Hello. As i am configuring a new PC with Asus X99-pro mainboard, i7 5930K processor, and extra Firewire PCIe cards fitted. A system mainly for audio and a little bit of video work use, and i wonder what (64bit) Windows OS to choose for Cubase 8 etc. Currently i prefer Windows 7 Sp1 64bit. Only those annoying “administrator rights” issues occasionally happening puts me off a little bit. - I now have a dual boot Win 7/Win 8.1 system, but never really got to fully testing Windows 8.1 really, afraid a little of too many unusable old (legacy) software programs as with the switch from Windows XP to Windows 7 64bit a while back. BTW i was advised to get me a reasonably priced Asus Radeon R7 360 OC 2GD5 graphics card and 32GB of Crucial DDR$ 2133 Mhz RAM for stability. One Q: is it still wise to start a dual boot installation with Windows 7 first and then Windows 8.1, or maybe Windows 10 even, on separate boot partitions ? - Any tips or opinions are very welcome. greetz, -F
Why do you dual boot Windows? You are afraid that program from Win XP to Win 7 will not be working on Windows 8.1? It is possible but you can always google to see if somebody is using the program in that particular version.
I had windows 7 when Cubase 7 came out - worked fine. Now I have Windows 8.1 for almost 2 years and despite what some people say, it has been very stable to me and the issues were more related to Cubase itself rather than how Win 8.1 and Cubase 7.5-8 have been communicating (i.e. VST plugins causing crashes, instability, etc). I have Cubase 8, but did not use it lately, as I was exploring Studio one 3, but my main DAW is/will be Cubase.
In regard of RAM, is super cheap today, so you definitely don’t have to save up in that field
thanks Peter, and how about windows 10, any daredevils here?
I am running Windows 10, It’s working quite smoothly. I can’t be bothered with multiple boot scenarios.
Win 7 is not optimal for Cubase 8, see threads about activating Aero for more.
I’m running Windows 10 x64 and it is working out just fine, much more stable than when I ran Windows 7. I can’t image why one would ever want to dual boot on a DAW.
Well, thanks guyz, i have had several reactions, also on other forums. Most interesting remarks were: Window 8.1 is probably on the way out, even more than 7, in favor of windows 10. 10 to be the “last” windows numbered as such and meant to be a constantly updated and upgraded muti-platform thang, phones, tablets etc. … So the advice given i think i’ll follow: Start with windows 7, the least problematic one (in regards of older & other software than Cubase etc), and then install 8.1 separately partitioned in a dual boot situation, and upgrade the 8.1 to 10 as it still is free to recent 8.1 licenses … - F
I have used dual boot for some years and finally decided against it, for backup reasons.
I had a HD crash, and simply could not use any of the disc image backups I had to restore.
Windows 7 is dead, and very soon unsupported by both MicroSoft and anybody else.
Windows 10 is the only real option if you plan to instal new plugins and keep Cubase updated, that’s the reality of things.
It’s just a matter of time before NEW software will not work on windows 7 anymore.
I absolutely agree with peakae. However it will certainly be at least another few years before Windows 7 becomes unsupported by Microsoft and its planned demise in favor of Windows 10. My entire system was set up and upgraded to Windows 10 but after about 75 days of using it and fighting with it I decided to reinstall my entire Windows 7 OS. Since my computer is not only used for my seemingly extensive hobby recording but for active use of Windows media Center, it still remains best suited for me to do that. However many of my upgraded software pieces for a several of other programs all claim the purpose of the up date was to accommodate Windows 10.
So yes it is really just a matter of time before new software no longer performs on Windows 7. However I still think it is at least 3 to 5 years away
dont go windows 8.1 bro… i am having many issue with 8.1 os
I dual boot, but not to use different OSes. One boot is for music (Cubase, Wavelab, etc…). One boot is for everything else (surfing the web, ms office, quicken, email, games, etc…). Both are Win 7. My music boot is stripped down - not even antivirus, nothing but core music apps. It runs lightening fast and is very stable.
Some people like to have everything on the same boot. Some prefer to keep things separate. My dual booting is to 2 separate SSDs. All data on separate raided (mirrored) drives. This has saved my bacon on more than one occasion.
-Tom
Had the same recom from a friend into video and audio, especially about the virus stuff. He mentioned that Cubase 5.1, the “illegal one”, is much faster and exacter regarding latency, than the current versions needing dongles and internet, and he prefers using his no-dongle 5.1 with live straight multi channel recordings that use a lot of mics and channels as with a drummer and live rock band situation. Another guy i know still uses Cubase SX 3 running on a bare bone Windows Server 2003 version in his studio for the same reasons. Both are computer nerds and the latter a pro ICT worker and technician used to networks etc. Both avoid software that needs internet connections anyway. Had some chats that it should be possible if you have enough RAM you could reserve part of that for your internet running separately at the same time for a quick switch when needed, but i have had enough of all this ICT stuff as “amateur”. Keeps you from being creative LoL.
BTW i tried windows 10 briefly, clean install, and took it off. All those settings you’ll have to adjust to avoid Uncle MicroTom peeping into you private stuff really p-i-s-s-e-d me off. BTW creating an UEFI dual boot with just Microsoft Windows 7 and 10 doesn’t seem to work; on the second OS installation (Win10) the UEFI gets screwed up by creating a new second UEFI it seems. Couldn’t find a way to get that together yet, tried all sortd of DOS tricks to make the first UEFI accessible with diskpart and by repairing the bootrec, no go … I’ll stick with windows 7 for now. Alas i just bought licence keys for 8.1 and 10. - F
I’m on Windows 10, clean install and everything works great although it took a while to get everything perfect. Here’s a hint, not all PCIe firewire cards work with X99 chipsets (I struggled with this). In another thread, I found a link to this card:
SIIG 3-Port FireWire 800 PCIe Card Model NN-E38012-S3 firewire card
I’m happy to say it works fine.
Good luck on your journey, I’m overclocking my I7 5930K to 4500 MHz with no issues, screaming fast…
Interesting, got an x99 on my new Asus m-board, and just ordered a 1394 firewire card with a VIA chip on it, had that working but from an old type PCi slot on my old MB, one thing proved important: you should manually choose the “legacy” type firewire driver instead of the defaulted one… -F
Yeah, I had a couple of PCI/PCIe cards working on my old motherboard…