I use Acustica-audio Nebula 3 which I really like but unfortunately I can't use many instances of it in X3 pro therefore I tried Reaper as a host and to my surprise I could use far more instances of Nebula.I have been using Sonar for a few years now and I have got used to the GUI so I would like to keep using it as I have bought the prochannel modules and I am used to the hardware mixer paradigm but it runs like a slug compared to Reaper.I also use Logic and have done for years but I am reluctant to buy a new mac(as my present mac is only a dual core)just to run the latest version of Logic.Am I missing something in the preferences that would lighten the processor demand(I have a quad core i5 with 8 gigs ram win7 machine)I have the often reported 1st core spiking on the cpu meter.Is X3 just a CPU hog?

Please update your footer with your system and software specs.
And turn off Intel speedstep (plenty of threads about it in these forums).
Update to X3D.
Check my system specs, my cores rarely go over 40%.
 
Cheers...

 
X3 isn't normally a cpu hog. I don't know what else is going on but I can confirm using it with great success on borderline machines.

I have switched off speed step but there is no difference X3 can only run 6 instances of Nebula compared to 16 in Reaper. 1st core still spikes in Sonar.

Sadly comparing performance with DAWs isn't a particularly scientific approach.
Did you update to X3D?
I'm not seeing much detail at all in your footer (check mine) so all I can say is perform some general maintenance tasks, run Windows update, and run this:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Driver-Boost-m2928792.aspx
 
And defrag.
 
You will then need to look into optimizing your buffers and latency.

Did you reset your Thread Scheduling in SONAR? It defaults to dual core, you have to set it for quad and higher manually.
 

CakeAlexS
Sadly comparing performance with DAWs isn't a particularly scientific approach.
Did you update to X3D?
I'm not seeing much detail at all in your footer (check mine) so all I can say is perform some general maintenance tasks, run Windows update, and run this:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Driver-Boost-m2928792.aspx
 
And defrag.
 
You will then need to look into optimizing your buffers and latency.

But it works fine in Reaper.

Er... what I wrote...

I have added the system specs .This laptop has nothing on it but X3 ,Reaper, and audio plugins  has never been connected to the net except for os updates and only has an edirol pcr300 controller and a vs100 attached so i really don't think it's driver related.Thread scheduling is set to 2 latency is currently at max and has been tried at every setting disc is defragged.What are the best buffer settings?Currently running X3D.
 
The essence of science is observation and I have observed that Reaper runs far more instances of my preferred plugin than X3 does with the exact same hardware configuration.It doesn't glitch and is overall far lighter on the cpu than X3 I'm not trying to convert Sonar users to Reaper I just don't see why there should be such a performance gap with the same hardware and the same settings.Sonar is a much bigger program with many more features but I have to admit I have been less than delighted with its performance since I first started using it although recently it has become more stable it still remains for me very resource intensive.I bought the melodyne upgrade so it's beginning to look like I will end up using X3 for the ara integration but generally I'm  getting a bit fed up with it in other respects.Bloat is the word that springs to my mind.
Thanks for your efforts in assisting me much appreciated that you take the time but sadly nothing seems to make X3 perform as I would like and I feel like I'm wasting money on it.
 

Pict
Thanks for your efforts in assisting me much appreciated that you take the time but sadly nothing seems to make X3 perform as I would like and I feel like I'm wasting money on it.

If you are not going to spend some time tuning and optimizing your machine with the software then you probably are wasting your time, and as I say comparisons with other DAW's is a waste of time (and ultimately your money). All DAW's are not the same.
 
I'm not experiencing what you are experiencing at all, but then I calibrated my system and it's settings. BTW again your system specs are fairly useless to me, again check my footer the devil is in the detail.
 
> The essence of science is observation
 
I guess then I was wrong, the world is flat... (It's no good if you happen to be observing the wrong thing).
Anyway good luck with that....
 
Thanks..