My DAW PC hates me though I shower it with nothing but love..time to switch to a Mac?

[chk071]

I DO think that you can have some bad luck, and catch a mainboard which has driver, or compatibility issues of some kind, yes (again, hardware manufacturer thing, nothing to actually do with the OS itself). Same applies to Apple and their suppliers, though. My mom had a Macbook once, whose harddrive failed after 6 months of very moderate use. That was also the moment when i realized that all that rubbish about the superiority of hardware quality, and all that, is just complete nonsense. How could it be different? As i mentioned, they put on their pants the same way as the others.

Of course, if you feel safer thinking that their stuff is well tested and supported (well... they also have to deliver on the edge of technology, so, the "well tested" may be not so well tested at all), and you buy a homogenous product, sure, fair point. From my experience, i only can say that it makes no difference. And, i've seen a lot of program crashes, and bugs, even in the Mac OS includes software as well. Should i say for the third time now, that they only put on their pants the same way as the others? Well, i said it.

[chk071]

I think their actual product design is great, BTW. Best in the business really. Only thing i doubt is the superiority in hardware, and software quality.

[THE INTRANCER]

Its not rocket science to build a PC, its just a matter of a few screws and plugging in cables.

To be fair, that's pretty misleading, because before you even start to building a PC, you need to know what parts are compatible and which are not, for example.. The CPU needs to be compatible for the right motherboard type, the motherboard needs to be researched for features you want, and any problems they might have, the mobo needs to be the right size to fit the case, the type of memory you choose needs to be compatible with the mobo, the clearance between the HSF (Heatsink and Fan) and memory to be carefully considered (if applicable), the graphics card needs to be able to fit the interior of the case, knowing what good reliable PSU should be selected to fit the case to power it all, choosing a compatible and adequate HSF to fit the case and to be able to be mounted on the CPU, or if you are choosing a water based system, whether the case will accommodate it.. then there's other possible factors, such as overclocking..is the CPU suitable, is the memory suitable for OC'ing, is the motherboard suitable for overclocking purposes, does the mobo provide enough memory expansion...Then there is the overall balance of the components and potential bottlenecks.

Building a PC may not be rocket science, but it is a science....A science of knowledge and understanding, of complex technology.

Then when it comes to building the PC, you need be know how much or how little something needs..an understanding of where things are, in the same way an engineer builds an engine.

In the end, the difficulty of how to build a PC really comes down to the level in which it's delivered to you, and the level of confidence and ability you have to assemble one. The more you know, the better the choice's you make.

[chk071]

Well.. if you don't want to go through that, there's always sites which let you compile your wish PC in a configurator similar to a car configurator, which warns you of potential problems with the compilation of your hardware parts. It's really not as difficult as you describe it, though.

[keyman_sam]

I have grown a high tolerance to pain through many years of working with computers.

Few years back I used to get random BSODs for no apparent reason. It came down to using mismatched RAM sticks. Basically when I upgraded RAM, I mixed the old and new. And it worked, for a while. Removed the old sticks and problem solved.

You can call this user error, but there was no error generated from the machine. The BSODs aren't helpful in troubleshooting the problem. There IS some wizardry involved in getting a music production setup to work, it looks like.

I love my PC and Cubase, when it runs well and doesn't crash. It is a dream. But it has given me enough problems that I get a mild form of PTSD whenever Cubase loads up. It used to be MUCH worse in Reaper. With Cubase, atleast I like the workflow.

Just saying, I can't be the only one. I'm sure Mac folks have troubles as well. It seems to be less on their side though. What CAN I do to get a good working setup? That's all I'm interested in. If it's a PC from a known vendor, great. If it's getting rid of some plugins, sure. WHAT IS THE MAGIC SPELL? sigh..

For those curious, my specs:
Primary: ASUS P8Z68-V LX INTEL Z68 CROSSFIRE, i7-2600K 3.40 GHz, 20 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD (OS), 2 TB (Samples), 1 TB (Audio), nVidia GTX 750 Ti, GT520, Win 7 x64, NI Komplete Ultimate 11, iZotope MPB, Cubase stock plugins, Waves plugins

DAW: Cubase 7.5.4/Cubase 9.5

Soundcard: RME Babyface.

[THE INTRANCER]

I have grown a high tolerance to pain through many years of working with computers.

