o and limewire only puts large loads onto the comp wen it is 'on top' ie the main window/program being run. wen limewire is in the background it behaves like it should be, ie using 0 processing power

Right, I've never completly understood why this is. I'm running an Intel 2.8C with an ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe motherboard, and one stick of OCZ 512MB PC4000 Gold memory (I know the processor link is for a 3.0C, but aside from operating frequency they're the exact same). It runs at 400Mhz because the motherboard is not capable of running it any faster? I could take it up a little higher with adjustments to it in the BIOS though, right? And diablos, I really don't know why LW's bogging your system down. When you look under the processes tab in the task manager, you're sure that LW is using up most of your CPU power by far? So we can completly rule out that it might be another process or a series of processes slowing down your computer.

deepblue

What you're saying is that your brand shiney new $180 ASUS motherboard melted to your case - how'd you manage that? That's too bad though man, I hope ASUS replaces it for you. 2GB of RAM? What do you need all that for? I intend to upgrade to 1GB, but that's plenty for most people (I guess you're special). Well I don't see this post going anywhere so feel free to use your SuperModerator position:D .

deepblue

So a faulty capacitator was the culprit? I can see why you need 2GB of RAM, digital audio requires some good hardware. I've only built one computer from scratch, but my parents want me to build one for them some time soon. Well, I hope ASUS sets you up with a new mobo.

deepblue

Where did you buy the board from? If you baught it from NewEgg.com you could just return it for exchange or refund, saying that is was DOA (it basicly was). If you did not buy from somewhere that has returns, ASUS should take it back. It sounds like it was a defective board to begin with. Does it really matter what exactly happened? Either way something melted and the board no longer works. I can't see what there is to talk about. Looks to me like ASUS should just say "Woah! We really screwed that one up! Send the broken one to us and we'll just send you a new one." It's not like it was your fault.

I buy everything computer related from NewEgg, it's a great site (probably spent about $2,000 there by now). You can RMA for refund for up to 30 days, but after that you can still RMA for exchange. I RMA'd a Plextor DVD-RW that I bought in July 04 just a few weeks ago. Seems like you have it mostly sorted out my now, I would have just gone through NewEgg. They'll send you a new one no quesions asked (you do pay restocking fees though). Buying locally isin't really an option for me, I live in the middle of nowhere on the Colorado plains. There are only a few computer stores here, and they are full of salesmen who know very little about computers. Anyway the P4C800-E is a great motherboard, but the up-and-comeing Intel 925 chipsets are making it more and more obsolete every day. As for you sig, I find Douglas Adams a very entertaining author. (So Long And Thanks For All The Fish/Files, that would explain the GIF image also.)

Oh, that was probably before my time here;) . Wow, that's a pretty good price for a P4 Northwood. Not even NewEgg can beat that. This thread really has gotten off topic, at least it's still hardware related.

deep blue it is limewire that sucks the crap outa my comp power :/

There may be a couple of bugs in LimeWire that may cause excessive CPU utilization. However, it shouldn't be consistently re-occurring. Either restarting, killing all downloads or sharing less files should always solve the problem.

On my 800Mhz Athlon Thunderbird, LimeWire uses less than 10% CPU (unless it is running in ultrapeer mode, which causes it to go up to 20%).

it always happens no matter wat i do