter what I do—graphics, music production, gaming. I didn't expect this.

Saving money really paid off, and now this stubborn old man feels like a kid again every time he turns on the new machine

 

And from everything you have said it probably was great for everything you needed to do.
I doubt anyone thought you were bragging. Pride and boasting are not the same thing - however, false pride can lead to bragging and you weren't doing that.

As an observer, I think it's great you have found something that filled the gap of a valued possession you have had for ages and had to let go of. I think many of us understand the old adage of "Better the devil you know than the one you don't".
A new replacement that does everything the old did and more, makes me want to do more and also more often. So go create something great with it!

 

Last edited: Mar 11, 2025 at 12:39 AM