Cakewalk 8.5u10 Producer Edition
I've been helping my step-son get started on the road of using a DAW, it was many years ago since I used one, so my knowledge is rusty. My step-son is complaining about performance issues with his PC, it's not the most powerful PC in the world, core2 duo, 4GB memory, 500B HD, but I use to track on much lower end hardware. When he plays his tracks back the CPU is pretty much in the >90%, memory usage is moderate, so it is a CPU limiting issue.
I took at look at the way he is working, and I can't help think that the way he working my be causing the issue, I'll try and explain.
It's a rap track, he has a single stereo channel playing a beat, he then records is vocal on another track, all pretty normal so far, but what he then does is edit that single vocal track into as many as 40 tracks/clips and adds effects to particular phrases, words and sentences on those 40 plus tracks, it's an unusal way of working, he says "all the rappers do it like this".
Essentially he wants to add effects to certain words, sentences etc within the vocal track, is there a way of doing this without creating all these clip tracks?
As a test, lastnight I fired up my old version of CoolEditPro2 and Soundforge, and it does what I think he needs, I recorded a single vocal track, zoomed in on a particular phrases, add some echo just to that, repeated a few times, and there you have it, a single vocal track with many effects added with that single track.
Conceptually, is he doing this incorrectly, or is that he just needs a different product that is more suited to his work flow? I'm thinking he may need a tool that is more focused on audio editing.

fishface
, he then records is vocal on another track, all pretty normal so far, but what he then does is edit that single vocal track into as many as 40 tracks/clips and adds effects to particular phrases, words and sentences on those 40 plus tracks, it's an unusal way of working, he says "all the rappers do it like this".

 
He/you would be better off using automation and keeping the main vocal on one/multiple tracks.
OR, send all his (40)Vocal tracks to a bus or multiple buses with the FX on that bus. even a send might work better than using that many tracks.
 
I use up to at times 5-7 vocal tracks to thicken up parts, chorus, bridges, exc. but most of times this can be done in the box on a few tracks. I happen to have a powerful CPU and enough ram to let me go a little overboard so I have no worries. in your case though, you need to try and reserve some of that CPU. a Core Duo and 4GB of RAM is almost  thing of the past now a day. most (even semi pro) producers are using Quad cores and a minimum of 8GB so he needs to make smart choices. that's not to say he is not making smart choices. that's just to say he needs to conserve consumption if he is running in to problems with the CPU bogging down.
 
as a father its nice to see you supporting him, helping him. I love to hear that stuff
If he is dead set on doing it the way he is doing it, he can also choose to use FX destructively.
meaning he creates that track with Track FX bins and bounces it down once he is happy with the results.
I used to do that back in early 2001 when I didn't have a lot of CPU. it saved resources.
I typically don't suggest doing this because it can NOT be changed later, its called destructive for a reason.
but he has to make some compromises if this is the route he is choosing to work in.

Hi. He could try to up the latency, when mixing (Preferences (P), Audio, Driver Settings). It is under (depending on driver mode) ASIO Panel, or a "slider". It should take care of some of the cpu issues.
Does he have an audio interface, or does he use the build in sound card? Which driver mode does he use? 
An Audio interface usually have ASIO drivers written for them, and is recommendable if doing recording.
All the best.
Edit: Chuck gave you a reply while I was writing..

Chuckebaby - bouncing the tracks was my first thought, but as you say, it cannot be undone, sending the vocals to an effects bus is something I haven't tried, might give it a go.
He is committed though, he is even selling is Xbox1 so he can by a new PC or laptop, so that will address some of the performance issues.
Zargg71 - Good idea, I can play with a few settings there. I should have mentioned, he is using a Behringer UCA202, with a small external Sampson mixer, it is using ASIO.
 
I'll try your suggestions out and report back.
 
OT - but here is my trip down memory lane  ( few newer item in there) equipment list

Synths, Drum Machines & Samplers
Yamaha AN1X
Yamaha TG300
Korg Poly 800
Casio CZ101
Roland D10
Roland S760 fully expanded
Control Synthesis Deep Bass Nine
Ensoniq VFX
Kawai
Cheetah MD16 Drums
Boss DR110 Drums
BOSS DR.Rhythm-220e
 
Effects 
Behringer MDX1400 Compressor/Gate
Behringer V-Verb Pro 2496 - the rare one, before they were told to stop maing them!
DBX Project 1 266 Compressor/Gate
Zoom RFX2000 Multi Effects
Yamaha EMP700 Multi Effects
Yamaha FX500 Multi Effect
Yamaha GP100
 
Mixers/Monitoring
Fostex 812
Soundcraft Spirit Folio Rac Pac
Quad 405mk2 Amp
Wilmslow Audio Speakers
 
MIDI & PC
Opcode's Studio 64X 
Philip Rees MIDI thru boxes x 2
3 x Atari STE1040
Amiga1200
Various PCs
Several older Macs
 
Mics
MILAB LSR-3000 handheld condenser mic
AKG D90 (several)
Shure SM57 & 58
t-bone SC140 condenser mic (2)
Modified PZM, several
 
Software
Cubase, Cubasis
AcidPro
Halion, Gigasampler
CoolEditPro2, Soundforge 7
Bars & Pipes
Logic
Rebirth
 

For me I would split the Clips where I wanted to apply effects and leave them all in the same track. Then add effects to the Clip FX rack for the clips to receive the effect. I'm lazy about automation and my stuff is not that complex. I don't even know if your version supports clip FX racks.
 
amk