Conley,
 
Oops, I said the same (should have refreshed the thread).
Running the tools can report if something is taking longer than it should.
The latency check tool is good for a general view but won't tell you why.  
The resplendence one will report specific driver names and is more useful for trying to pin down a cause.
 
Keith

Thanks Keith and Bob, DPC reports 112 to 141 on average with a maximum of 233.
Latencymon reports Nvidia at 152

My system is at a great performing setup I believe. I think X3 may need to be looked at with reference to RME drivers possibly as suggested earlier.

After booting my system this morning, all indicators of performance tell me that I should not be having these issues.
 
I still get pops and clicks on start stop, 80% of the time, and during playback and some recording with playback.

@Guitarmech111 - thanks for going through that exercise.  That DID show your system as being quite capable of handling the streaming audio, which as a good thing.
 
So, apologies if you posted this earlier, but can you please post:
 
1.  Sample Rate in both Sonar and for your audio interface
2.  Record Bit-Depth in Sonar
3.  Audio interface ASIO Buffer Size (or whatever they call it on your interface)
4.  Latency values reported in Sonar (input, output, total roundtrip)
 
I suggest a starting point: Sample Rate of 44.1 k or 48 k (Sonar must match interface on this), ASIO Buffer Size of 128 on audio interface, Record Bit-Depth of 24, record and playback buffers of 512.
 
At least your system should handle it, so hopefully some tweaking of settings can help some.
 
Bob Bone
 

similar thread with a few more suggested solutions http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/2909427

You might want to check the Control Panel to see if ASIO4ALL is indeed installed or not. Probably not if you're not aware of it...but you never know.

robert_e_bone
@Guitarmech111 - thanks for going through that exercise.  That DID show your system as being quite capable of handling the streaming audio, which as a good thing.
 
So, apologies if you posted this earlier, but can you please post:
 
1.  Sample Rate in both Sonar and for your audio interface
2.  Record Bit-Depth in Sonar
3.  Audio interface ASIO Buffer Size (or whatever they call it on your interface)
4.  Latency values reported in Sonar (input, output, total roundtrip)
 
I suggest a starting point: Sample Rate of 44.1 k or 48 k (Sonar must match interface on this), ASIO Buffer Size of 128 on audio interface, Record Bit-Depth of 24, record and playback buffers of 512.
 
At least your system should handle it, so hopefully some tweaking of settings can help some.
 
Bob Bone
 

I use 48k/24 bit
128 - 256 samples in the ASIO buffer panel for record and playback. 256 seems worse, but that may just be a fluke.
No ASIO4ALL installed
155, 196 and 351 latency values.

Those settings should work OK for your system.  I use 128 for my ASIO Buffer Size, and the combination of it all keeos my total roundtrip latency at just under 10 milliseconds.
 
So, on to something else then - I will keep looking at things when I get back this afternoon.
 
Bob Bone
 

Thanks Bob.

Just for my education, why would an ASIO buffer of 1024 be "too much" as mentioned above.  I do not disagree, but just want to understand the disadvantages of a larger number.
 
Melodyne recommends 1024 but many people here say that is not necessary.