I am using Cubase 10 pro. I am wondering if I should upgrade from windows 7 to windows 10. will this be a problem in the future if I keep using widows 7 as far as Cubase 10 and above.
You will usually have to start eLicenser as admin and run a maintenance, after a win10 install, including any major win10 update.
Windows 7 is quickly going to be obsolete, and IMHO it’s the right time to start thinking about changing OS.
I would recommend a clean install, making sure all the latest drivers/programs are downloaded and ready to install.
I did a upgrade install that still runs nicely, but it was a pain the first week. Some drivers that where not audio related, where replaced by generic Microsoft drivers, they ran nicely but where prioritized so high that audio became a stuttering mess.
Installed a fresh set of drivers for the motherboard and everything worked again.
Remember, support for Windows 7 ends January 14th, 2020
peakae, when you say you installed a fresh set of drivers for the MB how exactly did you accomplish this? What MB do you run that will allow you to update it’s drivers over the MS version? In my experience, installing drivers is an individual thing, I am not sure about installing a group of MB drivers in one fell swoop? Or did I misunderstand your method?
I have built a new DAW and have moved away from an older Win7 machine and I am happy with the transformation. To track down some issues with Win10, it has been with the help of LantencyMon. It tells me that the MS drivers that take the biggest toll on my machine are the MS Wdf0100.sys and the ntoskrnl.exe - and there are slight fixes out there for most of this, but these drivers can’t be replaced. As far as I can tell, a faster processer, a good MB and plenty of ram are the things that can help the most. Too, there are many Windows apps to turn off/disable/remove in Win10 that you don’t want or need including Explorer11 (use Edge), Bluetooth, Windows News Feed, etc… Win10 is made more for the ‘typical PC consumer’ IMO, the DAW user will need to do some homework and make some changes.
My advice to the original poster is to buy a good processer, a good MB, and install plenty of ram and visit this site for tune up tips:
https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/solving-dpc-latency-issues/
All good here with Win10Pro 1903.
My 2 cents: although Windows 7 support ends soon, it’s not going to stop working. A dedicated PC running Windows 7 will be fine as long as you don’t connect it to a network.
Just FYI, Windows 10 1903 is currently not yet a supported system for Steinberg products, and I don’t know any way to do a new installation of Windows 10 without getting 1903, unless you already have an old installer and keep the machine off the internet while you do it.
Well maybe that was 4 cents …
While every other PC I have is on 10 I ended up having to keep my DAW on 7 (omitted: long ugly story about trying to upgrade to 10). Everything works fine without any issues. My intention is to keep using 7 until the machine needs replacing (which seems a ways off). Not particularly concerned about MS dropping support in 2020. If a significant security vulnerability crops up they will still push out a fix as there will literally be tons of legacy PCs still running 7.
I went to the INTEL site and found most drivers for that CPU chipset. but there where other onboard third party chips that this didn’t cover.
I used one of the many “update all drivers”, program. Did a backup, closed my eyes and mumbled a prayer, and it updated everything.
After a boot performance was great, actually a tiny bit better than on Win7.
BTW that “update all drivers” program, that i uninstalled after a few weeks (the demo ran out, and i didn’t need it anymore).
Started to get ads opening on the desktop from that manufacturer, sneaky sneaky they had installed another program to do that after a month of silence.
It could thankfully be easily uninstalled, and I guess it is the price of using something for free.
That is really the way to go, if possible.
I use far to many cloud services and other online stuff, that i need on my DAW computer. Well i guess I could migrate most to other computers, but it would take some hoop jumping.
And I’m far to much a computer nerd, that I would be able to resist the temptation, of running a newer OS.
edit: I don’t make a living doing audio, I just love it. That is why I can take risks.
I have two PCs on Win10, one runs Win10 1703 and the other 1903. (Note: the 1703 machine is an updated Win7 machine and the Win7 machine was set up to NOT do automatic downloads of Windows - and the instructions are holding. I will have to physically upload the new Win10 OS on this machine if I want it.)
Running the LatencyMon tests on either, it does seem the 1703 OS is basically OK from the gate and strangely not focused on the Wdf0100.sys and the ntoskrnl.exe drivers. They are there and in the top tier, but not dominant. And note, this 1703 PC doesn’t have the Bluetooth option or an internal wifi unit, maybe something to pay attention to. Likewise I don’t have to put this 1703 PC into Airplane mode to get a good test result. So maybe this is something I will take a better look at (using an external wifi device).
All of this said, the 1903 OS can do better in the LatencyMon test after turning off Bluetooth (from a few different places) and going to Airplane mode. It takes some work but 1903 is fine for audio use IMO and according to LatencyMon. It’s fast and it’s stable here. Also FWIW, I run my DDR4 ram at 3200 Mhz and my CPU at it’s rated 3.20GHz, hyper threading enabled.