ampfixer
Sonar 8 ran great on my XP laptop with 2 gigs of ram. Pre X versions were much better with low resource machines.

My old Dell Inspiron 9600 with 2gb Ram just barely ran X1.
 
Then I got my ADK Lappy: 6gb RAM, W7 Home Premium, with 3 internal hard drives (each 7200 RPM 750GB drives). Runs X3 of course.

bapu
Then I got my ADK Lappy: 6gb RAM, W7 Home Premium, with 3 internal hard drives (each 7200 RPM 750GB drives). Runs X3 of course.

I was talking with Scott about a nice box when our customer stiffed us for over $17k.  Needless to say, I now still have to use my dual 1.3ghz server box with the nine very loud fans it comes with... *Sigh...*

Well, you could sample those fans and start a group buy.
 
Start at $10 but let everyone know you'll part with them for a $1 if enough people get on board.
 
;-)

I am going to have to bite the bullet and upgrade my OS soon.  I have been running X1 and X2 with Vista 64 with out any issues.  Some of you guys may have seen this thread upstairs; I loaded X3 on my machine and it ran great, but can not access any of the new VST's that shipped with X3.  I own Melodyne Essentials already, but have not being able to scan my version with the X3 VST Scanner, seems to block Melodyne from running in the ARA mode.  I swapped out the VST Scanner from X2 to X3 and then it scanned my plugs.  Both Seth and Noel were all over it, had me fill out a report and they would like to see if they can make it run from Vista.  I thought that was a really stand up position for the guys to take when it is clearly stated that Vista is not supported.  There is apparently some sort of hand shake that happens with the new VST Scanner the unlocks the new includes software and Tape Sim, along with opening up the ability for Melodyne to work as its supposed to with X3.
 
I have a copy of W8 upgrade sitting on a shelf.  I have been really reluctant to wipe my machine clean and do a clean install of W8.  Not only because its a lot of work, but also because I really don't like the new way it interfaces.  My son got a Toshiba lap top with W8 before running off to Texas Tech this fall and we were both really lost on W8.  I guess, I am seriously thinking about buying an upgrade copy of W7 and going that route.  I am just waiting for the family to decide to take a trip to Grandma's and leave me an entire weekend to sort it all out.
 
In the mean time, I am still using X3 to produce music.  I imported a song I am 95% done with from X2 into X3 and everything runs even better than before.  I have already used the comping features and love them.  I also love the fly out EQ.  No crashes what so ever.

Mike - I would suggest that you buy a new hard drive to install W8 on instead of wiping clean the one you have.  there are so many advantages to doing that.  for one thing, you can copy from one drive to the other any non-installed files without hassle.  the other is that you can still choose which OS to boot up in.
 
now, saying that it won't be easy to set up the computer to allow a choice at bootup for either Vista or W8, in fact I'm not sure that it would be worth the trouble you'd go thru to get that situation.  but you can at least have the choice by connecting or disconnecting the new hard drive.  and while that will limit you from copying files from one to the other if you disconnect the new drive, you can still work around that.
 
anyway - just thought I'd offer that advice to you.

That's actually an interesting idea Reese. I may consider that. I need to open the case and see if there are any expansion slots open.

What's your motherboard, Mike?  and how many hard drives do you currently have?  it's very likely that there will be at least one or two SATA ports available on the motherboard.

No fleas on the pooch!
 
I've always found it better to start with a fresh hard drive because it's amazing how many things Windows chooses to put in areas you don't know about that you will need for a new installation.

I am very much a novice at computer builds.  I looked up my model number on the HP Pavilion a6614f PC and this is what I have found.  I am at work right now, but was going to try to open the case up this weekend and have a peek inside.
 

Motherboard
M2N68-LA (Narra3)
Figure 1: Motherboard top view
 Image of motherboard

• Manufacturer: Asus
  
• Form factor: microATX - 24.4 cm (9.6 inches) x 24.4 cm (9.6 inches)
  
• Chipset: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
  
• Memory sockets: 4 x DDR2
  
• Front side bus speeds: 2000MT/s (2.0 GT/s)
  
• Processor socket: AM2+
  
• Expansion Slots:
  
  • 1 PCI Express x16 slot for graphics card
    
  • 2 PCI Express x1 slots
    
  • 1 PCI slot
    
  
  

http://www.cakewalk.com/products/SONAR/X3-Producer/
 
System Requirements
Minimum system requirements Windows 7 or Windows 8 (32 and 64-bit). XP and Vista are no longer officially supported. Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 2.67 GHz / AMD Phenom Quad Core 9750 2.4 Ghz or higher 2GB of RAM 1280x800 minimum screen resolution 4.5GB for minimal install, 20GB recommended Broadband internet connection for download Gobbler requires internet connection XLN Audio Addictive Drums requires separate download and registration. Internet connection required for host computer.