PCI-822 User’s Guide
39
Tuning a Windows System
Because computers are general purpose operating systems, some of
the default system settings may not be optimal for digital audio work.
This chapter offers suggestions that may help improve the
performance of your system.
Please check your audio application’s documentation for additional
performance tips. If you have Internet access, you may want to
periodically check your software manufacturer’s web site in addition to
ours (http://www.tascam.com) for updated information.
Hard Drive and Adapter
One of the most important parts of a digital audio workstation is its
hard drive and adapter. It used to be that you had to have a high-
performance SCSI system in order to get enough bandwidth for digital
audio work. Many high-end customers still use a SCSI system, and
enjoy its flexibility. If you want to use a SCSI drive, it’s important to
have a solid bus-mastering SCSI adapter (preferably Ultra2 Wide),
rather than a slave device.
SCSI subsystems are now rivaled in raw performance by “Ultra-DMA”
IDE/ATA drives and adapters. Most new systems and motherboards
come with at least a 33MHz version, which might be labeled ATA-33
or EIDE33 or UDMA33. There are also faster versions available
(UDMA66 models).
The spindle rate of the hard drive significantly affects how quickly it
can transfer data. Most inexpensive systems have a hard drive with a
spindle rate of 5400rpm or slower. We strongly recommend using a
hard drive with a spindle rate of at least 7200rpm. For maximum
performance, you may want to consider a 10,000rpm drive.
