Here is sisoft report so far.

SiSoftware Sandra
ID
Host Name : SirLes-PC
Workgroup : WORKGROUP
Computer
Model : OEM System Product Name
Serial Number : System Ser**********
Chassis : Desktop
Mainboard : ASUS SABERTOOTH X58
Serial Number : 1079459********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) 1402 08/09/2012
Total Memory : 16GB DIMM DDR3
Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         980  @ 3.33GHz (6C 12T 3.36GHz/3.59GHz, 3.75GHz IMC, 6x 256kB L2, 12MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA1366
Chipset
Memory Controller : ASUS X58 I/O Hub 2x 3.22GHz (6.43GHz)
Memory Controller : Intel Core Desktop (Gulftown) Uncore 2x 3.22GHz (6.43GHz), 2x 8GB DIMM DDR3 1.88GHz 128-bit
Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : SanMax ModulePartNumber00 4GB
Memory Module : SanMax ModulePartNumber01 4GB
Memory Module : SanMax ModulePartNumber02 4GB
Memory Module : SanMax ModulePartNumber03 4GB
Video System
Monitor/Panel : ACI ASUS VW266H
  (1920x1200, 31.9")
Video Adapter : ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (10CU 800SP SM5.0 860MHz, 1GB DDR5 4.8GHz 128-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)
Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (800SP 10C 860MHz, 1GB DDR5 4.8GHz 128-bit)
Compute Shader Processor : ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (800SP 860MHz, 1GB DDR5 4.8GHz 128-bit)
Storage Devices
WDC WD6402AAEX-00Z3A0 (640.1GB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 596GB (D:)
WDC WD10EALS-002BA0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache) : 932GB (E:)
WDC WD1002FAEX-007BA0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (F:)
Crucial M4-CT256M4SSD2 (256GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD) : 238GB (C:)
WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 (2TB, USB3/SATA600, 3.5") : 2TB (G:)
WDC WD20EACS-11BHUB0 (2TB, USB3/SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, 16MB Cache) : 2TB (M:)
Kingston DataTraveler G2 (8GB, USB2) : 7GB (L:)
ASUS    DRW-24B1ST (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (J:)
HL-DT-ST BD-RE  BH10LS30 (SATA150, BD-RE, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 4MB Cache) : N/A (K:)
Logical Storage Devices
PROJECTS (D:) : 596GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD6402AAEX-00Z3A0 (640.1GB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
New Volume (E:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD10EALS-002BA0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache)
PROJECTS B (F:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD1002FAEX-007BA0 (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Hard Disk (C:) : 238GB (NTFS) @ Crucial M4-CT256M4SSD2 (256GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD)
My Book new libraries (G:) : 2TB (NTFS) @ WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 (2TB, USB3/SATA600, 3.5")
My Book (M:) : 2TB (NTFS) @ WDC WD20EACS-11BHUB0 (2TB, USB3/SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, 16MB Cache)
Removable Drive (L:) : 7GB (FAT32) @ Kingston DataTraveler G2 (8GB, USB2)
Optical Drive (J:) : N/A @ ASUS    DRW-24B1ST (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
Optical Drive (K:) : N/A @ HL-DT-ST BD-RE  BH10LS30 (SATA150, BD-RE, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 4MB Cache)
Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T0 A5-13
Audio Device : ASUS HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Audio Device : PC Partner EG JUNIPER XT Audio Device [Radeon HD 5700 Series]
Audio Codec : ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio
Disk Controller : ASUS 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS 88SE9123 SATA-600 Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS JMB362 AHCI Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #4
USB Controller 2 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #5
USB Controller 3 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #6
USB Controller 4 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 5 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #1
USB Controller 6 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 7 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #3
USB Controller 8 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #1
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : 13330 XIO2213A PCI Express to 1394b OHCI with 3-Port PHY
FireWire/1394 Controller 2 : ASUS VIA VT6308 1394 OHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus
Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)
Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCI GBE Family Controller (Ethernet, 1Gbps)
Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x64
Windows Experience Index
Current System : 7.4
 
Should be a UAD solo mentioned in this post...I Forgot about that....sorry.

Beepster

Right on, Scott. I might actually have some dough to buy it if I can make a few of my current plans go through. Kind of curious... if I buy a hardcopy will I have access to a PDF version?

Sorry to go off topic.

Hey Beepster... no, unfortunately, like most books on the market, the publisher sells the print and ebook editions separately.

Thanks!
Scott 

PS. Welcome to the forum, Sir Les! Now we're back on topic...

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

@Beepster. Good to see you and thanks for the props.

@Sir Les. The older driver definitely sorted out all my problems. I noticed the problems instantly because the driver update went on, problems started, rolled back and they stopped.

The older driver works perfectly (for me) though so there's no worries there, I think the update was mainly for other DAW issues/users. Another tip is you definitely want to use ASIO mode. WDM only has 4 of the input pairs available with ASIO you'll get the full 18 in/out.

