HP desktop with Sapphire HD4670 Graphics Card - 100% CPU

[clo2_clo]

Hi,

I have a HP Pavilion w5000 desktop with AMD 64 Athlon CPU and I think 1GB RAM (I can confirm this later if necessary). We have recently upgraded from XP to Windows 7.

I upgraded the graphics card to a Radeon HD4670 and the psu unit from 300w to 405w however since the new card and drivers have been installed the computer has been running very slowly. When looking in the task manager the CPU is constantly at 100%. We briefly changed the card back to the old card and the pc ran fine so it is definitely the new graphics card.

Please can you help suggest ways to optimize the performance using the HD graphics card and to stop the CPU running at 100% all the time?

Many thanks,
Chloe

 

[jay2tall]

It the CPU 100% during idle or during certain activities?

Did you download the latest ATI drivers from their site?

What processes are utilizing the CPU to make it tap out?

 

[clo2_clo]

Hi Jay, thanks for your fast response. It seems to be 100% during idle so makes it very slow when doing anything. When looking at the Resource Monitor the System Interrupts is the process using the most CPU, here the CPU usage value changes whereas in Task Manager it stays at 100% but

I can confirm that there is 1GB of RAM.

I have just downloaded and currently installing the ATI Catalyst 9.10 Suite for Windows 7 from the amd website which is a later version to that supplied with the card. I will let you know how I get on with this.

Thanks again,
Chloe

 

[clo2_clo]

Hi Jay2tall,

I completed the installation and found on another forum that disabling the High Definition Audio Controller under System Devices in the Device Manager reduces the CPU usage dramatically!

Definitely a good tip to anybody else who is experiencing this issue.

Thanks for you help!
Chloe

 

[jay2tall]

What happens if you just leave the PC set for 15-30 minutes? does the CPU drop back? I would definitly try the latest drivers.

Any type of hardware can cause System Interrupts. It is a piece of hardware telling your system "hey I want to do something and need attention". You may also want to go back and check for motherboard chipset updates since that is what handles the system interrupts.

 

[rothring]

There is a good discussion of the compatabality problem with a older Hp computer and the ATI hdmi high definition built into the newer cards, which are not compatible with the SB400 and the AC97 on the older computers. When one puts the ATI ard into the machine, the high definition audio controller causes severe interrupt problems which causes high CPU usage and further has the side effect of the HDMI audio not working.

http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=260&threadid=113768&STARTPAGE=2&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear