Advice needed

[mistersynth]

Could anyone point me in the direction of any (preferably web-based) articles/info on how to use more than one computer for music creation/ production? I've done a search on these forums but nothing has come back with the info I really need. I currently have a P4 3.0Ghz machine with a Delta 44 card running GPO, GOS via GigaStudio Orchestra, various VSTs including Moog Modular V, Sonar 4 PE and Overture 4. In the near future I'd like to add Symphonic Choirs or similar. Things work reasonably well at the moment though I guess the system's groaning if I try to run too many things at a time.
I have an 2nd old machine which I'm about to revamp with a new mobo, cpu and RAM, and I need know what to go for.
My wallet isn't bottomless so I can't say I can do this at any cost, but I'd be very grateful if someone could point me to a source of advice - or even give it here. I'm far from a computing expert so it needs to be at a level that I can understand! For example, I don't know whether a second computer would require a second monitor, or whether there's a way of managing with one, and although I've heard of FX teleport I don't know how it works or whether there are alternatives to it.
I'm not sure whether to go for say an Athlon 64 with the x64 OS with an eye to the future (I'm not upgrading to Sonar 5 yet but I may well wish to sooner or later).
Any help would be greatly appreciated, particularly in simple language, but which covers all the angles and gear that I'd need.
Many thanks,
John

[mistersynth]

Before the stampede to reply to this
Crisis over - Tascam came to the rescue with a cheaper alternative!

[brilohead]

Before the stampede to reply to this
Crisis over - Tascam came to the rescue with a cheaper alternative!

There was a great article in the August (or September) issue of Sound on Sound which covered all the major alternatives. There are also many threads on Northern Sounds with regards to this topic.

With regards to x64, Vista will be non-backwards compatible (or so I've heard) so it may be better to wait until that is stable rather than switch now, and then again in 1.5 years (I am allowing an extra half year so that Microsoft can work the bugs out and there will be actual third party software).

Cheers

Christiaan

[mistersynth]

Thanks Christiaan,

I'll try to find a copy of SOS - I used to buy it every month years ago but I ran out of space to keep them! And I have since found some threads round here which do tackle the issues - the trouble for me though (as more musician oriented than computer oriented) is that the info tends to be a bit fragmented and it's hard to put it all together in my head. What I was looking for was a source of simple (as possible) info which would lead me by the hand through the options!

Yes I'm sure you're right about X64 - I've decided to wait anyway.
A Guy at Tascam suggested that for the system I have, I'd be better with a fresh install (of everything ) but with another big hard drive fitted just for the samples. I suppose he's probably right too - my setup seems to work fine some days but causes problems on others. Everything's all mixed up on 1 big drive at present and I have problems with the system itself so hopefully doing as he says ( in a particular order too) should sort me out for a while anyway.

Many thanks for the reply

Regards,

John