Whats wrong with my PC or me ?

Hiya,
 
I Have a PC, its a Cosmos Cooler Master Intel core i7 with windows xp proffessional on it.
I have found the specs they are 920 @ 2.67GHz, 2.67GHz 2.99 GB RAM.
I have a C Drive Used space :- 112GB Free space :- 167GB
I Have a D Drive Used space :-  47GB  Free space :- 884GB
 
I dont know much about computers and trusted the people i got this from, as they said this would be the ultimate DAW, blah blah etc
 
But i cant run more than 3 plugins at the same time, when im working on something and listen back to it  my computer CPU meter going in the red and the audio making a horrible sound. this surely isnt good ? I read these new macs can run tons and tons of plugins with no problem ? i cant manage 3 !
 
I have tried all the tips on optimizing a PC for audio production, but makes no difference.
 
The only thing i can see maybe is a problem is the guy put Sonar 8.5 and my other programmes, like EZ Drummer, other plugins etc on the C drive and some other plugins on my D Drive but there is such a massive amount of GB free on that D drive, would it work better if sonar was on my D Drive ?
 
I would be very grateful for some help, as i feel im not getting anywhere with a rather expensive computer, its quite frustrating.
 
Thankyou in advance,
 
Kind Regards
 
Ben
 
 

Thankyou for your reply RLD

If i record a few guitar parts using Pod Farm or TH1, and have an EZ drummer drum track, the cpu meter is in the red, i have waves maserati mixing plugin if i apply that to even one track then all conks out. I have tried changing the play back buffer size that doesnt seem to help. I got that m-tron plugin and was really looking forward to creating some music with that and some guitar parts but the pc cant handle it or maybe needs setting up differently.
 
How many vst's can you run on your pc with simillar set up to mine.

Thankyou for your help :-)

Hi slartabartfast,

please dont speak to me like that, like you did in the first line of your post. I dont understand computers too well thats why Im asking for help on here not asking someone to type wise cracks, its not nice and it gets us no where.

Im using a fireface800

when i looked at the specs from my computer-properties thats where it says 2.99GB Ram .........thats the only way i know of checking that figure.

the information i gave in the first post is the only information i know how to get off my computer.

Kind Regards

Ben

Heres a link to CPU-Z, Ben. It's a handy little program that'll give you all the specs and numbers of your Motherboard, CPU, Ram, etc. You'll be better able to tell people just what you've got under the hood and how much. I'm puzzled by the 2.99GB's of Ram myself, but understandable that's it's  not your thing. You've listed enough anyway to show that you shouldn't be getting taxed that easily... something funny definitely going on.

[link=http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/1.57.1-setup-en.exe]http://www.cpuid.com/down...-z/1.57.1-setup-en.exe
 
 
You can bring up the Windows Task manager by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete(simultaneously), then click the Processes tab and it will give you a list of the programs running on your computer and show if anything is running and chewing up CPU cycles.

the fire face is supposed to be a sweet interface... but it's firewire correct?   You need to check to see if the chip set on the firewire port is TI chipset.... Texas Instruments.... I have heard that there are issues with other chipsets on the firewire port, and that might be the case.


I run a saffire firewire and with 6 or 7 synths and FX running the CPU barely breaks the 20 to 25% range with an i5 processor.

Another thing you need to look at is the other programs that you have running in the back ground. Can you see what else loads and runs at startup? If the computer is off the shelf, there are very often lots of crapware put there by the mfg and others that will auto load and run... using valuable CPU power, and when you load cake, you basically get the leftovers.

For that reason specifically, I decided to build my own box. You could however, if this is a store machine, wipe the drive and reinstall the OS only and then ONLY load the programs YOU want on the DAW.  

Also, I keep my DAW off the internet and therefore I do not run AV or malware software at all. Nothing like a scan starting up in the middle of a sweet tracking session to ruin your day.

I know you said you didn't know much about computers but it would be in your best interest to learn a few things so you know what is going on under the hood of your DAW a bit more.

If you have onboard video you don't want to stop it, it's what lets you see things on your monitor.  You could install a video card and use that if you want to prevent RAM from being reserved for onboard video.  At this point I think the main thing for you to focus on is the CPU issue.  If that's going into the red then something is eating up your processor cycles and that's not right.  Taking a look at task manager as described above will let you see what's hitting your processor very quickly.

You need to hire a local computer tech who has experience with dedicated use computers.

Given your level of experience it is clear you will need lots of guidance.

And even if you had as much knowledge and info as some of the posters, it would still take lots of time to change settings and apply other such tweaks.

If you connect the computer to the net it is possible someone here could remote in and do a bunch of the needed analysis, including OS updates,...

J