[JFreak]

bit of luck may help, also, different plugin manufacturers tend to affect overall performance differently. especially vst-wrapped plugs contribute greatly to the system slowdown, so it's good to learn what plugs to use and what not.

i usually don't use plugin reverbs but have +30 urs/focusrite/psp/mcdsp plugs in use. i also have some waves and bombfactory plugs but i rarely use them anymore, apart from the free bf76

it also helps to partition the audio hard drive. i have a 160GB drive that has a 50GB "work" partition, and i have found it helps a lot. performance is better because the average seek time has been effectively halved, from ~10ms to <5ms. i also do live projects and cannot afford a single hiccup, so i'm a strong fan of the separate firewire buss theory. i have not had a single hiccup ever since i first tried it!