First, I hope this is the right section for posting this. Otherwise, I apologize.

Now for the meat of the topic. I recently built a computer with the following specs:

Motherboard: EVGA 113 nForce 730a
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Memory: Kingston 4 GB DDR2-800 (Only registers 3 due to Xp home)
Graphics card: Geforce 9500 GT
HDD: 320 GB

I have a major DPC problem. After I had built the computer, I noticed the issue right away. However, it wasn't as prevalent. At first, it used to happen when I would play counter-strike only. The DPCs would go crazy. So the first thing that came into my head was that the video card was faulty, so I took it out. But guess what? The problem remains. In fact, it now surfaces anytime, without warning. And it tends to stick around for a while! Like hours. So far, I have only done three things:

1) Remove video card

...problem continued

2) I initially installed Windows Xp Pro 64 and thought because that OS is not all that stable, I would install one that is - so I installed Xp Home and...

...problem remains (it's worse now)

3) I was convinced that it was a hardware problem so I waited for it to occur again. When it did, I opened up device manager and started disabling just about everything I could disable. The only thing remained was the HDD, processor, plug and play monitor, and keyboard...and yet the problem remains.

Now, I have a feeling, it's my processor or mobo. That's why I'm here. But if that was that case, wouldn't it happen all the time? The CPU temp remains ok - 63 C.
It could also possibly be a software problem right? But again not since the same applications run perfectly sometimes and then don't. I'm really confused.

I'm guessing processor or mobo. I wanted to check with someone else who could offer some advice before I actually invested in another CPU.

Thanks in advance!

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Ghufran Khan

I've just noticed something. Today, I had a feeling that it might be the built-in ethernet port or driver that's causing the DPCs to sky rocket. So to test my theory, I left the computer inactive, with no programs running. After two minutes, I opened internet explorer and BOOM DPCs! But theory wasn't fully tested as Internet explorer itself could be the culprit. So, to further test it, I again left the computer until the performance went back to normal. Once it did, I opened My Computer and again DPCs! This tells me that it could either be the hard drive or the processor.

The questions is: am I missing something?

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Ghufran Khan

Anyone? Would CPU Temperature affect DPCs?
According to Everst, my CPU core 1 is at 80+ degrees Celsius and core 2 is at 75! I know these are high but would they contribute to the DPC spike?

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Ghufran Khan

are you telling me you have a 6000+ runing 80+ C on the CPU temp ?

6000+ max tolerated temp is 63c max load both cores pegged 100% .

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AMD phenom II 1090T @ 4.23 Ghz custom water cooled
Asrock 890 FX deluxe 3 mother board
4 GB DDR 3 1600 @ 1688 Mhz 7 7 7 24 T1 2688 Mhz NB
2x 1 TB WD Sata III 64 mb cache HDD,s raid 0
2x 5870 HD @ 1015/1300 Asus reference
Dual OS win 7 x64 ultimate & win 7 x32 Ultimate (bench os)

Alright, problem solved. I had a feeling that the temp was causing the DPCs to spike so all I did was re-seat the CPU and made sure the heat sink was secured and voila! DPCs gone and computer is running beautifully!

Thanks for the input PC-GURU-

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Ghufran Khan