I've been working with a Dell Inspiron Intel [font="arial; line-height: normal"] CORE 2 QUAD Q8200 4GB with Producer 8.5.1 and an Maudio 2626.
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[font="arial; line-height: normal"]I've got a chance to get a new INTEL CORE I7-3770 3.4GHZ 16GB DDR3 1TB, 7200rpm.  


But, I'm nervous.  I'm worried about switching everything over, losing my presets, difficulty loading everything in... the whole deal.


My computer is struggling right now with some of my heavier presets, but I've figured out ways to make it work.


Do you think it will be worth the dollars and the time to upgrade?  


Also, I'm pretty comfortable with 8.5.1.  Am I going to have to bump that up?  I'm sure the new computer will have something besides Vista.




Thanks for your opinions!


Jack

Well, if you honestly feel that your existing setup has taken you as far as it can go, then upgrading seems like a very good option.

The only thing of concern might be any 32 bit plugins you're currently using which you can't do without and there is no equivalent 64 bit version. Only you can tell us that.

Loading up all your basic software shouldn't be a problem provided you have the discs and/or download files.

I'd also be slightly concerned about only one hard drive in the new box  - see if you can get at least one more installed, preferably 2 if you're running any large sample streaming libraries, also many users are running their Operating Systems and Program from an SSD - see if this is an option.

You can always easily transport your templates from the old machine to the new on a memory stick, plugin presets might be harder to manage as at least a couple of them write their presets to the registry.



If you do decide to take the plunge, their are many extremely knowledgeable posters on the forum who can guide you through the entire process, and help with any issues along the way.

first install a nice new DATA drive in the old computer and back up EVERYTHING Sonar to it. I used a 500 Gig 7200 RPM SATA. ( $75 ) 

Swap this over to the new computer. There ya go, A back up data drive with all your stuff ready to open. 
 
I found only a few obscure plug ins were missing. 
Old 32 bit projects opened with only the odd one tossing a warning about the missing plug in. 
Then there is another warning that some plug ins might sound different. For me this didn't happen, all was exactly the same. 
The missing plug ins actually show in the EFX bins but are grayed out, so it's easy to figure out what it was. 
Seems Sonar automatically replaces 32 bit with 64 bit versions or runs that bit bridge gizmo. 

For me all worked so much better when I upgraded to W7 and 64 bit, night and day performance. 

 

Thanks for the advice.  The new computer is here and going in today.  I got 2 hard drives installed.  I didn't quite make the leap to SSD.  Here goes!

Good Luck

Excited to see it work out for ya!!!

Install 8.5 32 bit on the new computer. This will install all the 32 bit plugs. And it will work fine.

And fur shure install updates to 8.5.3.

Then install the 64 bit version and open projects as have time, to learn about it.

Then install the X2 trial for a personal experience. 

I am using mainly 8.5.3 64 bit, on w8 64.   I have X2 installed but I do not like the X change to lanes.

And I also have a w7 32 partition for those older projects that use 32 bit plugs that I have not yet figgered how to load in the 64 bit version.

When I got my windows 7 64 bit computer I first installed both the 32 bit and the 64 bit version. I renamed the desktop icons to keep things straight. But often I open projects from the CWP file and then things seemed to get a bit confusing. So I deleted the 32 bit icon and have just stayed 64 bit ever since.
 I had also installed Sonar 7 32 bit but never used it.
 For me it was only 2 or 3 - 3rd party ( free) plugs that showed as grayed out. This was handy as I then knew what was missing and what it was for. So easy to remove and replace with something else. 

  >>Install 8.5 32 bit on the new computer. This will install all the 32 bit plugs. And it will work fine.

The 32-bit application will just simply run in a 64-bit OS environment?

-Jack