Even though I have Firewire built in my laptop, I still use a separate ExpressCard Firewire card that has the TX Instruments chipset. (Most in-laptop firewire chipsets are VIA or other). VIA and other brands may work, but won't work as well. TX Instruments Firewire chips are the best for audio. For example, Firewire chipsets are notoriously varied in their performance. However, I would add that there is a large variety of Windows hardware out there and some devices work better than others. Macs are typically better with media than windows machines. Quote from: Jeff Foster on September 11, 2015, 08:14:18 AM I'm not surprised about this at all. Generally, there isn't much you have to do when using a Mac, so while you can get Windows to perform well with this stuff, it's a lot harder to do. That's one reason why I can get the total latency down to 8.9ms on my rig (i7, 16GB, Win7 Pro) when using the USB interface on the TF. I will say that it does make a big difference. A lot of recording interface makers have articles about what needs to be done, so I won't repeat all that here. Something that I should add to my findings is that if you are using a Windows machine, you also need to "tune" it for audio. I get lower latency with that setup, but I can't remember off-hand what the exact numbers are.
DANTE VIRTUAL SOUNDCARD SC48 PRO
(I have a Saffire Pro 40 that I also use for running plugs with analog consoles.