OK going to download the old driver 3.5.5 for the Zed...seems to be backwards in ethics here...(told to update system)...But this ethic might just work...being a opposite of the norm...which seems to always be in some form of disaray with all my systems since 1997....So Thanks for the input, and knowledge you offer in ZED experience.


So I did the motherboard bios and driver updates (ethics lol)..oh another hair..
And will try to get some of the mentioned testing software from Cakewalk site...(THANK YOU FOR THAT) and get the manual out...so I can make those exports before the system Goes belly up and I loose it all....

Now then is that sisoft info complete?...no way!...the lite version is free, but surely lacks in completing all devices and or installed apparel.....so I will resort to the other software tests...and post em up asap..



Again thanks for some direction....we are growing hair now...that is progress...I say!

sisoft finished benching here is some of that..

SiSoftware Sandra
Display
Connection : Local Computer
Processor Arithmetic
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 106.67GOPS
Result ID : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         980  @ 3.33GHz (6C 12T 3.36GHz/3.59GHz, 3.75GHz IMC, 6x 256kB L2, 12MB L3)
Speed : 3357MHz
Capacity : 12Unit(s)
Power : 130.00W
Finished Successfully : Yes
Processor Multi-Media
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 201.48MPix/s
Result ID : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         980  @ 3.33GHz (6C 12T 3.36GHz/3.59GHz, 3.75GHz IMC, 6x 256kB L2, 12MB L3)
Speed : 3357MHz
Capacity : 12Unit(s)
Power : 130.00W
Finished Successfully : Yes
Cryptography
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 2.435GB/s
Result ID : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         980  @ 3.33GHz (6C 12T 3.36GHz/3.59GHz, 3.75GHz IMC, 6x 256kB L2, 12MB L3)
Speed : 3357MHz
Capacity : 6Unit(s)
Power : 130.00W
Finished Successfully : Yes
.NET Arithmetic
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 38.77GOPS
Result ID : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         980  @ 3.33GHz (6C 12T 3.36GHz/3.59GHz, 3.75GHz IMC, 6x 256kB L2, 12MB L3)
Speed : 3357MHz
Capacity : 12Unit(s)
Power : 130.00W
Finished Successfully : Yes
.NET Multi-Media
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 37.05MPix/s
Result ID : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         980  @ 3.33GHz (6C 12T 3.36GHz/3.59GHz, 3.75GHz IMC, 6x 256kB L2, 12MB L3)
Speed : 3357MHz
Capacity : 12Unit(s)
Power : 130.00W
Finished Successfully : Yes
Memory Bandwidth
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 21.129GB/s
Result ID : Intel X58 I/O Hub; 2x 8GB SanMax ModulePartNumber00 DIMM DDR3 (1.88GHz 128-bit) PC3-15000 (10-11-9-24 6-33-16-9)
Speed : 1876MHz
Capacity : 16384MB
Power : 42.49W
Finished Successfully : Yes
Cache & Memory Latency
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 20.4ns
Result ID : Intel X58 I/O Hub; 2x 8GB SanMax ModulePartNumber00 DIMM DDR3 (1.88GHz 128-bit) PC3-15000 (10-11-9-24 6-33-16-9)
Speed : 1876MHz
Capacity : 16384MB
Power : 42.49W
Finished Successfully : Yes
File System Bandwidth
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 341.950MB/s
Result ID : Crucial M4-CT256M4SSD2 (256GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD)
Capacity : 256.06GB
Finished Successfully : Yes
File System I/O
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 15626.6IOPS
Result ID : Crucial M4-CT256M4SSD2 (256GB, SATA600, 2.5", SSD)
Speed : 6000Mbps
Capacity : 256061MB
Finished Successfully : Yes
GP (GPU/CPU/APU) Processing
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 288.56MPix/s
Result ID : ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (800SP 10C 860MHz, 1GB DDR5 4.8GHz 128-bit) (OpenCL)
Speed : 860MHz
Capacity : 10Unit(s)
Finished Successfully : Yes
GP (GPU/CPU/APU) Cryptography
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 3.012GB/s
Result ID : ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (800SP 10C 860MHz, 1GB DDR5 4.8GHz 128-bit) (OpenCL)
Speed : 860MHz
Capacity : 10Unit(s)
Finished Successfully : Yes
GP (GPU/CPU/APU) Bandwidth
Analysing...
Aggregated Score : 8.120GB/s
Result ID : ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series (800SP 10C 860MHz, 1GB DDR5 4.8GHz 128-bit) (OpenCL)
Speed : 4800MHz
Capacity : 1024MB
Finished Successfully : Yes
Overall Score
Aggregated Score : 8.98kPT
Results Interpretation : Higher Scores mean Better Performance.
Decimal Numeral System (base 10) : 1GPT = 1000MPT, 1MPT = 1000kPT, 1kPT = 1000PT, etc.
Result ID : ASUS SABERTOOTH X58 (Intel Core i7 CPU 980 @ 3.33GHz; Intel X58 I/O Hub; 2x 8GB SanMax ModulePartNumber00 DIMM DDR3 ; Crucial M4-CT256M4SSD2; ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series)
Finished Successfully : Yes


drive info:

