Yes, I think all of us users have complained about the drastic
resource hogginess of the new 2.0 Version. I had experienced the
same problems as you and I too don't use the Video editing resources
of Vegas. I use to hit the space bar on my keyboard and get
instaneous playback, playing at least 24 tracks at a time using Vegas
Pro. I'm using win98 SE and have run into the same problems as you,
I'm just lucky my processor is a little faster than yours, but still
when I hit the spacebar now, It hesitates for at least 2 seconds and
then starts playback. To cut down on resources, try
unchecking "Simultaneous Play and Record" during playback and also
check "mute all video" and delete all the Video tracks. Your
processor is on the low end of the minimum system requirements, so
that's most likely you're week link, but unfortunately in most cases
to upgrade that, you'll need a new motherboard, new Dimms supported
under the new motherboard and of course at least an 800Mhz processor.

By the way, here's a little blurb for everyone if you might think
that there's a Vegas Audio Vs. Vegas Video performance difference. I
Found this out by mistake. A friend of mine wanted to upgrade and
didn't have an internet connection and he was a Vegas Audio
registered user. Well I brought my copy of Vegas Video over for him
and we plugged in his Vegas Audio Serial Number and up installed
Vegas Audio. So basically Vegas Audio and Vegas Video are the same
programs/code, it just depends on the serial number you put in, to
which features it decides to enable for you. Explains why both file
sizes in the downloads section are identical.

Larry Peter wrote:
>>I would love some advice/feedback from Vegas audio users
>>running on NT. I have previously been using Vegas pro on
>>Win95, been quite happy. I downloaded the upgrade to Vegas
>>Audio (pre-release) posted on the download site on 10/13.
>>After installing on NT I find a drastic reduction in
>>performance. I copied and opened a project started in
>>Vegas pro with 21 tracks, 2 busses, 2 assignable fx and
>>compressors/eq on all tracks. This played without a
>>stutter on Win95. In NT with Vegas audio it played with
>>sever gapping for about 5 seconds and then just stopped!
>>Never seen this before. After adjusting buffers, setting
>>graphics to 256 colors and muting 2 tracks I finally got it
>>to play the 30 second program although with severe
>>deficiencies in cursor movement and screen updating. My
>>call to customer support was answered with "we don't really
>>support this product on NT, only 98 SE/ME and 2000. That's
>>what we say on the web site." (?!?)
>>After suggesting that he check the web site (which he
>>promptly did), he returned mumbling and told me to try all
>>the things I just mentioned and said, "This new version
>>does require a bit more system overhead." If this is the
>>result of a fine audio company attempting to move its focus
>>into video appz, I must beg for an audio only product!
>>Help me out if you can. Here's my system:
>>ABIT BX6 motherbrd
>>Pentium 3/450/ 128mRAM
>>7200 rpm 12 gig sytem drive
>>7200 rpm 20 gig audio drive
>>MOnster Fusion video 16 meg
>>Delta 6X6 NT drivers ver# 4.1.17.8
>>Midiman Biport 2X4s (for SMPTE in) NT driver ver # 1.0.0
>>NT 4.0 ser pk 6 / Win95 (dual boot system)
>>Note: I have tried recording to both FAT and NTFS
>>partitions with the same results.
>>
>>If I can't get identical results (at least) without
>>building a new system, this is the most expensive "upgrade"
>>I have ever been a victim of.
>>
>>Please help.
>>Thanks, all.