Thank you for your informative answer. Keith

John M. Knoeller wrote:
>>I'd say only setting virtual memory to fixed and disable write
behind
>>caching have the potential to hurt performance.
>>
>>Disabling virtual memory will have the effect of causing memory
>>allocations fail rather than just cause a performance hit.
>>
>>In some ways this is good. You don't take a hit at a critical time
>>and cause gapping in your audio.
>>
>>BUT Vegas really doesn't every try to allocate memory DURING
playback
>>unless things are really getting behind (i.e. you are already
>>gapping).
>>
>>Disabling virtual memory also has the side effect of making
>>applications (ANY application running at the time) be MUCH more
>>likely to crash if they contain bugs in their handling of
allocation
>>failures. A lot of applications have this problem since most users
>>DONT disable virtual memory, and thus few bugs are reported.
>>
>>I'd say only disable virtual memory if you test it and find that it
>>actually does seem to help. Otherwise, you are asking for trouble
and
>>getting possibly no benefit at all.
>>
>>Turning off write behind is a more difficult call. It slows down
>>overall system performance. Making your system slower doesn't
>>generally help. HOWEVER, it also makes the performance of the
system
>>more even. Turning this off increases the average time to write
>>to the disk, but decreases the maximum.
>>
>>With poorly written software, reducing he maximum matters a lot.
>>With well written software, it matters less. Possibly not at all.
>>
>>This can, in some cases, be the difference between occasional
>>gapping, and just barely getting by without gapping.
>>It can also CAUSE gapping because it slows the system down overall.
>>
>>The only way to find out for sure is to try it both ways and look
at
>>the results.
>>
>>In summary, neither of these changes is an unqualified win. Use
them
>>if they help, leave them at the default settings if they hurt or
>>don't seem to make any difference.
>>
>>tj
>>
>>Keith wrote:
>>>>I think many of us are coming to Vegas Pro with our computers
>>>>optimized for previous hard disk systems like VST24 and others.
>>This
>>>>really changes things for me since I've been using all of the
>>Windows
>>>>Optimizing tips and recommendations for VST24. Can you tell us
if
>>>>any other of these system changes are harmful to us who have
>>switched
>>>>to Vegas Pro? I believe many of us use VP in conjunction with
>>other
>>>>programs. For example, I still need to use VST24 to record 24
>>>>simultaneous tracks from my 3-DA88's thru my Motu 2408 because I
>>>>haven't been able to get VP to do it consistently. But perhaps
it
>>is
>>>>because of my previously mentioned Windows settings. Here is
what
>>>>many of us have been following:
>>>>
>>>>(taken from www.studio201.com/cwu/)
>>>>""Is your Windows 95 / 98 system configured
>>>>for optimal performance with Cubase or VST?
>>>>
>>>>Make sure you don't have any compressed drives.
>>>>
>>>>Make sure you are using the "appropriate" filesystem for your
>>drive/s
>>>>size (FAT16 vs. FAT32)
>>>>
>>>>Disable Auto Insert Notification for your CD-ROM drive.
>>>>
>>>>Make sure that your MSDOS.SYS file says DoubleBuffer=0
>>>>
>>>> Disable "Windows Animation"
>>>>
>>>>Enable "Show window contents while dragging"
>>>>
>>>>If you have MS Plus, make sure that Low disk space notification
is
>>>>disabled in the System Agent. Also make sure no other devices run
>>>>while your running Cubase.
>>>>
>>>>Disable background tasks and applications.
>>>>
>>>>Fix the size of your vcache.
>>>>
>>>>Disable Read-ahead optimization.
>>>>
>>>>If you have a CD-ROM drive installed which has not got a driver
for
>>>>Windows 95, it will degrade Windows 95 real-time performance.
>>>>
>>>>Make sure Win95 is not running in compatibility mode.
>>>>
>>>>Defragment your hard drives before each session.
>>>>
>>>>Disable write-behind disk caching.
>>>>
>>>>Set Virtual Memory to a fixed amount.
>>>>
>>>>If you have MS Office, you should disable indexing in the Control
>>>>Panel.""
>>>>
>>>>Are any of these detremental to VP? Thanks, Keith
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>K.Shaffer wrote:
>>>>>>Hi there.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Charles, you're right.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Vegas is optimized for the standard Windows configurations -
>>>>changing
>>>>>>the system configuration (such as Write Behind Caching) can
>>>>actually
>>>>>>hinder the performance as opposed to improving it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Charles de Montebello wrote:
>>>>>>>>I heard that those tips were written before people really
knew
>>>>how
>>>>>>to
>>>>>>>>properly write software for Windows. Sonic's software is
>>>>optimized
>>>>>>>>for Windows and understands the operating system. I don't
>>believe
>>>>>>any
>>>>>>>>of these things are necessary...
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>F. Paul Lembo III wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>Many audio sites offer the tip that you should manually
>>>>>>>>>>disable write-behind caching on your hard drive to kick up
>>>>>>>>>>the speed a bit.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>I'm looking for technical opinions on if / why this is a
>>>>>>>>>>good idea. I don't really know what write behind caching
>>>>>>>>>>does and what the risks of disabling it might be.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Anyone who can shine some light?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>thanks!
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Paul