I just bought a new hard drive that I intend to use as a replacement for my OS drive.  The current drive is the same age and model as a data drive that just went out on me, so I'm replacing both of them.
 
I considered upgrading my motherboard and processor, but it seems that the processing world has stagnated and there aren't really any better options for me than what I currently have at a price I think would be reasonable to upgrade to.
 
so anyway, since I'm reinstalling the OS and all programs anyway, I wondered if I should stick to win7x64 or if I should upgrade to win8? 
 
this is a desktop and I do not have a touchscreen
this is a multipurpose machine, I run Sonar, Sony Vegas, Office, email, IE, and it really is just one machine that handles everything I don't do on my tablet.
 
I'm not sure that win8 would really buy me anything would it?  I'm leaning toward sticking with win7, but wanted some expert opinions.

Hey hows it goin. 
 
I'm no expert but I toss you my experience for what it's worth. 
 
My son gives me all his hand me down computers, He's pretty good at building and as a musician himself builds for audio. But the bugger uses  none registered copies of Windows. 
So the first thing I do is install my registered versions. Well I ended up with one more computer than I had Windows copies and went to order W7,  but windows 8.1 was half the price? 
So I ordered that. Here's my thoughts. 
 
Cheaper, Loads way faster,  works the same once you discover it actually has a normal desktop that can be populated with shortcuts just like before. In the end no real big difference in using it that a techo head can't grasp in an hour of poking around. Most of the control panel, device and systems controls are the same. All my software installed without issues, even things like DVDshrink. Photoshop CS. VCL, Win Amp. 
 
What I didn't like is that once installed it asked me for my Windows account to register? I was lucky I actually understood this was my original Hotmail-etc account and I knew the password to log on. Now that password is the password for the computer?
What I'm seeing here is more invasive integration of my computer with Micro soft, Office Outlook,  my shopping habits etc. I hate that stuff!  
I cost me $40 in bandwidth to do all the updates, Why the heck can't a brand new copy include service packs etc.? 
Overall I didn't notice any difference in running Sonar on windows 8. I have my old Tascam interface set up.  We watch movies and play music. It's also a  back up studio computer just in case.  As predicted, Windows 8 tells me I don't have the correct drivers installed. It's on a list of issues that W8 pops up in the task bar tray.  But the Tascam works fine, shows in Sonar normally, it's my only audio device for the computer all else is disabled. The Tascam GUI works. I write it off as one reason I no longer use the Tascam. Hope Craig is right about the in house drivers they will soon be writing. 
The other thing was the DPCLAT test doesn't work it will show a steady 1,000 ms. I need to download the other latency checker.
  
I'm just waiting for my case and I'm going to build from scratch.. so I'm not sure which way I'll go either as I guess I'll have to buy a new copy of Windows 8 as it's now ingrained in my office PC forever.. My Windows 7 copy is good for 2 computers so I can de activate my old DAW and just leave it as a back up system. 
But if you are faced with purchasing a new copy of Windows, You might as well save the approx $70 and buy W8. I think they are doing this on purpose to get every one away from W7 as quick as possible..marketing strategy. I cannot list any reasons that would imply that Windows 7 is better. But I don't understand anything beyond the surface when it come to this stuff, any how good luck.. 
 
 

If you already have a license for 7 use it.  If you have to purchase a new license, get 8.  Windows 7 is solid and will be supported for a while, so there's no reason to spend money if you don't have to.
 
As for 8:
The rumor is Windows 10 will be free for windows 8 users and will have some good desktop usability updates, so that's a decent reason to upgrade. Windows 8 works well now, is smooth and quick, but you have to learn some of the strange interface choices and make sure your hardware is ready to go.

yes, I wasn't perfectly clear - I already have a copy of win7x64 on my machine and can load that onto the new OS drive without spending any more money.  My question really is:  should I spend money on win8 or just use the win7 I already have.
 
Johnny - thanks for the details of your experience!

Win 8.1.1 is excellent and actually a little better than Win 7 in terms of reliability and performance (assuming your drivers are compatible).


However spending money on Win 8.1.1 is debatable in my opinion. Personally I would not bother spending the money unless you can find a really cheap deal. Upgrading your OS when you buy a new machine would probably be better assuming you can get an OEM copy.
 
Cheers...

sounds good to me.

I was also in the same boat (last year) as you Beags and opted for Win 8. I thought about getting touch screens at the time and since Win 8 is practically a revamped version of Win 7, I went with it. Initially, I had some issues with the automatic upgrade to Win 8.1.1 and actually avoided it for about 7 months, but just recently upgraded without any issues whatsoever and all my hardware have excellent driver support.
 
Win 8.1.1 runs very smoothly and haven't had any issues. I also use Classic Shell as I don't like the Win 8 Metro Gui/Win tile thingy. Like Alex said, if you can get a good deal on a Win 8 copy, I'd go for it. 
  

Windows 8.1 all the way.
Best MS system i ever had for Audio. still needs user to do some tune up but it is basic stuff.

thanks for the input guys!

Beagle
I just bought a new hard drive that I intend to use as a replacement for my OS drive.  The current drive is the same age and model as a data drive that just went out on me, so I'm replacing both of them.
 
I considered upgrading my motherboard and processor, but it seems that the processing world has stagnated and there aren't really any better options for me than what I currently have at a price I think would be reasonable to upgrade to.
 
so anyway, since I'm reinstalling the OS and all programs anyway, I wondered if I should stick to win7x64 or if I should upgrade to win8? 
 
this is a desktop and I do not have a touchscreen
this is a multipurpose machine, I run Sonar, Sony Vegas, Office, email, IE, and it really is just one machine that handles everything I don't do on my tablet.
 
I'm not sure that win8 would really buy me anything would it?  I'm leaning toward sticking with win7, but wanted some expert opinions.

If you're not into touch specific features, Win8x64 wouldn't buy you any additional performance.
On the flip side, you wouldn't lose a significant amount of performance going with Win8x64.