Here are the specs of the new machine : - PC with Asus P68Z68 Motherboard and Intel I7 2600K processor and 16 GB RAM - 1 SSD 120 Go for system and softwares - 1 HD 1 To (7200) for samples (sounds) and 1 HD 1 To (7200) for Datas (projects) - Soundcard, my old one Echoaudio Layla 24 (not sure it will work, just wait and see) - Keep my Sonar 8.5 producer for the moment What do you think ? I really want to work with Win 7 64 bits because and tired of the lack of RAM. I want to load the whole orchestra. For sounds, here is what I own : - EWQLSO Gold Play edition - EWQL Symphonic choirs Play edition - East West RA, Colossus, Percussive adventures, Stormdrum - Garritan Personnal Orchestra and Concert band

That's will be a great computer.
When you get it, run the DPCLAT test to make sure there are no backgound services hogging the CPU.

http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
 
Some new computers come overloaded with stuff you don't need. I only load music software on my studio DAW. No internet, no problems.
 
You can install both the 32 bit and the 64 bit version of Sonar on the same computer.
SOmetimes you need the 32 bit version to finish older projects. I actually had no problem when I upgraded. All my plug ins worked.  

So this is from the echo audio web site,,,, it does not look good, but then it's certainly worth a try. They do have W7 64 bit drivers so I can't see it not working. You might try posting on the Hardware forum here and ask if anybody else has it working.  
Good luck
 
http://echoaudio.com/Downloads/Windows_Drivers.php
Note: The Layla24, Mona, Gina24, and Mia cards are all discontinued products. Although our driver still supports these cards, there is no guarantee these cards will work with newer motherboards (or in Windows 7). If you wish to continue to use these older products, our recommendation is not to upgrade your computer. The MiaMIDI card is still fully supported and should work fine with newer hardware and with Windows 7.

Hi, Thanks for your message, I think it will be a good one, I haven't changed since 6 years so you can imagine my processor isn't strong enough to load the whole orchestra. For the Echoaudio Layla 24, I have read that notice from the website, it's a good advice to post on the hardware section, I haven't thought about it. For the computer I ordered all separate pieces, and I will prepare it myself. I can't wait to received the parcel by the post !!! By the way, at the beginning of XP, I found a website called "tweak XP for music", do you know if such a website exists for Win 7 ?

There's not much tweaking required for Win 7, nothing like as much as there was for XP!

Do a search of this forum - this subject has been brought up many times in the past.

The only advice on tweaking W7 seemed to be something about core parking which turned into a 20 page thread that had no real solid answer. I asked my computer guru and his answer was Windows 7 looks after almost all those things now so don't worry about it. Building your own is the best way for sure. Then you avoid all the extra bloatware. So be careful when you ask about messing with windows 7 settings as there is some questionable advice around that is best ignored.