CPU usage spikes when HDD is being accessed

[x1600c]

When bitspirit is running, or opera is doing a download, etc The CPU usage (more importantly the kernel times) reach 100% What is causing this? and how do I stop it.
There are no unwelcome processes, and all virus-spyware scans turn up negative.

 

[figgie]

how much memory you are running?

the first thing that pops to mind is VM/Pagefile usage being high because of not enough PHYISCAL memory on the computer. That is the first guess without more info

 

[x1600c]

its an athlon 64 s939, 1 gig of corsair LL ram, 120 gig seagate HDD,

 

[SmokeRngs]

Check in device manager to see if the drive is running in DMA mode. If it's running in PIO mode; that will be your problem.

 

[djnes]

Did you load the chipset drivers for your board?

 

[x1600c]

its not running in PIO mode and I did load the chipset drivers, but I'll reload them and see if it makes a difference