Slow and laggy GUI - Win 10

I’m a Sonar user hoping to move to Cubase Pro 9.5. I have just installed Elements trial as I don’t have the e-licenser for the Pro trial. On running it I am finding the interface really slow and laggy. It loads up fast enough when launched, but doing anything like resizing a track, clicking a tab, selecting from a dropdown, anything like that is really slow and laggy. Clicking play on the transport causes a lag before play button turns green and the project starts playing too. There is no lag when using the menu bar, just most areas of the GUI and at it’s worse the lag is about 1.5 seconds which makes it difficult to do anything. I don’t have this problem with any software.

I also notice that if I minimize the window, the project minimizes but the menu bar and transport remain on the screen which seems very odd.

Anyone know the problem or how to fix it, please?

My system is;
AMD FX 8350 8 core 4.02 GHz
16 GB Ram
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX
Win 10 64bit
1920 X 1080 screen

I have read about Mac users have a similar problem, but I’m on Win 10. This is a shame because I really want to get Cubase Pro but I can’t while I have this problem.

Can’t help you with the lag I’m afraid other than to say it’s not a usual situation on Windows (7 or 10 both fine for me). I know there has been talk of NVIDIA issues in the past (though I’ve not seen them with my 760GTX) so do check you have the latest drivers (or even roll back).

The minimise is how Cubase (and many other software) reacts if you have a Project maximised within the Program window. A second click on the the minimise button will minimise the whole program. The possibly difference to others is the transparent background but this is normal Cubase behaviour and not related to your laggy GUI.

Thanks for the reply. I did try updating the GPU driver but that had no effect. It’s a strange situation. The last thing I expect to have problems with in a DAW is the graphics.

Indeed…but it has been reported in the past. Most recently mainly on the Mac side I think and anyway it’s supposed to be much better with 9.5 (can’t comment as I’ve never seen the problems myself). Hopefully someone else can chime in with more experience of the issues…Good luck!

Note that this GPU you’re using is VERY old. The GPU in my signature (GTX 760) is an oldish mid-end GPU, and it’s up to 6 times faster than yours.

A new GPU will not only run faster, it will also have better driver support, giving it more predictable performance and stability.


The graphics performance issues were Mac only. Cubase Pro 9.5 runs super smooth here.

Ha! And there’s me thinking the OP’s GPU with a higher number must be newer than mine (also GTX760). Doh!

This isn’t a normal thing to happen, even with a weak graphics card. It also is unlikely to be related to the (past) issues on macOS. Very strange.

The performance of the 8800 GTX is supposed to be roughly comparable to a modern onboard GPU. But Windows 10 drivers for this GPU series are separate from the ones for newer GPUs, and may not be so well optimized. So there could be more to the story than him just having a weak graphics card.

It’s possible that simply disabling your 8800 GTX on your BIOS and using your onboard graphics card instead could greatly improve performance in Cubase. Don’t forget to install the GPU drivers for it and restart Windows afterwards. You’ll also have to connect your monitor to another video port behind your computer since the 8800 will be turned off.

It is an old GPU yes, but I also use this machine for lots of graphics work - illustration, animation, 3D and video work. It works fine with all that and all other GUIs. It’s kind of ironic that a DAW fails to work on my machine because of a graphics card! I was going to upgrade my GPU, but with the collapse of Cakewalk I now have to spend that money on a new DAW and can’t afford a new GPU as well.

While it might be my GPU I am not completely convinced. Another off thing with Elements is that when it loads up, the hub start screen’s left pane just says “Connecting” in lots of languages but never connects. Maybe it’s just a problem in the Element’s demo, but I can’t risk buying pro in order to find out.

Edit: My mobo doesn’t have onboard graphics.

Here’s a demonstration of how Cubase runs for me. To simulate a big-ish project, I took 68 24-bit tracks I recorded a while ago and used these plugins in every track:

-2 different CPU hungry VST2 analog compressor emulations
-1 CPU hungry VST2 analog EQ emulation
-Cubase’s Maximizer

Note that video recording MURDERS my framerate. It looks and feels much smoother in person, but graphics performance is nowhere as bad as you described in your first post even while recording the video with this many tracks. Pretty much everything responds instantly (the only reason opening the mixer lagged a bit is because of the video recording).

Cubase Elements should run just as well since it’s based on the same code.

Yep, that’s kind of how I was expecting it to be :slight_smile:

Hi al3mm, welcome here. I see you are already allowed to post - Nice.

If you are really out of money, then it’s maybe an idea to get an second hand Graphic card? I bought my Nvidia Quadro NVS 295 for only € 6.50 on a second hand site (locally in Holland called “Marktplaats” what means “Market place”). This card runs great on my computer with i5 processor. The only thing I must keep in mind is that it uses older drivers, so I have blocked updates for this hardware driver in Windows.

I really hope this problem will be sorted out (and let’s hope Frank-US will find something useful).

Thanks JClosed. I was planning on getting a better GPU for my graphics work, but being unexpectedly plunged into a new DAW purchase means that will have to wait.

The Quadro NVS is likely too weak for his graphics work, and is not much newer than his 8800 GTX to make a difference if this is a driver issue. (and like the 8800 it also uses a separate set of rarely-updated drivers)

Yes, you are right about that Romantique Tp.

I only suggested it, to see if swapping out with another graphic card would make any difference, not to fully replace his card. It’s a pity his motherboard does not have on-board graphics, so this was the cheapest second possibility.

Well - we can only hope there will be a solution at the end. Good luck al35mm!

Just for the record, it ran fine on a 9300 GS.