Anyone at all using X3 Producer with Windows XP SP 1?
I can upgrade my OS to SP3 the latest.
 
I know it is no longer officially supported , but does it work anyways

You could install up to X2 - but you would NOT be able to install the rather significant upgrade of X2A, which means you would have at a minimum 250 bugs more than if you were able to have installed the maintenance patch (X2b).
 
Furthermore, you can NOT install X3 on XP, period, due to run-time libraries that are REQUIRED for the installs, and which only show up with Windows 7 SP1 and beyond.
 
Sorry - you will need to upgrade your OS at the minimum to Win 7 SP1 to run X2a or X3, and if your computer is getting long in the hardware tooth, you might just consider picking up a new computer.  Please note that if you do indeed pick up a new computer, and it is pre-loaded with software, that you will almost certainly have to go in to delete a bunch of free trials of this and that, including trial versions of antivirus software,  I recommend Avast, for a good freeware antivirus program.  You can get it at www.downloads.com - just pay attention in the install, so you don't get a bunch of who knows what installed by your not paying attention - remove check boxes in the install process for anything that isn't the free base version of Avast and you will be fine.
 
Bob Bone
 

Thanks amigo, Yes my daw is 10 years old, and I figured exactly what you posted above. If I was to get a new computer for audio work I would certainly build it myself with a half hour or an hour purchase of Jim Roseberry's time http://www.studiocat.com/open_cart/ (or actually purchasing one of his builds). It would be my 4th build although I have not done it since my Core2Duo office computer in whatever year I built it. My current DAW is as old as mud, a Pentium 4 Northwood running 8.5.3 producer.

Hi again,
 
   There was an interesting thread posted a while ago on computer builds (for X1). If you upgrade a machine, you will definitely want to take advantage of the 64-bit architecture. My specific build is older, but is still effective (and significantly cheaper now too). Due to the "guts" of my machine, it was still benchmarking #10 at 2 years old (the SSD and GPU are a bit overkill of the average user). Bob and I have similar machines, but he has a full RAM load and upgraded to Win8.
 
   That thread is worth looking at if you are researching a new machine. http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/2733572
 
   Michael

Building them is fun, and pretty pain-free these days.
 
Make sure your new motherboard has both USB 2 and USB 3 ports, as some/many audio interfaces that have USB connections do not like to be plugged into USB 3 ports.
 
I would suggest some flavor of i7 CPU, and 16 GB of memory, or 32 GB if you have any money left over - but 16 is still good, so don't kill yourself trying to get 32 GB.  I have used AMD CPU's several times over the years, and they have good value, but I find the Intel chips to be a bit faster.
 
Also, my initial build of my latest computer had 2 crazy powerful video cards, but since then I have gotten rid of both and simply use the on-board graphics - and that works just fine to drive 2 giant displays (32" HDTV and 46" HDTV), so I would suggest you hold off on an expensive video card - you can always add one if needed, for between $30-$100 that will be fine.
 
I also had a 512 GB SSD drive when they were first available - almost $500, and it bit the dust, but while still under warranty.  That refund is what bought my 46' HDTV that is now my primary display, and the hard drive is now a run if the mill 2 TB SATA III non-SSD drive, that only ran something like $79 or $99, can't remember.  That drive is plenty fast enough for streaming.  Do NOT get a 'Green' drive, you are a POWER USER, and the variable-speed drives are a giant headache for Sonar - get drives that spin at 7,200 RPM and you will be fine.  
 
You will want at least 2 drives - I recommend a 120 GB SSD primary drive, for the OS and your applications only, which will be crazy fast.  I also recommend at least one additional drive, SATA III 2 TB (almost same cost as 1 TB so go ahead and get double the size for like $10 difference).  This second drive should hold your projects.  Some folks pick up an additional drive for holding sample libraries and such - I keep all of that on my 2nd drive (the same one as the Cakewalk projects and audio), and I have never had any performance issues just using 2 drives.  I actually do NOT have a solid-state drive as my primary, and still don't have performance issues, but the SSD drives are lightening-fast for holding the OS, and if I were to build another computer, it would have an SSD drive for the primary drive.
 
Anyways, I hope any of that helps.
 
Bob Bone
 

Thanks for the advice. Building a new DAW with a more modern sound card is a good idea. I am sill using my Echo Layla 24/16 PCI card real old early 2001 to 2002 (or so) technology. Does not sound as crisp and clear as what is happening these days. But it runs flawlessly, and if I had a project worth doing in mind I would need to replace all of that old stuff.
 
Thanks again for taking the time to post the above.