And a quick update.... I thought I'd put the X & Y to 256KHz and the Z to 512KHz as an experiment and cranked up the feedrate to the XY maximum of F3000 then ran it through again. I then tried it while streaming music from Spotify, watching BBCi and compiling a complex routing path on my CAM system at the same time. All is bullet proof now as far as I can see.
So it looks like there's no reason why a decent PC with an ESS can't be a full blown multitasking system.

The buffer is the top one in the plugin, it is in Hz.
The axes are in KHz and should be set to the nearest to your actual axis frequency but has to be above and not below. In other words if you require 133KHz then you should set it to 256 KHz, setting it higher than required may not be an advantage and may actually have an adverse affect.

Regarding using the computer for multi tasking, it is not personally something I would do, computers are cheap and  I prefer to dedicate them to the working of the machine only.

Hood

The buffer is the top one in the plugin, it is in Hz.
The axes are in KHz and should be set to the nearest to your actual axis frequency but has to be above and not below. In other words if you require 133KHz then you should set it to 256 KHz, setting it higher than required may not be an advantage and may actually have an adverse affect.

Regarding using the computer for multi tasking, it is not personally something I would do, computers are cheap and  I prefer to dedicate them to the working of the machine only.

Hood

Ok, thanks for that. Each to their own. I find it more convenient to have easy access to my CAD/CAM data at the machine. Cheap computers on a machine tool will probably have the issues you're concerned about, a faster one won't have a problem, as I've demonstrated. I can understand if you've grown up with Mach3 that you have had to be wary in the past.

I do have easy access, have all machines linked to my desktop via network

When I said computers are cheap I did not mean used computers, you can get an integrated motherboard/CPU and some RAM and a HDD for just over £100.

As I said everyone to their own, I was just stating my preference

Hood