PC for Multichannel Music Playback - What's your Setup?

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GOS, the only thing you really need is more RAM.
Selling any PC with 4GB of RAM is just wrong.
Not knowing the brand of your PC and the MB, you can either buy another 4GB stick for 8GB or an 8GB stick for 12GB which would be the way I would go.

Right now, you don't have the RAM overhead to load many of apps into memory.
Win 8 takes about 3GB at idle.

Another way to boost performance would be to add another 500GB SSD drive and run both in RAID 0 config if your PC has a second SSD bay and interface.
This will essentially double the SDD throughput. Ideally you want to use the same brand of SSD and if possible the same model although that may not be possible.

If you're not running Win 8.1 Pro, I highly recommend that you do and if you don't already have it, there's a freeware called Classic Shell that allows you to modify
the Windows desktop to anything from XP to 8.1 to custom mix. Highly recommended as well.

I already have an external drive with half a TB connected. Is that what you mean? Also, I already run Classic Shell.
 
GOS, the only thing you really need is more RAM.
Selling any PC with 4GB of RAM is just wrong.
Not knowing the brand of your PC and the MB, you can either buy another 4GB stick for 8GB or an 8GB stick for 12GB which would be the way I would go.

Right now, you don't have the RAM overhead to load many of apps into memory.
Win 8 takes about 3GB at idle.

Another way to boost performance would be to add another 500GB SSD drive and run both in RAID 0 config if your PC has a second SSD bay and interface.
This will essentially double the SDD throughput. Ideally you want to use the same brand of SSD and if possible the same model although that may not be possible.

If you're not running Win 8.1 Pro, I highly recommend that you do and if you don't already have it, there's a freeware called Classic Shell that allows you to modify
the Windows desktop to anything from XP to 8.1 to custom mix. Highly recommended as well.

That may be true but mine also has only 4GB ram and I play everything with it (up to 5.1 24/192 surround) without any problems. I think GOS' problems may have someting to do with temperature.
Maybe you can install Speccy or some program like that and see what the temperature is when problems occur?
 
Here are the claimed specs on my current laptop...

Aside from all the comments related to music playback, I think the first thing is to get your laptop in good working order. Get the free upgrade to Windows 10. Then do a clean install of Windows 10. You can download the Win 10 boot disc for free. The biggest chore is to decide what data to keep and create a new partition to save it on - or maybe you have a spare drive you can use. I recommend a clean install after the upgrade so you can get rid of any installed apps you don't need anymore and just to bring everything up to the Windows 10 platform. Then you are going to know where you're at and you won't be second guessing your specs. This was the way I approached it and I was very pleased with the results.
 
Aside from all the comments related to music playback, I think the first thing is to get your laptop in good working order. Get the free upgrade to Windows 10. Then do a clean install of Windows 10. You can download the Win 10 boot disc for free. The biggest chore is to decide what data to keep and create a new partition to save it on - or maybe you have a spare drive you can use. I recommend a clean install after the upgrade so you can get rid of any installed apps you don't need anymore and just to bring everything up to the Windows 10 platform. Then you are going to know where you're at and you won't be second guessing your specs. This was the way I approached it and I was very pleased with the results.

The specs I show are from when I bought it a few years ago. I have Windows 10 running now.
 
Good lord! Well, why does my PC seem amazingly slow? Yeah, yeah, I've checked all the programs running....blah, blah. Is it because I've used up most of the memory with files and have way too many things connected to it? ugh....

Here some tips to optimise and speed up your ssd lappie (if you haven't done this already), good luck!!
 
GOS, good man.
An external HD was not was I was referring to.
As a performance and capacity improvement, I was saying if your PC supports it, you could add another 500GB internal SSD drive to your PC and configure it for RAID 0 which would increase capacity & performance of your PC.
There are several RAID configs that add performance and data redundancy capability to any PC.
I would recommend first starting with an 8GB RAM stick.
This will work wonders on your PC.
 
General response.
This is why I never worked in PC Tech Support.
Sure there are users who have no issues running minimally configured PCs and are satisfied, others who have richly configured PCs and have all kinds of issues.
50 million people download an update without a blip but there's always someone who does.
This topic is not about your PC it's about the PC that GOS owns and his issues.
You don't own his PC and he doesn't own your PC.
His PC is not performing to his satisfaction and he's seeking advice.
I don't reply in reference to my PC but in reference to the specific issues he's having.
Just because your PC works fine with A,B,C has no bearing on this.
It's called problem solving, not "What I Have".
 
Right now, you don't have the RAM overhead to load many of apps into memory.
Win 8 takes about 3GB at idle.
where 3Gb come from?
out of curiosity just checked my:
Win 10 with all necessary services and not necessary (cortana, defender and such crap) + few small things + skype + chrome browser all together use only 1.2Gb of physical memory.
i agree, installing more memory won't hurt but no less important is to keep system in good running order. if there are few dozen appz which start with system and run in background
even if not in use, the additional memory wouldn't be much help at all.
 
The specs on GOS laptop tells of a "Hard drive acceleration cache (32GB solid-state drive cache) with Intel Rapid Start Technology and Intel Smart Response Technology". And a 5400 rpm standard hdd.

I think getting a "normal" SSD in a size of 100GB or more to use with OS and all programs would boost perfomance. And yes, double that ram too.
 
GOS, good man.
An external HD was not was I was referring to.
As a performance and capacity improvement, I was saying if your PC supports it, you could add another 500GB internal SSD drive to your PC and configure it for RAID 0 which would increase capacity & performance of your PC.
There are several RAID configs that add performance and data redundancy capability to any PC.
I would recommend first starting with an 8GB RAM stick.
This will work wonders on your PC.

