Does the Windows 10 Pro for Workstations edition improve audio latency/performance with Cubase?

Cubase
#1

I have just been re-reading about the Windows 10 Pro for Workstations edition and some descriptions about this edition mention that it has lower latency than the “normal” Windows 10 Pro ediition. It is not clear if this is due to its support for better processors (Intel Xeon, etc.) or simply a feature of the overall edition on any modern hardware.

I was wondering whether anyone has had experience of running Cubase Pro (10 onwards, I’m on 11) with “normal” hardware (such as modern Intel i7 or i9 processors) using the Windows 10 Pro for Workstations edition? and if so, did it improve system (and audio) latency on your configuration?

#2

I have no experience of Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, and I can’t really see any reason to get it. The lower latency you mention is related to network communication, not audio. And I can’t really see that it can use better hardware, just more hardware.

If 2 physical CPUs and 2 TB RAM isn’t enough, you need to upgrade to the Workstations edition, but I have hard to see that this is a limitation for anyone in the music industry.

#3

If you could provide a link or two, it might shed better light on the exact context of those claims.

#4

Thanks both

Here is where I found the original statement that piqued my interest What is Windows 10 Pro for Workstations? All You Need to Know | Beebom

Having searched again (obviously different set of search terms) I also found the following Microsoft announces Windows 10 Pro for Workstations - Microsoft 365 Blog and the latency is specifically called out as ( as mentioned by @GuruGurra ):

  • Low latency: Provides extremely fast responses to network requests, and, as a result, makes remote file storage feel as if it is directly attached storage.

So now have answered my own question :slight_smile: so, as said, only if you need A LOT of hardware - such as more than two CPUs or ridiculous amounts of memory - or some very specific hardware configurations!

Thanks anyway - thought it was worth the ask!

#5

Thanks for the links.

It looks to me like a larger Studio that wish to store all of their audio data on central servers might get some benefit due to the lower network latency.

But I didn’t see anything meaningfully advantageous for smaller or single person studios.

#6

Agreed, unless someone needs a really powerful processor/memory combination for their work, which probably would only be the larger studios.

#7

GuruGurra, Common sense should rule this world, not “I don’t know but I’ll talk anyway …”. I’m sure you meant no arm but you kinda ruined this interesting thread, you’re flagged as “best answer” as in “no answer at all”!!! We can do better than that… Anyone!!!

#8

@7blackknights I had marked @GuruGurra’s reply as an answer originally as his catching that the latency talked about was specifically network latency was an important part (just hidden a bit). I have removed this for now - maybe my follow up reply with links and extract of text is a more complete answer for anyone else asking the same question… but anyone else, feel free to provide a better answer or one based on experience of Windows Pro for Workstations :slight_smile:

#9

I purchased the upgrade to Win 10 Pro for Workstations for the reliability of ReFS alone.

Regarding Cubase’s performance, I tested with Cubase Pro 10 and 10.5, no improvement on the (serious) latency issues this system had suffered from (10core i9 CPU, 64GB RAM), effectively making Cubase unusable. The moment Cubase was upgraded to version 11, the latency issues were resolved.

#10

@ntsarb thanks for that. I must admit I was thinking about it for ReFS myself. Interesting results on latency (albeit probably expected from the info since found) but also a positive story on Cubase 11 :slight_smile:

#11

@ntsarb
Does your workstation also feature ECC memory complete with a CPU and motherboard supporting it?

#12

ReFS would benefit but doesn’t require ECC memory and Xeon CPU. I’m interested mostly about data getting refreshed/replenished on the HDDs. Most of this data is stored once and never rewritten/replaced. I don’t care if there’s a rare data error caused on the fly by non-ECC RAM but I do care about not losing lots of data due to gradual degradation of the magnetic medium over longer periods of time.

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