Minimum CPU To Run Sonar...

X1 Producer Expanded without any problems (or very rare problems). My setup at the moment is driving me round the twist with constant drop outs and blue screens that are becoming more common. 
My CPU is 2188, which I realize is extremely low for running a program like Sonar. So what would be the best option, keeping in mind I am trying to keep costs to a bear minimum?

Are you upgrading your whole system or just the CPU? I'm quite happy with my i7 2600k but you should be able to get away with the i5. I think you're generally gonna want to be looking at something around the 3.0 Ghrtz range to get the most out of your system. Check out Tom's Hardware online (just google it). They have a ton of comparison charts for stuff like this. Also I'd imagine Gearslutz would have similar charts but more focused on DAW systems. Cheers.

Oh sorry, 2188 is the CPU benchmark but it is a Pentium Dual Core E6700.

Well I was only planning on upgrading the CPU, but I'm not sure if I have to upgrade my motherboard or not....  do certain CPU models need more powerful motherboards?


EDIT: Ok Beepster, I'll check that out. cheers

It's likely you will have to upgrade the motherboard which sometimes leads to having to upgrade everything else too. Like if your drives are IDE you'd have to swap them out for SATAs or if your power supply can't provide enough juice for the new set... stuff like that. I'm not familiar with that chip nor what motherboard standard it would use but definitely check out Tom's Hardware to see what is available for your motherboard. That should be your starting point. Figure out what the board is then look at all the available CPUs it will take. Then look at the most powerful one. If it falls into the acceptable requirement range for X1 then there is your answer. Also system optimization may very well clear up all of your problems. Simple things you can do right now are turn off Windows Power Management and turn off your anti virus when you aren't online. Also if you haven't maxed out the RAM capacity of your motherboard getting some more RAM couldn't hurt either. Good luck.

All of my computers specs meet the minimum system requirements which I thought was odd..
Well I'm using the E-MU 0204, which I wouldn't have thought would cause any problems.  How can you find out the amount of RAM your motherboard can take? I have 3GB at the moment, and it is the motherboard that came with the computer so I assumed it is not powerful enough to hold any more. 

Windows 7 Home Premium x64

I've seen a few people here having problems with the E-MU stuff but I don't have any specific knowledge on that. I don't think that would be causing BSOD though. I'd get the system humming along the best you can before fiddling with that. As far as the RAM once you figure out the exact model of motherboard you have you can look online (again Tom's will be a good resource for this) then you'll be able to see how much RAM (and the type of RAM) the system can handle. Here's how I'd go about it myself. Do the optimization stuff. See if things improve. If not snag some more RAM (at 3 GB it is very likely you will be able to add more). Then take a look at the CPU stuff to see if it will be worth it to upgrade (if it's even possible). Also your hardrives might be causing problems if they are slow or inferior quality. You generally want ones that spin at 7200RPM like these Caviar Blacks http://www.newegg.ca/Prod...x?Item=N82E16822136795 but make sure they are compatible with your board (IDE vs SATA). With all that though you may find it will be more worth it just to build a new system that is more future ready. Getting a modern and reliable interface is very important too but kind of separate from the comp stuff so I didn't put it in the checklist. I picked up a Focusrite Scarlett 18i6 a couple months ago for $300 and it's great but if you do not need the extra inputs you can go for one of the smaller Scarlett's for around $150-200. One more thing is MINIMUM system requirements are just that... the minimum you need to actually run the program. However if you start adding a lot of tracks/effects/VSTs you can start running into problems. You generally want to go for the RECOMMENDED system requirements or higher. Hope this has been helpful.

And yes as Daveny pointed out this can be a lot of work if you are not tech savvy. I spent a whole year learning about computer stuff to build my own. You may just want to take it to someone who knows what they are doing or buy a new system outright. Cakewalk has a recommended PC vendors/system list that have been vetted to work with Sonar. If you have the cash take a look at ADK. Check out this page for more info... http://www.cakewalk.com/PCResource/default.aspx

Wow I never knew there was so much to 'just' upgrading something...... I think I will probably end up buying a powerful laptop when I have the money but for the moment I will try to continue to use Sonar on the desktop with these optimized audio settings. Thanks for the help everyone.

on a quite old ASUS P5 system with a Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.40GHz) and 8GB of RAM, with no problems with dropouts. I run it under Windows 7 Pro 64.

