CPU spikes

[mister9]

I am running larger sessions. Often they play for 30 seconds and then the CPU spikes to over 100% at times.
I did a latency test while running a session and there were no latency problems.
I have a 3.2 GHZ dual core processor, 6 GB Ram and keep my drive defragged.
It seems like a bottle-neck somewhere.
I can run the same session on my 2.5 GHZ laptop with no problem.
Any ideas.

[Winnaz]

What are your i/o sample rates set at in your preferences? I was having trouble with my laptop spiking and was getting really bad stuttering and outs, so I dropped my sample rate to 32k to smooth things up when I'm doing my sequencing. Exports are always done at 44.1k. Not an ideal solution, but when I've had 20+ channels running, 4 returns and high voicing numbers on my synths, it's the only thing I could do. I'm only on a 2.1gHz 2gb ram lappy.