I just recieved my new motherboard, cpu, and video card. 64 bit x2 3800+, 6800gt pci-e, and a gigabyte mobo to go with it. I installed it directly into my old rig, installed the mobo and video drivers (windows xp). After getting all that taken care of I am noticing a huge performance decrease from my xp 2500+ :-/ After messing around with clock speed settings for a bit ive noticed no difference. Just running windows with no applications uses any where between 10-35% of the cpu. If i could get any input as to how to fix my problem i would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

**Edit**
To be a little more specific as to what my problem is, the cpu usage doesnt seem to be the problem. I'll describe my problem as "hiccups" in system performance. These hiccups happen about once a second, even doing something as simple as moving the cursor in a circle on the desktop, it'll stop to catch up with what im doing for a split second. The hiccups are not strictly display related, the sound skips and the clip plays longer for the durration of the "hiccup". With that said, inside each second between the hiccups the performance seems fine, even improved. Again any helpful input is appreciated

What programs do you have auto running on your pc? What antivirus software are you running. I'd wait for a second opinion, but I thought that when a MOBO is replaced you should re-install windows. See what the pros think though.

Yep, formatting the HD and doing a clean Windows install is highly recommended when installing a new MB.
If this is not done, then the O/S will continue to use the hardware data from the old MB, and performance will most likely suffer.

reformatted my hard drive, reinstalled windows, same problem.

What mobo do you have? Does it have the latest BIOS version? Does your computer have a virus?

well after taking a nap and clearing my had i had a small epiphany. I have a gigabyte nforce4 sli chipset motherboard. when i was putting it together i noticed that the power connector on the motherboard was longer then i had seen in past motherboards and there was a cover plugging up the 4 prongs that were extra. Is it possible that the power supply does not have the right connector or enough power to power my processor fully, maybe even only powering one core (if that is possible?) causing a decline in performance? Any input is appreciated.

The extra 4 pins on the MB's main connector are to supply extra power to the PCI-e video card for stable performance.
There's probably also a 4 pin MB connector to supply extra power to the CPU.
Recommend that you get a PS rated at least 500 watts that compiles with the 'ATX 12V 2.01' specification. It will have all of the required connectors for your new MB.

What PSU do you have?

the problem may very well be the power supply, ive got a 350 watt antec powersupply that is about 3 years old, i will look into getting a 500 watt power supply and report back with the results

Look at these: $97 - Antec TruePowerII TPII-480 Blue 480W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103930) and $77 - Antec TruePowerII TPII-430 430W (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103928).

alright i just bought the antec truepowerII 480 watt power supply, got it in, turned it on......same problem. I am really at a loss at this point. should i take it up to microcenter and have them look at it?

Have you tried resetting the CMOS? Maybe there's a setting in there that isn't working well. Have you been into the BIOS at all? Also, what RAM do you have? And in what configuration is it?

Although I have to admit that these problems sound like a driver issue. I've seen this problem before, and installing (or reinstalling) the latest drivers in a different order fixed it.

saphalline I am pretty sure you're right, after doing another re install of windows and all of the drivers i see that the problem does not start until after i install all of the included motherboard drivers, i tried going to nvidia's website and downloading new drivers but nothing seemed to make a difference, is there a way for me to uninstall the drivers that i put on using the driver disk? if so how do i do that. If i downloaded drivers off the website and installed them should it have over written the old drivers? I wasnt sure exactly what drivers to download so i downloaded all of the possibly applicable ones and nothing changed.

after doing another re install of windows and all of the drivers i see that the problem does not start until after i install all of the included motherboard driversVery suspicious. What mobo do you have? Do you have the latest BIOS?

It seems to me that these SLI platforms still aren't entirely stable. I've heard of some people who have strangely unstable systems for no apparent reason, while others have had no problems. My friend Orion used to have an odd problem with the secondary LAN chip, but that seems to have been cleared up with the latest drivers. Never did figure that one out...