Few years back I used to get random BSODs for no apparent reason. It came down to using mismatched RAM sticks. Basically when I upgraded RAM, I mixed the old and new. And it worked, for a while. Removed the old sticks and problem solved.

You can call this user error, but there was no error generated from the machine. The BSODs aren't helpful in troubleshooting the problem. There IS some wizardry involved in getting a music production setup to work, it looks like.

I love my PC and Cubase, when it runs well and doesn't crash. It is a dream. But it has given me enough problems that I get a mild form of PTSD whenever Cubase loads up. It used to be MUCH worse in Reaper. With Cubase, atleast I like the workflow.

Just saying, I can't be the only one. I'm sure Mac folks have troubles as well. It seems to be less on their side though. What CAN I do to get a good working setup? That's all I'm interested in. If it's a PC from a known vendor, great. If it's getting rid of some plugins, sure. WHAT IS THE MAGIC SPELL? sigh..

For those curious, my specs:
Primary: ASUS P8Z68-V LX INTEL Z68 CROSSFIRE, i7-2600K 3.40 GHz, 20 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD (OS), 2 TB (Samples), 1 TB (Audio), nVidia GTX 750 Ti, GT520, Win 7 x64, NI Komplete Ultimate 11, iZotope MPB, Cubase stock plugins, Waves plugins

DAW: Cubase 7.5.4/Cubase 9.5

Soundcard: RME Babyface.

I'd hazard a guess, that it's related to you using two different graphic cards together, you are literally asking for trouble. Knowing the code's in which the Blue Screen Of Death's occurs is important to know for helping you to diagnose what part of the system is causing the issue's specifically, be that RAM or graphics card related...or possibly something else.

One of the most important pieces of hardware if not, thee most important part, is the PSU (Power Supply Unit). You've not stated what the type you're using is..but if it's being pushed too far, or the rails are insufficient such as with what you'd find on cheap generic PSU's, that may be instigating BSOD'S.

The only time, I've ever encountered a BSOD with Windows 7 is whilst overclocking my system, which is to be expected, never by running any program, and I've had my system working, reliably for 8 years. I've had issue's getting into Windows but that's been because of other issue's relating to USB type Hard Drives failing outside the system.

If the system you have is overclocked, I'd suggest resetting the BIOS to it's normal settings, which will adjust any memory timings to match.

USB dongle's can also instigate Blue Screens...

"When a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) system failure occurs for most users, there is insufficient time to note down in full what it says; the exact text is important to anyone trying to diagnose what is wrong. You can gain the time needed when the error next occurs by following the procedure described below.

If you haven't done so already, disable automatic restart on system failure. This should help by allowing time to write down the Stop Error code and related information properly. Select Start, right click on Computer select Properties, Advanced System Settings, Start-Up and Recovery, System Failure and uncheck the box before Automatically Restart. Do not re-enable automatic restart on system failure after getting this information as this setting is best left to not to allow Automatic Restart.

If the system failure occurs during the booting of the computer you need to try a different approach. You can access the Windows Advanced Options Menu on many computers by constantly pressing the F8 (Function) key during Start-Up and selecting the option - Disable automatic restart on system failure. This method is not always easy to use as it can be difficult to depress the F8 at exactly the right time. Try again if it does not work first time. "

[Sascha Franck]

Just saying, I can't be the only one. I'm sure Mac folks have troubles as well. It seems to be less on their side though. What CAN I do to get a good working setup? That's all I'm interested in. If it's a PC from a known vendor, great. If it's getting rid of some plugins, sure. WHAT IS THE MAGIC SPELL? sigh..

I think there's no magic receipe at all.
From my personal experience, yes, there's somewhat less troubleshooting and maintainance efforts required in Apple land, even Windows 10 "ages" (aka getting cluttered) a bit quicker than OSX, but I'm not too familiar with the former anymore (only maintaining the wifes PC which I also have some little audio things installed on, out of interest...), so, to me it seems that installing and keeping a fresh, clean system for audio work only (and use another boot for anything else) would still be the best idea. With a fast machine and SSDs re-booting isn't all that much of a hassle these days. At least that's what I would do.

