VST Performance in Cubase 6

The VST Performance in Cubase 6 is absolutely terrible.
I switched to a better computer, but it’s still really high and I get pops and clicks during playback.

The computer configuration is:
Dual 8 Core Xeon
128 GB RAM
Cubase is installed on a RAID 1 SSD Volume
The project is on a RAID 5 HDD Volume.

The song I’m working on has 5 Instrument Tracks and 6 Audio Tracks + a couple of FX tracks.

Using a brand new Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen USB 3 interface.
Even with the buffer size set to the maximum value of 1024, the VST Performance is really high, while the CPU/RAM utilization is really low in windows.

A am considering an upgrade to Cubase Artist 10, but would like to know that this will resolve this issue, before spending any money.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Xeon’s use server ram which is slower than normal ram.
I have Windows 7 64 bit, Gigabyte GA250-HD3P motherboard, 32Gb ram, i7 7700, Tascam US-144MK2 interface on USB 2 and a 7200 rpm drive - non ssd
My Cubase 6 will play as many audio tracks and vsts as I need with no trouble.
It sounds like your motherboard and the Xeon cpu are slowing you down