The first generation or two of the Cores (i5/i7) needed to have some power saving features turned off in BIOS for top performance, but anything Intel's released in the past 4 years actually performs significantly better if you just leave that stuff alone. In Win 7/Win 8 this is really the only PC 'optimization' that really matters on modern Intel CPUs. Two things to make sure of: 1) Select the High Performance power scheme in Windows. If you're working at higher sample rates, your computer works harder and you will need those bigger sample buffers. The Focusrite FW and USB interfaces aren't known for their low-latency performance, but you should definitely be able to select a 128 or 256 sample buffer at 44.1kHz without redlining the VST Performance meter. If you're running at 44.1kHz, I'm almost thinking there's something wrong with your computer, because the specs you list are more than sufficient for low-latency, high-DSP performance. Looks like your Cubase round trip latency is over 26ms, which is indeed noticeable (true RTL is usually 2-3ms higher than if you add the separate input/output stats together).

OP, what sample rate are you working at? (A 512 sample buffer might be big when running at 44.1kHz, but it's chump change at 192kHz.)

Fl studio latency fix