How many of you using XP + SP2 for serious audio production?

wilsonrx · Post by **wilsonrx** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:38 pm

SP2 is fine, I've had no problems. I keep my PC & Laptop permanently off the internet so it enables me to turn off the firewall, auto-updates, virus protection and all that crap. It keeps XP ticking along nicely.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:43 pm

tomperson wrote:Yo, what is Black Viper???

http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12

Black Viper is about as geeky as you can get with respect to explaining what EVERY service in XP does, and if you can turn it off or not. A really fantastic resource.

I have an aggressive setup, where I only run about 10-15 services. My XP SP2 runs at about 112mb of Ram and boots up in about 25-30 seconds. With XP SP1, I was running at about 85mb and 25 second boot up. Overall, really clean systems that keep your DAW in good running condition.

Haselmeier · Post by **Haselmeier** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:03 pm

I still use XP with SP1!
Because my DAW don't got any NET nor Internet - Connections i believe that there is no need for SP2. I do all my NET work on a seperate PC...
By the way, you save a lot of power for your main applications if you stop all this protocols and drivers. And for the net my 1GHZ PC is still strong enough.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 3:12 pm

I totally understand why you would stick with XP SP1. It's stable and good. My only issue is that not keeping up with updates would make me outdated. I knew a lot of people who use Win98 until about 2003 when drivers and software forced them to go to XP. I would hate to be in that boat. Just my two cents.

Haselmeier · Post by **Haselmeier** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 4:44 pm

nebulae wrote:I totally understand why you would stick with XP SP1. It's stable and good. My only issue is that not keeping up with updates would make me outdated. I knew a lot of people who use Win98 until about 2003 when drivers and software forced them to go to XP. I would hate to be in that boat. Just my two cents.

Well, as long you can work with it and create nice music it is not a bad thing to use old Hard/Software. I know people which work nice also with W98, as long as they don't need the latest Software or Plugs.
SP2 got nothing what you need for a DAW, it only can slow you down because of the f... Firewall and so on. Maybe it is nice for Internetusers and Gamblers, but i can't see any expansion for musicians!

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 6:26 pm

Haselmeier wrote:
nebulae wrote:I totally understand why you would stick with XP SP1. It's stable and good. My only issue is that not keeping up with updates would make me outdated. I knew a lot of people who use Win98 until about 2003 when drivers and software forced them to go to XP. I would hate to be in that boat. Just my two cents.
Well, as long you can work with it and create nice music it is not a bad thing to use old Hard/Software. I know people which work nice also with W98, as long as they don't need the latest Software or Plugs.
SP2 got nothing what you need for a DAW, it only can slow you down because of the f... Firewall and so on. Maybe it is nice for Internetusers and Gamblers, but i can't see any expansion for musicians!

I understand where you're coming from. My point of view is that I will always embrace newer technologies because they can tend to do good things. I agree that SP2 is mainly a security patch. But then who knows if they updated other things like DirectX or what not that might affect audio. I heard when SP1 came out that some things were updated in order to provide better midi timing. So I always opt for newer. Of course, I do get burned from time to time with instability and weaker performance, so don't think that I'm disagreeing with you completely.

Let the flames begin...

d-plate · Post by **d-plate** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 7:57 pm

No probs with SP2 here.

But then again, I'm a techie...

kennerb · Post by **kennerb** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 8:45 pm

I haven't had any problems with it at all.

cusp · Post by **cusp** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:16 pm

hey

im running a dell inspiron 6000 maxed out with ram and cpu grunt, winxp sp2 with the firewire patch, no issues at all so far with SP2 and it screams.
also, in answer to your question - if you google black viper you will find it is a guy who has come up with a list of services etc that can be disabled in windows to make your pc more streamlined and audio friendly

enjoy!

husker · Post by **husker** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:57 pm

SP2 is not just about security...these are all the things that are wrong with SP1 (to make you paranoid)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811113/

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:26 pm

Is this the Black Viper list?

http://www.dead-eye.net/WinXP%20Services.htm

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 3:59 pm

tomperson wrote:Is this the Black Viper list?

http://www.dead-eye.net/WinXP%20Services.htm

Yes, this is the list. You can also look at my post earlier for the link:

nebulae wrote:
tomperson wrote:Yo, what is Black Viper???
http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12

Black Viper is about as geeky as you can get with respect to explaining what EVERY service in XP does, and if you can turn it off or not. A really fantastic resource.

I have an aggressive setup, where I only run about 10-15 services. My XP SP2 runs at about 112mb of Ram and boots up in about 25-30 seconds. With XP SP1, I was running at about 85mb and 25 second boot up. Overall, really clean systems that keep your DAW in good running condition.