As far as getting a Mac goes, well, you would probably be underwhelmed by its performance unless you go for a Mac Pro or one of those even more street-robberish-ly priced new iMacs. Big bucks, also as you had to tinker with external drive enclosures and what not. In addition, while they seem to have gotten their act together quite a bit better nowadays, Cubase is notoriously known to work quite a lot more efficiently under Windows (which still seems to be Steinbergs "home" platform).
Otoh, IMO when using a Mac for audio, getting Logic is almost a must (even if as an additional toy only). For that kind of package, the price is just crazy - and it's still incredibly efficient, especially when working at lowest latencies.
Fwiw, those 2012-ish Mac Pros (the "cheese graters") can be found for quite a decent price occasionally - and they're still very powerful (at least the ones with the dual 6-core Xeons are, I'm using one) and compatible with the latest OSX. You'd also be able to sell such a machine for about the same price, should you not like the experience.

Again fwiw, It's really not as if Mac users would have all that much less troubles. Many of them just seem to make a religion/cult from a computer/OS choice - and you don't blame your religion/cult for anything, do you?
As said before, there's some things Apple has done just right - and they may even save your a** one day. My old Macbook once broke and until I got it repaired, I simply borrowed another (newer, hence pretty different) one one from a mate that he didn't need for a while. Connected an image of my system on an external drive, mirrored it onto the internal one and *blam*, working. Later on, when I got my Mac Pro, I also used my Macbooks image to start right away while configuring the newer OSX piece by piece through a dual boot. These things are absolutely impossible in Windows land.
However, Mac users are running into other sorts of problems regularly. Apple doesn't give the slightest damn about backwards compatibility. In fact, it seems to be one of their hidden perverted addictions to blow away any sort of backwards compatibility once every 1-3 years. This is true for both soft- and hardware. So, you got a (still very valuable) RME HDSP PCIe card and a plan on a new Mac Pro? Have fun with your TB-to-PCIe adapter... Got any plans to keep some older plugins installed for the sake of loading older projects properly? Pfft - not in Apple land (as long as the plugin is older than, say, 2 years). Even if there's no significant need (such as a 32 to 64bit switch, which also affected Windows users), Apple will manage to f*** you straight ahead. One day FireWire is *the* sh*t, the next day no single Mac comes with it any longer (believe it or don't, the follow up of my old Macbook, featuring 2xUSB and FW400, had just the two USB ports, while being more expensive).
All this happened countless times. Pay an unjustified premium for mediocre hardware and get a nice surprise with tons of hidden additional costs.

Whatever, enough of the blurb. If I were in your situation and generally happy with Windows (which I've always been, as said before, I'm only using a Mac because of Logic), I'd really go for a dual boot, a fresh install and keep it as fresh as possible. From all I could possibly tell, your machine should run Cubase and your plugins pretty well. I'd consider doing your audio install on Win 10, though, which - as has been said - seems to be a pretty mature OS, assuming you don't allow it to try looking for updates all the time and disable certain other things, basically everything related to calling home (and that stupid Cortana thing, yuck...).

[dellboy]

Just saying, I can't be the only one. I'm sure Mac folks have troubles as well. It seems to be less on their side though. What CAN I do to get a good working setup? That's all I'm interested in. If it's a PC from a known vendor, great. If it's getting rid of some plugins, sure. WHAT IS THE MAGIC SPELL? sigh..

One less than magic spell on Windows is to always completely shut the machine down every time you use it.

If for some reason you need to keep your machine running then switch to a MAC. (that's assuming that they really are better in this regard of staying up and stable for weeks on end).

Or maybe even give Linux a wiz.

[fmr]

For those curious, my specs:
Primary: ASUS P8Z68-V LX INTEL Z68 CROSSFIRE, i7-2600K 3.40 GHz, 20 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD (OS), 2 TB (Samples), 1 TB (Audio), nVidia GTX 750 Ti, GT520, Win 7 x64, NI Komplete Ultimate 11, iZotope MPB, Cubase stock plugins, Waves plugins

DAW: Cubase 7.5.4/Cubase 9.5

Soundcard: RME Babyface.

I'd hazard a guess it's related to you using two different graphic cards together, you are literally asking for trouble.

^^^THIS^^^

I would start by removing the second graphics card.

[russeault]

I had this same problem with my car. . . my Chevrolet ran flawlessly for 12 years without any maintenance . .. now it doesn't work as well as a brand new Toyota. I'm so sick of Chevrolet. They stink. Will a brand new Toyota work better than my 12 year old Chevrolet? I don't think I'll mention that I took some parts out and replaced them with BMW parts, which use metric threads, and it worked for a while. Chevrolet stinks.

