Windows 10 "myths"

[ecc83]

Couple of things I read recently...

"You really need W10 on an SSD."
Not so according to at least two other PC gurus. SSDs do give a faster boot and will load files such as large samples faster but there is no overriding reason to have one to run W10.

"ASIO audio runs much better on W 8 and especially W10".

Again other experts I trust say "not so". The whole point of ASIO is that it takes audio file handling AWAY from the OS.

I am but a humble bottle jockey so can only go by what I read. The views of the Computer Mighty here will be of great interest.

Dave.

[rob aylestone]

SSDs have never impressed me very much at all. In fact, either my edit computer or audio computer has one - and I can't remember which, and certainly I have not got the situation where one is very quick and one is very slow - both start up pretty quickly. The price and capacity of SSDs is still confusing. I'm sure there are reasons why they are out of all proportion to the cost per Mb compared to a complex to build, precision but of kit like a hard drive. I can also dig out my old drives from maybe 20 years ago, and most will spin up and load - will SSDs be able to do this? Not convinced? LED lighting will last 50,000 hours - but we all know they don't.

[ecc83]

SSDs have never impressed me very much at all. In fact, either my edit computer or audio computer has one - and I can't remember which, and certainly I have not got the situation where one is very quick and one is very slow - both start up pretty quickly. The price and capacity of SSDs is still confusing. I'm sure there are reasons why they are out of all proportion to the cost per Mb compared to a complex to build, precision but of kit like a hard drive. I can also dig out my old drives from maybe 20 years ago, and most will spin up and load - will SSDs be able to do this? Not convinced? LED lighting will last 50,000 hours - but we all know they don't.

I have but one PC with an SSD, a pretty low spec AMD Ath ll that I use in my living room. It does little more than run Radio 3 and host a printer/scanner/ It DOES boot to password PDQ and full op' quickly after that but, the 240G drive is only 1/4 full and I have little on the desktop.

I am typing on a g6, HP i3 lappy 620G spinner nearly 1/2 full and loadsa***t on the desktop (despite my best efforts!) . IF I shut that down then yes, takes a minute or two to get running* but has a lot more to do! Mostly I just shut the lid.

*Never understood why peeps are so pissoffable about boot times? Just put the smeggin' kettle on!

Dave.

[Tadpui]

I've gotta say that if you didn't notice a difference in boot times with an SSD, then either it was not a very good SSD or it was using an older bus type that couldn't handle the bandwidth. Mine made an instant, massive difference. My newer NVMe m.2 is even faster, great little chip.

[Steenamaroo]

I've gotta say that if you didn't notice a difference in boot times with an SSD, then either it was not a very good SSD or it was using an older bus type that couldn't handle the bandwidth. Mine made an instant, massive difference. My newer NVMe m.2 is even faster, great little chip.

Agreed.
I don't know what amazing spinning drives or awful SSDs some people are testing by my experience has been bicycle vs car.
Even in a massively underpowered netbook I've seen SSDs make the difference between usable and torturous.

I'm not concerned with boot times in the slightest but my experience has been such that I genuinely wouldn't use spinning disks even if someone gave me a free lifetime supply.
As an external backup on a shelf? Sure, but not in an active system

Your gurus are right in that no one *needs* an SSD but the way hardware is these days, that's often where the bottle neck is.

[rob aylestone]

I really don't get it - disk speed hasn't;t been an issue for years - HD video, huge samplers for audio - throughput hasn't caused me any glitches with drives for quite a while. My edit machine has windows on the SSD, and the difference between this and the audio computer is not huge - AND - the edit machine start up time with the SSD isn't that speedy really. The macbook is pretty quick compared to the two windows machines.

[Steenamaroo]

If you're not seeing much difference I guess either your demands aren't that great, or you're on SataI, or the SSD isn't great.

[DM60]

The computer I am typing on now is about 14+years old. I don't do much on it these days, maybe little photo editing, experiment with stuff.

It was painfully slow at loading stuff up. Browser, apps, just was killing me it was so slow. I was thinking of tossing it and getting a laptop and keep truckin', then I put an SSD in my music computer for faster loading of files as I was noticing my HD light overload would come on every now and then. Anyway, it made a difference in my music computer and in this old thing. I am an SSD fanboy now!

I don't mind putting the kettle on when I want to drink tea, but I don't like waiting for it to boil either That is why I have a timer on my coffee pot, ready when I get up!

[mixsit]

How about just another means to drive down noise from a DAW?
Standard set here is 'C, and two active audio drives. (primary plus 'daily back up.

I've got to the point I don't want to even hear the thing.

[ecc83]

So, if I could pull this together?
1)There are good and bad SSDs. Did not know that. Is my Samsung CT 240 BX2* one of the good guys?

2)An SSD should show a faster boot time but unless you are REALLY pushing things (most of us are not) you won't see a massive change in the day to day running of the PC? That is my experience.

3)Windows 10 is a red fish in this context?

The claim that W10 "handles ASIO audio better" has not been mentioned but I tend to go with "ASIO bypasses OS" anyway (mac users need not apply!)

*I looked for the drive model using Speccy. Did not give it, just reported "Storage" must see if there is an update...CAREFULLY!

Dave.