[akg fanboy]

I mentioned virtual RAM drives here two months ago. Anyone looking to improve the performance of Windows for free should check 'em out! Loading programs and files into memory this way can sometimes make a big difference.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_drive
https://www.softperfect.com/products/ramdisk/

Real world performance of ram drives are little to none as long as you have a decent SSD. Very few programs would benefit from them. The value proposition of a ram drive is also very low per $/GB. People who cannot afford an SSD are likely to be low on ram as well

 

[Music Alchemist]

Real world performance of ram drives are little to none as long as you have a decent SSD. Very few programs would benefit from them

 
I only have an HDD and the RAM drives make a night and day difference for some things on my gaming laptop. My music player emulates high-end DACs and is processor-intensive. Without the RAM drives, the audio stutters like crazy sometimes; with the RAM drives, everything functions flawlessly. They help with HD videos too. Without the RAM drives, my computer will eventually overheat and shut off, or the videos can be glitchy; with the RAM drives, this rarely happens. They'd help with gaming too, but I'm not much of a PC gamer. (hehe) They also make pretty much anything load faster.

 

[Yethal]

   
I only have an HDD and the RAM drives make a night and day difference for some things on my gaming laptop. My music player emulates high-end DACs and is processor-intensive. Without the RAM drives, the audio stutters like crazy sometimes; with the RAM drives, everything functions flawlessly. They help with HD videos too. Without the RAM drives, my computer will eventually overheat and shut off, or the videos can be glitchy; with the RAM drives, this rarely happens. They'd help with gaming too, but I'm not much of a PC gamer. (hehe) They also make pretty much anything load faster.

Check if the laptop has an M.2 slot. I recently bought a new PC with an M.2 SSD and the difference between that and my old 5400RPM HDD is like going from a racing horse to a Bugatti. As for the RAM drives they don't offer much of a performance improvement in games but they do cut down on loading times (especially if the RAM drive is big enough to hold the entirety of game's assets). I remember one audio software vendor claiming that playing music from a RAM drive improves sound quality but that's gotta be snake oil.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  I remember one audio software vendor claiming that playing music from a RAM drive improves sound quality but that's gotta be snake oil.

 
Yeah, it doesn't sound any different than without the RAM drives, but not having to deal with stuttering sure is nice.

 

[akg fanboy]

I only have an HDD and the RAM drives make a night and day difference for some things on my gaming laptop. My music player emulates high-end DACs and is processor-intensive. Without the RAM drives, the audio stutters like crazy sometimes; with the RAM drives, everything functions flawlessly. They help with HD videos too. Without the RAM drives, my computer will eventually overheat and shut off, or the videos can be glitchy; with the RAM drives, this rarely happens. They'd help with gaming too, but I'm not much of a PC gamer. (hehe) They also make pretty much anything load faster.

What music player emulates a high end DAC?
I can see a ram drive benefitting hard drive laptop users who don't have any additional slots for storage but that's about it. I recommend selling your alienware and building a good $500-600 custom PC with 65w i5, decent graphics card (gtx 1050/rx470), 16gb ram, and a 500gb ssd. Your PC would be blazing then

 

[akg fanboy]

Check if the laptop has an M.2 slot. I recently bought a new PC with an M.2 SSD and the difference between that and my old 5400RPM HDD is like going from a racing horse to a Bugatti. As for the RAM drives they don't offer much of a performance improvement in games but they do cut down on loading times (especially if the RAM drive is big enough to hold the entirety of game's assets). I remember one audio software vendor claiming that playing music from a RAM drive improves sound quality but that's gotta be snake oil.

You reminded me of an old ram stick that was supposedly "audiophile ram", it was some pretty hilarious snake oil. Unfortunately I don't have the picture anymore

 

[Music Alchemist]

What music player emulates a high end DAC?
I can see a ram drive benefitting hard drive laptop users who don't have any additional slots for storage but that's about it. I recommend selling your alienware and building a good $500-600 custom PC with 65w i5, decent graphics card (gtx 1050/rx470), 16gb ram, and a 500gb ssd. Your PC would be blazing then

 
Signalyst HQPlayer Desktop.
 