Jiminy Cricket. . . it took like 6 pages to find out how old his computer is. It's 6, maybe 7 years old. This is a tech support issue, and it's super f'n likely to be a hardware issue. Philosophical discussions are delightful, but they don't fix hardware issues. Hardware fails, even hardware crafted by elves in the second age of middle earth.

(great comments, intrancer, Michael L, starise - thanks for the voices of sanity)

[starise]

I think its fun to jump into these things sometimes. Sometimes it makes more sense to sit on the sidelines, eat popcorn and watch the show.

I think it's all more of a mentality than anything else. I like to save money and do things for myself. I'm not saying the Mac crowd are all dribbling idiots. OK most of them aren't well......I really don't know. There are probably a handful of wanna be computer builders out there with a bedroom full of burned up Mobos and stuff. Musician and computer tech don't always go together.

Mixers aren't always musicians. Musicians can't all build computers. Just because someone uses a computer doesn't mean they have any idea how it really works or care to know. CCM or Computer Challenged Musicians can buy a pre built Mac or a PC, so in my thinking this doesn't really assure a utopic experience for either one. Probably nothing worse than a PO'd Mac user who payed the extra money for an extended warranty who had to drive 30 miles for repairs the second or third time Don't tell me it never happened.

Am I slapping the tiger here?

[dellboy]

Am I slapping the tiger here?

Meeeeoooow !

[russeault]

Am I slapping the tiger here?

at least he's using Cubase and not Reaper. Reaper is a truly terrible DAW.

[dellboy]

Its not rocket science to build a PC, its just a matter of a few screws and plugging in cables.

To be fair, that's pretty misleading, because before you even start to building a PC, you need to know what parts are compatible and which are not, for example.. The CPU needs to be compatible for the right motherboard type, the motherboard needs to be researched for features you want, and any problems they might have, the mobo needs to be the right size to fit the case, the type of memory you choose needs to be compatible with the mobo, the clearance between the HSF (Heatsink and Fan) and memory to be carefully considered (if applicable), the graphics card needs to be able to fit the interior of the case, knowing what good reliable PSU should be selected to fit the case to power it all, choosing a compatible and adequate HSF to fit the case and to be able to be mounted on the CPU, or if you are choosing a water based system, whether the case will accommodate it.. then there's other possible factors, such as overclocking..is the CPU suitable, is the memory suitable for OC'ing, is the motherboard suitable for overclocking purposes, does the mobo provide enough memory expansion...Then there is the overall balance of the components and potential bottlenecks.

Building a PC may not be rocket science, but it is a science....A science of knowledge and understanding, of complex technology.

Then when it comes to building the PC, you need be know how much or how little something needs..an understanding of where things are, in the same way an engineer builds an engine.

In the end, the difficulty of how to build a PC really comes down to the level in which it's delivered to you, and the level of confidence and ability you have to assemble one. The more you know, the better the choice's you make.

Perhaps I should own up and say that all the machines I have built are strictly home use hobby machines.

At that level I have never had any component compatibility issues. Once we get into high end - day on day - has to stay up or I am losing money - must never crash scenarios, it is a whole new ball game where it takes skill to get a good working setup. Best left to professionals probably.

Not sure how many Kvr-irians who make music for a living are commenting here ?

[chk071]

I think its fun to jump into these things sometimes. Sometimes it makes more sense to sit on the sidelines, eat popcorn and watch the show.

I think it's all more of a mentality than anything else. I like to save money and do things for myself. I'm not saying the Mac crowd are all dribbling idiots. OK most of them aren't well......I really don't know. There are probably a handful of wanna be computer builders out there with a bedroom full of burned up Mobos and stuff. Musician and computer tech don't always go together.

Mixers aren't always musicians. Musicians can't all build computers. Just because someone uses a computer doesn't mean they have any idea how it really works or care to know. CCM or Computer Challenged Musicians can buy a pre built Mac or a PC, so in my thinking this doesn't really assure a utopic experience for either one. Probably nothing worse than a PO'd Mac user who payed the extra money for an extended warranty who had to drive 30 miles for repairs the second or third time Don't tell me it never happened.

Am I slapping the tiger here?

I don't know if you are "slapping the tiger", whatever that means, but, i can't see much correlation between your post and this thread. At least it appears to me that you misunderstood a lot of things.