joden, I would counsel you to not rush toward such a drastic step. At least not as Plan A. If you can get CbB up and running you'll be happier in the end. If any version of SONAR has worked for you on that system, then getting CbB going is definitely do-able.
 
Problems such as long load times and jitter are usually caused by factors outside the DAW, even if they sometimes seem to be alleviated by switching to a different DAW (which usually comes down to configuration differences rather than the software itself).
 
Make sure, for example, that you're not rescanning plugins every time you start up. All it takes is one plugin that insists on calling home to the mothership to make sure you're not a thief, and a scan can be slowed to a crawl. 

Do you have the latest BandLab Assistant?
Is CbB up to date?
 
CbB has been way more stable for me than any previous version.
 
A bigger question is whether Windows is up to date. Drivers and software are always "chasing" Windows. I had a Logitech wireless mouse/keyboard become so erratic I assumed they were broken. Also, I was getting BSODs on a regular basis, particularly when going online. I ran a MemTest and it was fine but when I ran a Windows troubleshooter, it said there was a hardware problem and I needed to contact the manufacturer.
 
Not so! There had been a Windows update. I went to the Intel Driver and Support Assistant, downloaded the latest Bluetooth and Wireless drivers, and everything was fine. It's a pain in the butt to keep everything updated, but when EVERYTHING is updated, stuff works. When only some stuff is updated...colorful language is in the forecast.

I agree, you best move is to figure out why you are having issues. Obviously most people are not, so it will not be the software but your OS or even something hardware wise.
Maybe a good idea would be to start a new thread and ask for over all help making CbB work the way you want it to work.
 
Don't be afraid to make a detailed list of your system and as much information as possible. We like a challenge!

As others have said I can't see that the cakewalk software is really the problem.  More knowledgeable folks than me will be more than happy to guide you through making it work on your system. You already have Bitflipper's attention so you're in very good hands if you decide to go for it and troubleshoot the MF.
 
WRT the versions...... I can't speak for the Bandlab version as I haven't yet felt the need to install it, but like many I was happy to sit back and watch the X-series launch crash and burn safe in my 8.5 world, but ARA in X3 finally sucked me in and once the dark theme came along in Platinum I bit on that and was a happy camper again. 8.53 is still installed and occasionally I open it just to see. I loved it at the time, but couldn't go back now.
 
When CW was looking for all the world like a dead duck my plan was to revert to X3 if the worst had ever come to the worst (no CCC for Platinum) and suck up the acres of grey again as it still seemed preferable to the alternative DAW's that I tried

In response to the latest version questions - as I have posted elsewhere, Bandlab assistant is not working on my system. It is the latest version (just d/l it three separate times, with three separate full uninstalls and re-installs, tried creating a  new user with different email , nothing. Even though I can quite easily log in to my account on the Bandlab webpage), so the answer to that question is no as I cannot d/l it to install it.
 
I have all the Platinum versions before B day, I am still totally unconvinced by this whole Bandlab and Bandlab assistant scene....and I don't dispute you guys have no issues, but on this system I am having nowhere near the reliability of the original Cakewalk run/owned Platinum Sonar.

It must be the case that if CbB is able to run OK (which it does for me and judging by the relative paucity of complaints by people on here and the various Facebook groups, for most others also) the only logical explanation for the OP's problems have to lie with his/her system. I realise it's a bit of a pain but it's worth a clean rebuild and CbB installation (without altering any settings) to rule out anything awkward that may have crept in software wise. If it still causes problems then it's likely a hardware thing. I can't accept that CbB is flakey otherwise it would manifest itself badly for everybody which is clearly not the case.

There was a post long ago about boot up times and Noel chimed in on how SONAR loads. What triggered on me was a 32 to 64 bit rewire bridge someone had mentioned. It works, but is poison and never used. What it did do was make load times on a 2600K go from 1.5 seconds to 40 seconds. You could easily have installed something that is triggering your situation in a similar way. Rewire is only one of the loaded items, but I forget the rest of Noel's post.

Worst case (last resort)... When things go ballistic and is hard to find solutions is when I back up data files and reload the OS from scratch (not had to reload Win10 yet since I image monthly and will only loads things I use, not just because I have them). A lot of plugins and utilities went into the "forget you ever saw them" bin. The nicety of images is you can restore to a stable state without all the re-installing, and is a nice "rollback" strategy.

If the problem is that you cannot download the installer, that needn't be a showstopper. It's only 50Kb in size; I'd be happy to email it to you.
[EDIT] Never mind, I just read your thread about issues with the installer, in which you said that downloading it wasn't the problem, running it was. I've not seen the behavior you described, but my guess would be a version mismatch with some dependency, such as the C++ runtime libraries.

yeah guys, thanks. I suspect that is the issue (with Blb)...re system, hmmm not too sure as it is optimised for audio/midi work, afaik drivers are all clean, and again afaik (unless there is something hidden), everything I use is 64bit (outside the few 32bit plugins, none of which are part of the basic load template, or many projects for that matter).........about the only thing I can say is I have none of said issues with either Cubase AI (came with the MODX) or Reaper, from the little I have worked with them. Which is why I was thinking it is some weird mismatch between my system, Sonar and Bandlab.
 
I don't really want to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" but it is sooo frustrating, time and again, and usually after a long series of edits hahaha!,  it just locks up out of the blue and sometimes a Sonar restart works and others it's a PC reboot that is needed.
 
I am happy to stick with it, if only I could find the root cause.
 
The Bandlab issue is just the latest, sorta kinda the "straw" .

Joden, I think many users around here will agree that every OS install no matter how careful you are will likely get corrupted by some unknown OS glitch at time goes on.
 
 It may be a corrupted file, or corrupted setting, or something else or a faulty Win update. When that happens you can bang your head against the wall and try hours worth of troubleshooting or you can do the easy fix by reverting back to an image of your C drive when everything was working fine.
 
When I get a new computer or install my OS from scratch. The first thing I do is make an image file, because then you can always go back to that instead of reinstalling from scratch. 
 
In your case the first thing I'd do after a clean install is to install all current Win updates, and update main drivers like video card, install your audio interface and then CbB and see if it's behaving ok. 
 
My guess is that it would be. Each time you add programs, hardware, FX, etc make an image file. When you run into problems you can always go back a few steps and build it back up to determine where the problem or incompatibility is. 
 
Never save audio files, data, or sound libraries on your OS drive. Keep it lean, so when you revert back to an earlier image you don't lose any data only OS and programs.
 
I my opinion anyone that wants a stable problem free DAW should rely on image files. They've saved my butt numerous times. Carefully build up your DAW in steps.