CPU spikes, audio clicks and really crappy performance 8.0.4

[slowdancer]

i'm running 8.0.4 on a 2 GHZ hp notebook with 4 GB of ram on windows XP pro. And i can't load more than 4 or 5 tracks with CPU issues.

is the CPU meter supposed to bounce around alot? What's normal?

i also get audio clicks when switching instruments, and some instruments seriously take 20 seconds to load on a set with 5 tracks.

this is ridiculous. were version prior to 8 like this?

one more thing, i have a live set with about 20 tracks that takes 5-10 seconds to load, and another live set with 5 tracks that takes about 30 seconds. is this a library issue? it's making it a real pain to work.

any comments are appreciated.

thank you

[briandervish]

One thing I just discovered in Vista is the minimum and maximum cpu frequency. It is located in the power settings control panel, and is typically (at least for HPs) set to 5% min and 100% max, with different settings for on battery versus on wall power. I changed mine to 100% min and 100% max, and all my weird cpu spikes and crackles went away.

FYI, your computer will run hotter because of this, shouldn't be a big deal. I have an HP tx2.