Hey y'all,
 
Here's a blog post we just wrote about some early findings on the Windows 10 Creators Update.
http://blog.cakewalk.com/windows-10-creators-update-your-daw-is-not-a-game/
 
tl;dr
Game Mode not recommended just yet...

Thanks for the tip, Alex.
Good to know.
All the best.

That is not the first observation that Gaming mode decrease total performance. And I have not found a good technical explanation what it really does. From general information, apart from disabling some "pop-ups" and background activity (which can improve performance if and only if these extra services are really running):

The goal behind Game Mode is consistency, rather than flat performance boosts (although it will bring some of that too).

Which can be an indication of some "real time" optimizations. Real time is always slower when compared by total throughput.
 
Interesting question how Sonar performs when asked to work in real time. The test can be as simple as putting the audio interface into fast settings (f.e. 96kHz / 64 samples in buffer) and then starting adding software effects till the system start "poping and cracking" periodically. Then switch into Game mode and test either it "pop/crack" more or less.
 
I mean it can happened that Gaming mode is not a bad idea during recording while a bad idea during mixing. But we all are able test it soon, so will see
 
The idea behind "real time" is that process get GUARANTEED amount of resources. This amount is usually lower then practical maximum the same process can get without guarantee. Also supporting such schema usually involve more process switching, which on common processors can reduce practical average performance during the same time slot. This "effect", while not technically exact, can be observed in Sonar when you switch the buffer from let say 64 samples to 1024 samples. The number of samples Sonar should process/produce per second does not change, but the load on the system is reduced while acceptable "jitter" in processing is increasing.

Thanks for letting everyone know.

The Creators Update will be hitting Windows Update tomorrow. I've already installed it and have a few observations. I'm not saying this will happen to everyone, but it was my experience.

1. Nuked my ad-hoc network I use for Internet Connection Sharing. I had to perform a Network Reset to fix it.
2. Reset my file associations (.PDF, .WAV, etc.)
3. Removed and changed items on Windows/Start button right-click menu. (Control Panel gone, Programs and Features replaced with Apps and Features, Command Prompt replaced with Powershell, etc.)
4. Added a Microsoft Edge browser tab to Internet Explorer right next to New Tab.
5. Removed icons from my Taskbar

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things, but it's been more inconveniences and annoyances than anything beneficial.

One statement in the blog caught my attention...in a good way. Game Mode is disabled by default. Thank you, MS!
 
Anybody remember the DOS 4 debacle, where MS adding disk write caching, turned it on by default...and told nobody! LOTS of corrupted dBase III databases due to that bit of laziness.

TheMaartian
Anybody remember the DOS 4 debacle, where MS adding disk write caching, turned it on by default...and told nobody! LOTS of corrupted dBase III databases due to that bit of laziness.

I know this is off-topic but OMG yes. We were totally hit by that issue, FoxPro DBs corrupting right and left. Thanks for the memory.

At the moment best is when Windows is optimized for background processes.
One might think this is the opposite of "game modus".

THambrecht
 
At the moment best is when Windows is optimized for background processes.
One might think this is the opposite of "game modus".

this is somewhat confusing, i have in the past read that it should be set for background processes, but the last time i looked into it i read about optimizations a number of times at different places that this is no longer recommended, they recommend processor scheduling be set to programs. i have tried it both ways and can't see a difference either way. (i don't have any performance issues as such, just thinking it best to have settings optimized as recommended)

Thanks for the quick heads up, cheers.