Tweak Vista 64-bit for Music Production?

[Dozer]

Hello everyone.
I recently got a Dell I530-110B Inspirion 530
Intel Quad Core Q6600 with 6 Gigs RAM.

I am running Windows Vista 64-bit.

I originally did all my Music Production on an E-Machine T3256 with 2Gigs RAM-Windows XP.

In Windows XP, I disabled all services with XP Smoker Pro, except:
DCOM Server Process Launcher
Event Log
Network Connections
Plug and Play
System Restore Service
Windows Audio
Windows Management Instrumentation

I am looking to stop alot of the running services.
And just about anything else that could let me commit my system to music production.

Ive upgraded to a faster PC with more RAM so that I could mix music with more freedom.
I am no longer limited to how many Reverb Plugins, or any plugins for that matter, that I can have running at the same time.

If anyone has any links, or anything about Tweaking Vista 64-bit for this purpose. Let me know.

Music Production Computer: Does not connect to internet. Does not need or have Antispyware or Antivirus.
Does not need to be updated. Strictly music produciton/mixing/mastering

I am currently reading the Vista Tweaks Thread also.
Thanks.

[alexp999]

I used to turn loads off, but it ended up being more trouble than its worth. Now all I turn off is:

Windows Search (an absolute must!)
Windows Defender
Windows Security Center
Remote Registry

Other than that, there isnt any point IMO. especially with a quad and 6 gigs of ram. Only thing i would ask, whats is your mem config for 6 gig? (i.e 3x2gb, 2x2gb + 2x1gb? etc)

[francis511]

blackviper.com

...but it seems to be down atm.

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by francis511

blackviper.com

...but it seems to be down atm.

yeah that is a great site... be careful when turning off services, you can give yourself alot of trouble for very little gain...

You have almost the same set up as me.(a Q w. 6 gigs of ram).. the one service i would turn off asap is readyboost. why?

run any memory benchmarking tool with it, and then without it... (preferrably sisoft sandra.) for me that service killed 200mb/s to 400mb/s of ram bandwith consistently.

[alexp999]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

yeah that is a great site... be careful when turning off services, you can give yourself alot of trouble for very little gain...

You have almost the same set up as me.(a Q w. 6 gigs of ram).. the one service i would turn off asap is readyboost. why?

run any memory benchmarking tool with it, and then without it... (preferrably sisoft sandra.) for me that service killed 200mb/s to 400mb/s of ram bandwith consistently.

Readyboost is the boot service required for Superfetch.
I always used to turn it off, then after about 3 boots after I turned it back on I must half halved me boot time, no joke!

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by alexp999

Readyboost is the boot service required for Superfetch.
I always used to turn it off, then after about 3 boots after I turned it back on I must half halved me boot time, no joke!

oh wow i didnt even notice that... still i think would would rather have 400MB/s and lower latency than a quicker boot...

[niko084]

Oh man to be more than honest, nobody is daring to use vista for production tools...

It's either Linux, XP or XP x64... Or Mac OS obviously....

[alexp999]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

oh wow i didnt even notice that... still i think would would rather have 400MB/s and lower latency than a quicker boot...

So you were getting lower bandwidth, even without a USB drive on Readyboost plugged in? Just the service running?

Did you use more than one memory app to double check? Say, everest?

[niko084]

It should kill ram bandwidth because it will probably attempt to write to the dang flash drive which is a LOT slower than system ram...

[alexp999]

Originally Posted by niko084

It should kill ram bandwidth because it will probably attempt to write to the dang flash drive which is a LOT slower than system ram...

But it shouldnt if there is no flash drive attached with readyboost running on it.

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by alexp999

So you were getting lower bandwidth, even without a USB drive on Readyboost plugged in? Just the service running?

Did you use more than one memory app to double check? Say, everest?

Mostly SuperPi and Sisoft Sandra... I really noticed it when i was trying out readyboost (I was hoping to speed up HD latency for page file) I bought the drive, formatted it, readyboost ready and all, and then ran some unrelated benchies that day.

My scores for the memory went down across the board... once i turned off readyboost... they all went back up... etc etc. even after i took the flash drive out.

let me take some screenies. it was on my old DS3-L but it shouldnt make a diff.

[alexp999]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

Mostly SuperPi and Sisoft Sandra... I really noticed it when i was trying out readyboost (I was hoping to speed up HD latency for page file) I bought the drive, formatted it, readyboost ready and all, and then ran some unrelated benchies that day.

My scores for the memory went down across the board... once i turned of redyboost... they all went back up... etc etc. even without the flash drive in.

let me take some screenies.

So with no flash drives plugged in. The Readyboot service still slows down your bandwidth

[psyko12]

@ Topic Starter: There's a sticky here that is well described about vista tweaks, you should look in to that here.

[phanbuey]

Ok so here goes... with the serivce on, i definitely didnt experience the same dip as last time... Sandra was consistant and gave me about an 80-100Mb drop while superpi was inconsistent as hell, but on average very slightly slower with it enabled.

i posted some screenshots, 20mins after boot, with the Superfetch and Readyboost toggled on and off...

in conclusion, without the flashdrive, readyboost has barely any impact at all (80-100Mb/s is like 1.3%)... so i was talking out of my ass on that one. i am sorry. Aero, on the other hand...

also the screenies were bigger, but i chopped em to keep them around 190K...
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[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

I usually just hit Remote Registry, Parental control, Windows Defender, Readyboost, annnd thats it.

Why is Windows Search a must Alex?

Instead of using a third party app, just use services.msc via Start>Run

[alexp999]

Originally Posted by CrAsHnBuRnXp

I usually just hit Remote Registry, Parental control, Windows Defender, Readyboost, annnd thats it.

Why is Windows Search a must Alex?

Instead of using a third party app, just use services.msc via Start>Run

Keep readyboost on people! (Just enabled in the services.msc control panel, you dont need a USB drive dor it to work)
It makes your boot times so much better!

And Windows Search to be turned off as a must cus its a indexing program that it known to hog resources, and in my experience provide no benefit other than slowing your machine down and wearing your HDD away.

[Dozer]

Originally Posted by alexp999

Other than that, there isnt any point IMO. especially with a quad and 6 gigs of ram. Only thing i would ask, whats is your mem config for 6 gig? (i.e 3x2gb, 2x2gb + 2x1gb? etc)

I have 4 Mem. stick in, so Im guessing 2x2gb + 2x1gb

Anyway, for music production puposes.
Running the Recording Program
Plus all the plugin effects like Compression, Eq, Reverb,
You know, Music production purposes.
In System Properties>Advanced Tab>Performance Settings Advanced Tab> Under Processor
Scheduling
Should I adjust for best performance of "Programs" or "Background Services"?
Thanks for the help guys