Hi guys,
 
My 6 year old PC spec is in my profile - even when I run even a modest Sonar Platinum project all i7 CPU cores eventually rise from about 20% to near 100% and I get audio dropouts at 1024 latency on the MOTU.
 
I had to do a clean install at one point and it seems to have got worse.
 
Is my PC obviously underpowered or can I troubleshoot why the CPUs get overloaded?
 
Thanks for any input!
 
M

1024 is a bit high.....have you tried it at 512 or lower?

What are you running on it for soft synths and effects? An i7 should have plenty of processing power.

Some soft synths and FX can be very CPU intensive, so running a first generation i7 mobile CPU with "only" 1,6 GHz could indeed be a bottleneck.
 

Maybe some system tweaks will help if you have not already done this:
Go to "power options" and set to "high performance".
Set "minimum processor state" to 100% so that it is not throttling down the processor.
If you use wireless networking disable it when using Sonar. 
 
1.7gHz is a little slow.
The Sonar system requirements state at least 2.6gHz:
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013383/SONAR-Platinum-Professional-Artist-System-Requirements

Thanks guys, tried those tweaks Mike and no difference. The project starts off OK but if I loop round a section or the whole song the CPU gets progressively worse until it drops out. The fan seems to be racing every time I open Sonar or do any video work.
 
I tried to freeze some FX like TH2 etc. but not much difference. I've tried to cut down Bitbridge stuff as that eats memory too I think.
 
Klaus might be right about the 2nd Gen i7 bottleneck I fear.
 
Wondering if I need this kind of thing or whether there is a more cost effective solution these days.
 
https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/3xs-scan-performance-17-studio-laptop-no-firewire 
 
M

Six years is getting a bit long in the tooth.

SuperG
Six years is getting a bit long in the tooth.

Not really.  My Phenom IIs can still run audio quite well.
 
Unless the OP made an error in his specs, this is a laptop running @ 1.7 ghz.  This machine really doesn't work so well for a lot of audio software.

Mus
 
Wondering if I need this kind of thing or whether there is a more cost effective solution these days.
 
https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/configurator/3xs-scan-performance-17-studio-laptop-no-firewire 
 
M

These specs look fine and should take you a big leap forward compared to your current system.
Albeit a more cost effective solution would be a custom desktop computer made by yourself.
But that's a desktop, not a laptop, so maybe not the route you want to go... 
 

new machine every 4 years... altho the past 4 years have seemed to have the clock at 2.4 to 2.8 GHz for Intel.