Bitflipper -- thanks for the indepth info.  Also amazed at the quality you are getting at link "My Stuff".  Thanks.

ditto on the kudos to 'Flipper. I listened to almost the entire "My Stuff" last week. I was very impressed by the production quality as well as the musical content. 
 
Michael
 
 
 

I always look at process private bytes, thread counts and handle count usage - the rest is all just BS... (of course if ever system page fault count is getting hit then something seriously wrong is happening)..  I use to love using the tools to monitor processes, especially in OpenVMS...  Eh! That's another story...

I can get another 4 gigs of ram for $15, which would bring me up to 8 gigs total.  Or I could spend $80 for two 4 gig sticks and have 12 gigs ram total.  Given the price differential, seems like 8 would be fine.  Comments?
 
Phenom II x4 945 under win7-64bit.  Will eventually spring for FX6350 ....

You need to make sure that whatever route you take to upgrading your RAM, you invest in pairs of matched  sticks, other wise you'll get timing differences which results in dropouts & crashes.
 
Another option is to ditch what you already have and buy a pair of matched 8Gb sticks for a total of 16Gb.

Where did you find 4GB for $15? It wasn't out of a truck at the Home Depot parking lot, was it?

Timeking
Is that because I am still on 32bit XP?

Yes. Under 32 bit, the whole system has to work within 4gb, and windows will reserve a huge slice of that.

Ebay 2 sticks of Corsair XMS3 2GB 1600MHz $17.60 plus $5 shipping.  Didn't read the bit about "no returns".  Certainly hope somebody outbids me!!!  Here is why:
 
I've been working on a project for a choir director with vocal track, voc dbl, 3 harmonies each dbl-ed, so that is 8 vocal tracks.  Because she keeps going sharp or flat, and because I am trying to learn how to use X3 and Melodyne (since I can't get V-vocal to work), I wound up putting a region FX on every vocal clip through the whole song.  My memory indicator indicated I'd used 7.9 gigs of ram on my 4 gig system.  So 8 gigs is NOT enough!!  So probably the answer to my question is you need at least 16 gigs or more ...  
 
{PS:  PLEASE go and outbid me.   Thanks. }
{ Note:  You are now the owner of some crappy used memory that is too small and probably won't pass memtest.}

This response is to the "Timeking" post regarding your mention of (since I can't get V-vocal to work). This response is a bit long winded so I apologize in advance, but I think you will find it helpful to some degree in overall sequencer operational issues & fixes. I also had the same issue after installing X3 + upgrades up to X3e. The upgrade to X3 wiped out my V-Vocal plug in & disabled my entire line of Nomad plug ins that included BlueVerb which I used frequently.
Years ago I created a layout that would allow me to restore my system within minutes if there was a mechanical or any other catastrophic problem.
I partitioned a 128 GB SSD Boot drive into 3 partitions for 3 different Windows Operating Systems.
#1 – XP 32 bit my first install with Sonar 5 thru . . . Sonar 8.53
#2 – Win7 64 bit install with Sonar 8.53 thru . . . Sonar X3e
#3 – XP (Utility Drive) had MS Office & other utility programs installed.
My master boot allows me to select any of these 3 partitions depending on what I want to work on. All my computers use EaseUS Image backup software to save & restore the hard drive.
Prior to installing any new software or upgrades I do an image of the drive incase I install something that I don't want or something that won't work with my hardware.
Windows normally installs software in folders called Program Files or Program Files (x86) depending on whether the software is 32 of 64 bit. This keeps things nice & tidy to be sure but when it comes to audio software it's a bit of a scavange hunt to find some things that you need to access for Sonar. My solution was to setup another folder system that only had audio related software & nothing else.
I created a master folder called Audio [link=file:///C:/Audio]C:\Audio[/link] & subdivied it further
[link=file:///C:/Audio]C:\Audio[/link]

• \Amps
  
  • Amplitube
    
  • Rock Amps Legends
    
• \Effects
  
  • Dynamics
    
  • EQ
    
  • Reverb
    
    • BlueVerb
      
    • Breverb
      
    • Oxford
      
    • Lexicon
      
• \Hardware
  
  • Presonus
    
  • M-Audio
    
• \Sequencers
  
  • \Sonar
    
    • Common Settings
      
      • Color
        
      • Key Bindings
        
    • X3
      
    • V8.53
      
  • Studio One (PreSonus)
    
• \Utilities
  
  • Editor
    
    • V-Vocal
      
    • Meodyne
      
• \VI's
  
  • Drums
    
    • Addictive Drums
      
    • Toontrack
      
    • Session Drummer 3
      
  • Guitars
    
    • Bass
      
      • Dimension Pro Bass
        
      • Yellow Tools Bass
        
    • Acoustic
      
      • Ample Guitar
        
      • RealGuitar
        
    • Electric Guitar
      
      • Les Paul
        
      • Strat
        
       
      

Now back to my lost files issue. When I installed X3 it deleted the contents of V-Vocal folder. This was all the files needed to make V-Vocal plug in work. V-Vocal no longer worked in V8.53 or X3. I checked the Folder & sure enough it was empty.
Fortunately I created an Image backup of my boot drive prior to installing Sonar X3 so I went to that folder and restored only that Folder and within 1 minute V-Vocal was operational.
 

I see a lot of Forum readers referring to RAM providing better audio performance so I though some of you might want a clarification of what the various solutions really provide.
System Memory RAM is needed to handle VI's (Virtual Instruments). The more Ram that the system has the more VI's can be loaded & no nasty Clicks or Pops. But, if you stream the samples from the hard drive the RAM is of little value to the audio performance.
 
#1 - The best improvement for plug ins comes from upgrading from a 32 to a 64 bit operating system (Win 7 64 bit OS). Before doing the upgrade you will need a 64bit capable motherboard in your computer.
#2 - The next investment would be moving to a Quad Core CPU with at least 6 to 8mb of Cache on board. Not an AMD but an Intel!
* With my old Intel 2 core CPU I had 2mb of Cache & I had nothing but audio problems. The sequencer would stop and display the red alert message "Audio Dropouts" continuously.
The audio effects such as reverbs, & EQ's are all handled by the CPU cache & not the RAM.
 
The CPU speed is not very important for recording audio! Can that be true??? Yes!
I have an 8 year old Acer laptop running 32 bit XP with an Intel 2.1 ghz dual Core & it has 4mb of Cache. I record 32 channels of audio on a PreSonus 24.4.2 mixer and a Mackie 1604 connected VIA Firewire 400 & have never had any issues with audio dropouts, pops or clicks! When I started I was using Sonar 5.0 (set to 128 samples for latency) & through all the upgrades have never had any issues with audio. 
Another important link in recording if you are using external hard drives is to connect them through Esata & not through USB or Firewire. I have never been able to use USB or Firewire without audio clicks or pops. I experimented early on & have stuck with what works rather than futzing around with stuff that does not perform.
Another warning that I will offer is the use of Intel vs. AMD. Cakewalk & recommended computer assemblers all stick to Intel CPU's so what does this tell you.  There's a number of diehards that always go against the norm & wind up having more than their share of problems.  
For those of you tampering with CPU speed re-read this post & do yourself a favor! Stop futzing around with what you don't understand. Music software does not benefit screwing around with the CPU speed!!
 
So I hope this helps because I see so many posts that all stem from the same problem! Lack of knowledgeable computer recording information.
 
Good Luck!