@Mettelus: That still doesn't explain why the performance was literally 10 times better on first run. - With no combination of effects (and the turning on of effects), doing damage.
 
@Gswitz: No the message is red.
Similarly though, I didn't change anything (hardware or software) between the first and subsequent runs.
Yes my asio buffers are at max (4096).
Here is the other info:
Default view:

DPC selected:

 
 
 Should I reinstall, do a first run, and check everything during that run?
 
 

I tried re-installing it and this time the performance was exactly the same (poor).
I have no idea what's going on now...
 
 

mettelus
Work flow and plugin usage is a better focus for "resolution."

It doesn't seem like I'm going to get to the bottom of why I had the massive boost in performance the first time.
I would be interested in knowing more about the workflows regardless, can you link me something?
 

I wouldn't reinstall myself. I'd try to sort out why you are red. Is it a laptop? If you have a Wi-Fi card disable it. If your computer has a battery, try disabling that too... plug in first. You should be able to enable again once you run down the source of the trouble. Basically we're trying to tune up your pc for real time audio. Once you are green, troubleshooting problems with performance should get easier. Btw you can sort the drivers tab by latency length, and that can help you figure out the problem. Once you get your pc dialed in, only hardware changes should require you to re check it.

There are some common tips like using high power settings so your USB devices don't go to sleep to save power. Checking to see if the pc can shutdown USB devices can sometimes cause dropouts.

As to why you had smooth sailing once but not since, I have no idea. But after you get your pc to green, all things audio should be happier.

Lastly, this type of thread is really common for new users. There are lots of forum members who can help you, but it is Christmas and few are paying attention right now. Be patient and persistent and you'll be rocking in no time.

The system is a Tyan desktop/server with dual opteron CPU's.
 
I did come across all the info you just said (whilst doing my own research), and setting the power settings to max
gave me about a 25-30% performance increase (which MAY be enough to save me).
On the main page in the monitoring program, all the bars were basically ok except the bottom one (which
was completely maxed out). - Something to do with queuing operations on the harddrive.
 
The "highest measured interrupt to process latency" bar (2nd from the top), was also hitting about 65% on average..
 
 EDIT:
It looks like you posted the above 2 while I was writing this. 
I appreciate the support. 

Maybe the difference is pic cache ...

I forgot to mention that all my stats (that I have said/shown previously), were while driving Sonar to the limit.
The alert message is green when not running sonar (though the hard pagefault is still at the limit).
 

rfreeze
Maybe the difference is pic cache ...

It was on 468mb. I cleared it out using Duckbar and there was no improvement..

I may be confused here. The post with pictures of CPU usage with effects off and effects on shows the CPU loading of effects used. Which effects are you using in this project, and how many instances?