High CPU usage

I just built a new system:
Abit KG7-Raid
2 256 Micron DDR sticks.
Abit Siluro GeForce2 GTS 64 mb
2 40 gb Western Digital ATA100 7200rpm HD's
Swiftech MCX370 heat sink with a y'stech fan 40cfm.
Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
3Com NIC
300 watt ps.
Athalon 1.4 ghz

Here is my problem. This system should be fairly decent, but the CPU usage constantly runs high. It frequently reaches 100%.
I thought at first it was an IRQ conflict when I was running 2000. It had everything set on IRQ 11. After a little research, I discovered that this was normal, and even helps performance. I reinstalled windows with the standard PC HAL as opposed to the ACPI HAL. This solved the IRQ conflict, but everything still ran weird. I know "weird" is pretty vague. My mouse pointer would kind of stutter across the screen during bootup. While playing songs, they would be garbled when I would do anything else. I have read some not so good things about the SB Live card, but I don't think that is the cause. The CPU usage was still high. I tried running 98 and ME, but to no avail. Now in ME, the CPU usage never goes below 60%, even when idle, and when copying files to the hard drive, it sits at 100%. I realize I'm getting a little long winded, but there's only a little more. While running 98, I left the room for a couple hours, and came back and it appeared that the refresh rate had been set too high. You know how the screen gets all fscked up? And another time the screen just went blank with a few green dots scattered around the top. My processor is also running a little hot (45C without overclocking). This seems to be because of the constant, seemingly unnecassary usage. Let me know what you think. The only thing I haven't tried is the RAM. Could this be the cause?


<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by toastboy on 10/21/01 03:46 PM.</EM></FONT></P>