cpu spikes for no apparent reason

[rubberhead]

can't figure out why this is happening.

i have tried a fresh install of xp and all drivers but the problem persists, resulting in slowdown and audio glitches every so often - especially when opening or closing apps or shutting down, booting up, waking from standby etc.

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 2.2ghz
Foxconn 6150BK8MC-KRSH motherboard
GeForce 7300 256 mb video
1 gig ram
onboard audio
160 gig HD

i've tried all the methods that i know of identifying what's hogging the processor (task manager, an install of vista's performance analysis features).

all the service packs and drivers are current. i've tried rolling back drivers, memory tests, re-installs of xp and vista. the best i can get is running off my vista install. the problem is still present but less so.

when i first put this machine together i did not experience this glitch. then i had some problems with drive letter assignment (long story - see http://www.theforum.com/showthread.p...t=drive+letter), so to minimize my headaches, i took it in to the shop i bought it at and had them reformat and install a legit copy of xp. had this problem ever since.

they installed drivers and software for the Infideon Security Chip, which i guess is included on my motherboard, and i can't think of a reason to use it so i removed the software. this is the only thing that differs from my initial installation. i've reformatted so many times to solve this problem that i'm worried i'm gonna screw up my hard drive.

i've scoured message board after message board trying to locate a solution. much sleep has been lost and i'm ready to pitch it all and go mac.

any thoughts would be appreciated...

[CWX]

This doesn't seem too out of the ordinary to me. My CPU's load up immeadiatly after starting a program (most likely gathering the resources that program needs) and then drop down to 0 or close to 0 load after the program is up and running. The times when you notice a jump in CPU activity "opening or closing apps or shutting down, booting up, waking from standby" are all times when you system's resouces need to be tapped into. From what I can gather these "spikes" don't last very long and if that's the case it seems to be a normal part of your computer's operation. You can't expect a processor to stay a 0 load all the time. :)

Now if you cpu is loading up and staying that way for long periods of time, (minutes rather than seconds) then I would say there is cause for concern.
-Dave

[rubberhead]

yeah i realize that spikes are normal but what isn't normal is the perpertual audio stutter i get when it happens and the freezing of pointer movement, especially with the amount of ram i've got here...

if it were just a spike that's visible when observing a performance meter or even slight slowdown, it wouldn't bother me. this is an extreme, constant and annoying performance problem.

[mjc]

Are you sure the motherboard drivers are installed?

How about the audio drivers? Are they the latest version?

[saphalline]

I would try updating the mobo BIOS first. If the BIOS is already the latest version, install the A64 patch from AMD's website and see if that helps.

[Sylvander]

Try running Process Explorer (http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html) to see which process[es] is [are] responsible for the high %CPU usage.
Example of %CPU usage history shown in the image below.

[Sylvander]

Here are my %CPU usages.
Top of the list is "System Idle Process" at 81.90%.
Next greatest is "Spyware Guard" at 9.52%.
Some others are off the bottom of the screen.
Process Explorer registers at about 2% to 6%.

If I run the AVG Anti Spyware program the %CPU usage rockets up to very high and spiky usage [way up...way down...way up...way down].

[Sylvander]

Notice the leap in %CPU usage after I start it running!

It's typically using about 60% to 75% CPU time.
That's the reason I normally don't have it running.