The delay after pressing stop is most likely a large buffer setting and/or a high latency plugin. Linear phase plugins are a likely suspect. Hit the 'E' key to temporarily disable plugin effects and see if the delay goes away. If not, lower your buffer setting a few notches and try again.
 

rodreb
!! First of all, THANK YOU to so many for being so helpful !!
Well, since my largest project is only showing 66% CPU usage and 39% Memory usage, it would appear that my system is still sufficient for my needs at this time. That said, I will upgrade to a new i7 system when I can, just because. Having recently retired, my income isn't what it used to be so, it will be a while but, it will happen eventually.
In the meantime, here's something that drives me crazy and, I don't know if this is related to memory, or processor, or what. When I stop a project that is playing (space bar or hit stop), it takes it a second to actually stop. This makes Sonar seem sluggish or laggy to me.
Also, when the project is playing and I change positions in the song (click in time line or click to a marker), it often creates a click or pop when it restarts at the new position.
I don't know what causes this to happen. This is what originally led me to start questioning my system in the first place.  

I know it sounds silly but are you using a wireless keyboard ? replace the battery.
there also used to be a function where if you pressed the Pause/break button it would slow down resources.
(graphics).
probably not your problem but its always best to over turn every stone before moving on to the bigger stuff

+1 for the SSD.
 
 

But more horsepower is always better!

Wow, some terrible advice in this thread...
 
Anyways, adding RAM will do NOTHING if you're not even using all that you have now. Running at 66% of your CPU power does mean that getting a significantly faster chip would most likely improve the response and smoothness of your system. I've run HUGE 80-track projects with 4GB of RAM BTW with no problem; it's mostly big samplers and some softsynths that use a lot, not really other plugs. As a matter of fact, I don't think I have a project that causes Sonar to use more than 2GB for itself. My little laptop has 4GB and loads any project I've ever made without RAM problems; now its dual core U series i3 can't handle the plugins but that's another story.
 
Now, for what you can ACTUALLY put in your motherboard (LOL on some of the responses here...): used i7-3770's go for $120 on Ebay; depending on what heatsink/fan you have now you might have to get a new one of those. It's not THAT much faster than what you have, but it should make a noticeable difference in smoothness of operation. The K version is not worth it, unless you have a Z-chipset motherboard with which you can overclock it. The built-in GPU is a lot better than the one in the i5-2500 too by the way!
 
R

Old thread alert, Funny never got moved to Computers?