Quite old? 

Jonboh,

I'm running X1 32bit mode on this Acer Laptop... asio4all drivers - realtek sound card.  I do more midi-based stuff with my laptop but I can record a 45 minute show in stereo thru a lexicon alpha sound card using asio drivers.

http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/notebook/0000/Acer/Aspire5610/Aspire5610sp2.shtml

The processor is a 1.6, dual processor ultracheapy and I have 2 gb of ram and onboard intel graphics. 

It would help if we knew what you were doing when you get the dropouts, ie , recording guitar or some other sound thru the e-mu or are you using a lot of softsynths?

I just did some investigation on the Emu 0204... another site had a comment about the fact that this unit has lots of dropouts in 24-bit mode.  Try swapping to 16 -bit mode and seeing if the trouble still occurs.

Your system should be powerful enough to do everything you want to do.   

JonBoh


All of my computers specs meet the minimum system requirements which I thought was odd..
Well I'm using the E-MU 0204, which I wouldn't have thought would cause any problems.  How can you find out the amount of RAM your motherboard can take? I have 3GB at the moment, and it is the motherboard that came with the computer so I assumed it is not powerful enough to hold any more. 

Actually your CPU is barely minimum spec.. it does beat the E8200 on cpu benchmark, but the E8200 has a 30% faster memory and system bus... you certainly need a new computer.
 
I would not bother trying to upgrade the system you have... by the time you get a new motherboard and cpu, then you will need different ram, a new hard drive, new windows..etc etc...  simply go on ebay and buy a manufacturer reconditioned PC at the best performance you can afford... eg.. you can get a great deal on an AMD powered, i5 performance class machine for probably $400
In saying all of that, droputs are audio interface, audio driver and PC optimisation issues, and BSOD are hardware, driver and bios issues... your system should run Sonar "ok"... just slow and have little excess power for softsynths...

JonBoh


How can you find out the amount of RAM your motherboard can take? I have 3GB at the moment, and it is the motherboard that came with the computer so I assumed it is not powerful enough to hold any more. 

I suggest using this simple scan tool provided by Crucial Crucial System Scanner, it can be a great tool to inform you as to what your system board is capable of. Try that first and see if you're already maxed. If not, you can decide, based on your new understanding, where you'd like to go from there. Afterwards, if you like, there are several system and software tweaks I'd be glad to show you which could certainly improve things for you... 

Below are results from an inexpensive office computer I built to illustrate what this tool will show you; just to give you a better idea of how it works:  

Memory: DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 PC2-5300 Memory Type: DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 PC2-5300, DDR2 (non-ECC) Maximum Memory: 8GB  Currently Installed Memory: 3GB Total Memory Slots: 4 Available Memory Slots:  2
1GB DDR PC2-5300

2GB DDR PC2-5300

 EMPTY 
 EMPTY 

 
Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-6400, DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 2GB per slot.* *Not to exceed manufacturer supported memory.

 
Although the memory can be installed one module at a time, the best performance comes from using matched pairs of modules.

How much memory your Windows OS will recognize depends on which version of Windows you are running. 32-bit versions of Windows will see (and utilize) only 3GB or 3.5GB. To utilize more memory, install a 64-bit version of your OS. More information about OS memory maximums can be found here.

Memory or DRAM is the 'working' memory of the computer. It's used to store data for programs (sequences of instructions) on a temporary basis.






Best regards


LabDog

peregrine


Hello again Jon.  If you're pegging your CPU meter, you need a newer CPU. If you see the meter going beyond about 65%,
you're going to have playback problems. You can experience audio cracking at values below 50%. 

not too many people seem to understand this. Those who do seem to have a lot less problems.

- Also, I have installed drivers but they may not be the latest ones (if not then I am unsure where to find them.)

Creative says their driver for the 0204 is Win 7 compatible, but they do not seem to give you access to the driver for manual download for the windows version. If you are feeling lucky, you can try clicking the "software autoupdate" button on this page:

http://support.creative.com/downloads/?h=7

Of course that may be problematic if your computer will not run with the device attached.