Improving Computer Performance

[dharma41]

Hi:

I am running Sonar 7, and I can get a reasonable number of audio tracks and soft synths going without a CPU spike, but once I add the plugins (non-destructively) that's where the bogging down occurs.

I have a P4 2.4G processor with 2G of RAM, dual LCD monitors I have three separate HD's, and the Sonar audio data is on a separate HD from the program data enough. My audio latency with the Tascam FW-1082 WDM drivers is 5.8ms. I know I can increase it for playback......

I also know one of my problems is that I don't have a dedicated music DAW, I have Internet, etc on this computer. Just don't have the funds for that right now.

What can I do to improve performance, given these variables? Would it be wise to create a partition just for the Sonar install?

There are a lot of processes running in the background, but they don't seem to be taking up a lot of resources. I have ones that are obvious, but others I am afraid to disable.

Any help is great............
Thanks!

[SpiralTrance]

Try these sites :-

Black Viper's Web Site

TweakXP.com - Windows XP Tweaks, Tips, Hacks, Visual Styles, Support, and Software

Lots of info on disabling services and XP optimisation.

[travtele615]

You might consider a dual boot setup. Have one install of the OS and all programs setup for regular chores such as internet, office stuff etc.

Then on the other OS install you can install and run only Audio apps. Kill all the unneeded services per the tweaks suggested in the links from post above. At this point you can also kill any hardware you don't need such as Network Card - Modem etc.

I've got a setup like this and have each install on it's own partition on a single drive (all audio data goes on another drive) and it works great. When recording audio, I've got maximum resources available for recording, mixing and plugs etc. When I need to do other stuff I just reboot and select the "office" install of the OS to load.

[dharma41]

Great guys. Thanks for the info. I see I'm not the only one who's asked this.

One question: I have XP SP2 as my primary OS.I remember trying to use my XP install disc to create a dual boot once before, and it wouldn't let me, since it was considered a "previous version" Would I have to uninstall service pack 2, and then re-install on both partitions?