Some say it makes $500 DACs sound like $5,000 ones, but I dunno. I only use it with the onboard DAC of my computer at the moment, which sounds the same to me as the Schiit Modi 2 and better than the Creative Sound Blaster E1.
 
As I mentioned in prior posts, I'll get around to building a custom desktop PC sooner or later...but probably not soon. FYI, my laptop has Windows 10 Home 64-bit, an Intel Core i7-640UM 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, and 8 GB RAM.

 

[akg fanboy]

Signalyst HQPlayer Desktop.

Some say it makes $500 DACs sound like $5,000 ones, but I dunno. I only use it with the onboard DAC of my computer at the moment, which sounds the same to me as the Schiit Modi 2 and better than the Creative Sound Blaster E1.

As I mentioned in prior posts, I'll get around to building a custom desktop PC sooner or later...but probably not soon. FYI, my laptop has Windows 10 Home 64-bit, an Intel Core i7-640UM 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, and 8 GB RAM.

I will try it soon and see if it has any difference. It seems to do everything sony says they do in their xperia phone music players.
And money problems... I feel you

 

[Music Alchemist]

I will try it soon and see if it has any difference. It seems to do everything sony says they do in their xperia phone music players.

 
Yeah, there's a trial. Just mess with the settings. There are a ton. It's sort of like being able to switch between DACs without having to buy them. But be warned: the interface is unbelievably bad. The manual is worth reading. Gives you a better technical grasp of what it does as well.

 

[Yethal]

   
Signalyst HQPlayer Desktop.
 
Some say it makes $500 DACs sound like $5,000 ones, but I dunno. I only use it with the onboard DAC of my computer at the moment, which sounds the same to me as the Schiit Modi 2 and better than the Creative Sound Blaster E1.
 
As I mentioned in prior posts, I'll get around to building a custom desktop PC sooner or later...but probably not soon. FYI, my laptop has Windows 10 Home 64-bit, an Intel Core i7-640UM 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, and 8 GB RAM.

If You don't use any Windows-only apps, a lightweight Linux distro and Amarok/Tomahawk music player might be all You need.
 
EDIT: I've just noticed that Sygnalyst has a Linux client. Transition would be even easier.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  If You don't use any Windows-only apps, a lightweight Linux distro and Amarok/Tomahawk music player might be all You need.
 
EDIT: I've just noticed that Sygnalyst has a Linux client. Transition would be even easier.

 
I want the best sound quality regardless of cost. That thread I linked to goes into detail about stuff like that. I would probably stop using HQPlayer (which does DSP) once I upgrade to the Chord DAVE or perhaps even as early as the Mojo, depending on how things sound. But ultimately I plan on using Roon as my player.

 

[Gwen]

PC works best for me. I do online school and my hobbies are after effects, graphic design, and digital art so I can really just have a massively powerful PC and build my life around that. Games are distractions, so whenever I'm stressed out and I can start search a game and take a break with something.

 

[Audix]

PC gamer because teh games are cheaper

 

[eyepauls]

Was a PC gamer up until about 2006, then stuck with consoles.
I sit in front of PC for most of the working day, not keen to add extra hours to such a task - besides while I agree that PC gaming is "cheaper" in the sense of a huge backlog of games, you still have the significant initial outlay for a rig.
 
The recent console announcements have put me off slightly as I feel the lifecycle of consoles is getting shorter and shorter, as well as the difference between current & next-gen being minimal - but its not enough to have me buying a PC anytime soon

 

[Rhamnetin]

  Was a PC gamer up until about 2006, then stuck with consoles.
I sit in front of PC for most of the working day, not keen to add extra hours to such a task - besides while I agree that PC gaming is "cheaper" in the sense of a huge backlog of games, you still have the significant initial outlay for a rig.

 
If that were the case for me I'd build a couch gaming PC setup and get all the benefits of PC and PC games and mods.