Thought my computer was doing fine...

that is...when I was using SONAR 8.5...even then, there were probs...it's a desktop HP w/an AMD 9650 quad core and 8 G of ram...M-Aud Firewire Solo...The distortion I get after replay and replay and replay of audio files is what is wrong...largely, but not limited to, soft synth MIDI and audio (frozen and otherwise) tracks...
   I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to buy a new system...All my experience with the several workstations I've had point to INTEL processors as being the best...So that's my starting point...I don't have the cash to buy the best, but I can work with a system...as long as I don't have to keep closing and re-opening the file I'm working on because the processor or the RAM is overloaded and sizzling my synth clips...
   If I'm making sense to anyone, please point me in the right direction...I want to be able to use X1 - if needed, I'll go back to 8.5...but tell me if I'm on the right track...I'm on a limited budget