SiSoftware Sandra
General Information
Class : Fixed
Total Size : 596.17GB
Free Space : 500.83GB, 84%
Volume Information
Volume Name : PROJECTS
File System : NTFS
Serial Number : 08D5*****
Volume Properties
Maximum Filename Length : 255 chr
Compressed : No
Read-Only : No
Case Sensitive Names : Yes
Preserves Filename Case : Yes
Unicode Filenames : Yes
Access Control Lists : Yes
Named Streams : Yes
Object Identifiers : Yes
Reparse Points : Yes
Sparse Files : Yes
User Disk Quotas : Yes
Folder/File Compression : Yes
Folder/File Encryption : Yes
Logical Drive
Sectors per Cluster : 8
Bytes Per Sector : 512bytes
Cluster Size : 4kB
Physical Disk
CHS Geometry : 77825 x 255 x 63
Bytes Per Sector : 512bytes
Drive Statistics
No. Files : 40535
No. Folders : 1808
Space Used : 95.1GB
Space Allocated : 95.19GB  (0% Slack)
Fragmentation Report
No. Fragmented Files : 87, 0%
No. Fragmented Folders : 9, 1%
No. Fragments per File : 1.01

oK ...I got = DCP 1.3.0 and have run it for a bit we get:

91us absolute max.

There are no options or setup features in that test software...so I am not sure which sound device is being utilized....I set the Zed r16 as windows default thought...best I check again...Yep.

Hope this helps.
and thanks to all.

I have a alot of music software installed...but I left out some...lol
List:
Acid Pro 7.0e
Soundforge 10
Reason 6.5
Sibelius 6
Photo score lite
Audio score lite
Sonar X2 ( one update)
Dimension Pro
Guitar rig 4
rapture x64
TH2
Waves Plug ins musicans bundle2
T-racks 24 and vst plugins
UAD solo Plug ins
Middle Earth Era Engine 2 (libraries on external drive)
Nero 10
Quick time
Adobe reader
ilok
codemeter
EWQL PLAY...(4 x libraries reside on external drives)..
Sisoft sandra lite
and DCP lantency Checker 1.3.0
There maybe more...but that is the jist of it ...

I hate redoing all that..as ilok and authorization takes time...and some plugins/instruments.. I have with Acid (izotope and others) have a install limite...So I do not want to wipe out the SSD...Just yet...
All my recordings go to a secondary or trinary Drive..not on the SSD...Although auto save may have done this before I could reset the default settings in some instances...

So...that should help?...
A reg clean is not really necessary either is it?...As all the installs went rather well.
 I disconnected the Other SSD, which has a OS and simular software setup with a focusrite pro 40...That worked well enough..but lacked the inputs necessary for all the inputs needed...in house.

So with that tidbit..and hair growth...onwards we go...been down this path before ..so it is a cakewalk now?...nah never is.

regards and thanks to all who try....

Just did a test of Sonar x2 with last session..playback ...running the Allen & Heath latency DPC...with one spike during the playback...536 us was the maximum noted.
As this performance hit seems to be occasional...And it does not crash Sonar...but does seem to introduce some noise on the recording...and if through the roof...certainly on output sound...Where can that direct me to solve for X..with the specs noted?

Yes Sonarx2  is really Lagging..it took almost 6 secs for the play feature to start up the tunes...
Anyway it played back...that is something....oh another hair...see progress!...lol.

So I will consider that A&H downgrade more positively...but a few more things to tweak and install on the mb board end FIRST
And then castrating the bios to remove any conflicting devices..(network adapter and Firewire )...but I had no critical issues really with em on ...and the performance spike happens on or off....

.
blessings !

SEEMS A&H are working on Zed r16 and other drivers for win 8...So it is not a dead end Yet.....Hope is still a factor for those wishing to explore the A&H R units...

Got the driver....not sure how to uninstall the new for the old..or if I should just yet...
Still putzing with this or that before I do.

Blessings!

Just putzing and found this sort of thing going on in summary page event.

1 user registry handles leaked from \Registry\User\S-1-5-21-1990649067-4286878364-2581583992-1001: Process 2324 (\Device\HarddiskVolume1\Windows\System32\msiexec.exe) has opened key \REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-1990649067-4286878364-2581583992-1001\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

 17 instances...of simular behavoir.

I tried to export my services disabled and such list...it does export txt...but that would not be something worth posting in that format...it is just all squished together.

I have done most Tweaks...to gain a lean running Win 7....I think I turned off too much.....is that possible?.

Just a thought....

What about snap shots of the Service window and all setting there in?....am I allowed to post pics?...Just a thought...and a hope.

Blessings!