retake
by any chance that pc you listed
was a laptop correct ??
the prob with many cheap laptops is they need setting up
properly for audio work.
run this sometime on that pc.
i suspect youll get red spikes.
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml
report back what you get.
the KEY is buying the right pc to start with.
but with respect the prob is most people dont do that.
they often buy on price.
if instead of getting that pc you had have looked
at a pc built for proper audio work eg adkproaudio.com
quad core laptop you prolly would have had a different experience.

that laptop of yours ..are you useing a seperate hard drive from the OS drive ??
(i mean 2 physical hard drives..not one partitioned).
if not sometimes probs can occur trying to do everything off
the same drive as win resides on.

gosd bless mate.

LT.
imho haveing worked in the puter industry for decades
there are plusses n minuses to both platforms.
i could point to loads of users includeing myself running
pc studios with no probs.
lets start with your budget ..what is it ??
if you got loads of buks..
get an i7 pc with loads of ram and two 7200 rpm drives with 32 mb cache.
one drive for win OS and one for tracking.
people love such systems. just google various recording forums.

if youve got a few hundred buks or so..
amd quad core 620 with lots of ram again and same drives.

i in fact like lots of things bout macs.
but my concern is haveing to send out to applecare if i get a prob
and thus my studio is down while i wait.
plus not as much software variety.
so i stay pc.
i dont want to get into a mac/pc debate cos its been done too many times.
i just dont think there is a magical nirvana platform that exists.
there is no holy grail. any puter can develope probs.
ive seen frustrated posts from mac users on forums also.
and its the same reason i have to say often as on pc.
largely incorrectly configured systems often.
i'll give you the TRUTH mate. whichever platform..
if your unwilling to get stuck in and understand OS basics for example youll get probs.
for example ive been called in to look at peoples systems
who were swearing blind at their pc's..only to find they
havent even bothered to learn basic windows housekeeping
like copying a file or they are operating silly low levels of memory ,
or useing some junky hard drive.
in summary many people blame the pc inappropriately imho.
the simple fact is whatever one buys one must take time understanding
the intricacies of ones system.
some people i know , say to heck with that , n buy a standalone digital recorder
n get a different set of probs. for example some couldnt be bothered
witn learning the various features n menus.
thus the TRUTH is , whatever the platform ya gotta take time to understand it.
god bless mate.

retired puter engr....powertracks on amd......NICE !
"what is the black art of audio engineering ?"
my silly songs...motagator.com/bmanning
see my tips in the tips section.