I know all machines are different, but some machines (like mine) require RAM sticks to be installed in identical pairs and will not work with mixed capacities like a 4GB and an 8GB. Try to check that out before you buy the new RAM sticks.

I would also consider going to a NAS to address the storage issue. You can still use Foobar. In the system the NAS just becomes another mapped drive to draw music files from.
 
Oh boy....so now we've opened another CAN OF WORMS. NAS.....

So many choices and I'm not sure I totally understand them. Some say they have hard drives, others say they don't....what the heck are the differences and exactly what "type" do I need for what I'm doing? Noob-alert, Noob-alert. :violin
 
Oh boy....so now we've opened another CAN OF WORMS. NAS.....

So many choices and I'm not sure I totally understand them. Some say they have hard drives, others say they don't....what the heck are the differences and exactly what "type" do I need for what I'm doing? Noob-alert, Noob-alert. :violin

The specs tells about a standard 500GB 5400 rpm hdd - and a 32GB SSD cache. Mostly a SSD speeds up start up time for OS and programs - not so much general perfomance - that is what RAM is more a help to.

Fitting new ram are usually very easy to do - maybe start with that? And check if things get better?

Defragmantation can slow things down on a full disc - but this task are usually automated on Win 10 - but you can check if it is running.


Link to the Trim/Defrag:

http://www.nextofwindows.com/windows-10-treats-ssds-extremely-well-with-improved-management-features
 
Oh boy....so now we've opened another CAN OF WORMS. NAS.....

So many choices and I'm not sure I totally understand them. Some say they have hard drives, others say they don't....what the heck are the differences and exactly what "type" do I need for what I'm doing? Noob-alert, Noob-alert. :violin

A NAS is a separate box that holds hard drives and the electronics needed to access them. They are typically sold without the actual drives included and go for $200-$400 or more depending on model and capacity. You want hard disk drives (HDD) to store music files, not SSD's. The storage capacity for SSD's is small compared to HDD's and they are much more expensive. The big benefit of an SSD is the speed with which it can access data, so people tend to use them for applications like the OS and such. High speed is not a major requirement for accessing music files and HDD's perform that function very well indeed.

You buy a NAS enclosure (can be 2-10 bays) and the HDD's (whatever size you desire). The HDD's are installed in the NAS easily. The NAS plugs into an Ethernet port and becomes an extension of the network. The NAS software then formats the drives for use. Usually the HDD's are installed in pairs using a RAID configuration. All this means is that one HDD (or several) are used to back up another HDD (or several). This way if one drive crashes there is always a backup available which is identical to the one that crashed. You can then replace the defective HDD and carry on. Some RAID schemes can also increase read/write speeds when used with multiple disks. It all works pretty transparently. The NAS shows up just like another drive on the network.

I recently started using a NAS. I'm a newbie at it, but I really like it so far. It took some work to get it working correctly and what seems like forever to get it loaded with my music files. To give you some idea, mine is a 4 bay NAS in which I have 2 bays loaded with two 4 Terrabyte (TB) drives. They run in RAID 0 which means one drive is a mirror image of the other. The other 2 bays are empty, but I can fill them at any time. Altogether this provides 4TB of backed up storage. So far I've loaded about 250 high res multichannel albums (that's all my MC releases except a handful of Blurays which I could also load to the NAS if I had a PC based Bluray reader) and another 150 or so redbook stereo albums (i'm up to the K's in my collection). I don't think i've even used 1/3 of the available storage (all albums ripped to flac files). The NAS will also back up the drives on your PC's so you don't loose that data either. You can page through this thread to read about it.
 
What is the difference between, let's say, a Western Digital RAID External Hard Drive with dual drives (6TB) and NAS? Seems they serve the same purpose, but the naming sure is different.
 
What is the difference between, let's say, a Western Digital RAID External Hard Drive with dual drives (6TB) and NAS? Seems they serve the same purpose, but the naming sure is different.

Im not sure of this because I don't have any info on the WD drive you are looking at, but it may connect to the network differently. External hard drives often connect via USB instead of Ethernet. Ethernet stays tethered to your network router, USB stays tethered to your PC. But there may be routers with USB interfaces? An external hard drive may not allow you to expand the storage or replace a crashed drive. A NAS will. I don't know beyond that.
 
Im not sure of this because I don't have any info on the WD drive you are looking at, but it may connect to the network differently. External hard drives often connect via USB instead of Ethernet. Ethernet stays tethered to your network router, USB stays tethered to your PC. But there may be routers with USB interfaces? An external hard drive may not allow you to expand the storage or replace a crashed drive. A NAS will. I don't know beyond that.

Oh, OK. Well, that seems enough of a difference. It seems to me, to get a NAS, you are basically buying a box/shell, then you additionally need to buy the hard drive to install in it...right? So, if a NAS is $250-350...you then have to spend another couple hundred for the hard drive...I think....
 
Oh, OK. Well, that seems enough of a difference. It seems to me, to get a NAS, you are basically buying a box/shell, then you additionally need to buy the hard drive to install in it...right? So, if a NAS is $250-350...you then have to spend another couple hundred for the hard drive...I think....

Yes, more or less. Typically you would want to load the NAS with at least two drives in order to provide a RAID scheme.
 
Got it. OK. Well, I know more than I did a few days ago... :)
Actually, after looking at Newegg, 2 bay NAS units start at $100 or so and $150 will get you a Synology (well respected brand). The HDD's depend on the size you buy. Western Digital and Seagate both make HDD's especially made for NAS/server use. They are supposed to be higher reliability?
 
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