[maxmsp] Latency interrupting Max/MSP performance

I am running a patch which is triggered by sound amplitudes and also frequency analysis. The problem I am having is that the response of the system to the sound input is not consistent, sometimes the triggers are substantially delayed or do not happen at all. Since the DSP usage is quite heavy and the patch is fairly complex (I am working on an imac G5, using FFT processing as well as multiple delay lines) I am wondering if the patch would run more smoothly if I networked another computer to it, running all the actual signal processing on one machine and the rest of the patch on the other. Or would I be better off investing in a faster mac?