System process using 10-15% cpu while playing GW

Okay... for some reason the System process is taking up 10-16% CPU when it's not suppose to. I pretty much closed all processes that I didn't need and I'm still having this problem. I've reformatted and the problem still exists. (I'm about to do it again and make sure I don't install programs that would affect that) I've never had this issue before... anyone have any ideas?

System:
Intel P4 @ 2.8GHZ 533mhz FSB
1gig PC2100 DDR RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro
SoundMAX Onboard Sound

I have the exact same problem, I tried googling it and just get tons of results on how to speed up your computer or how to choose a computer for GW.

That is actually pretty normal.

There are a lot of other things that your CPU is doing. Depending on your exact hardware, that number may be higher or lower.

When you play an on-line game like GW, you also have some of the CPU tied up doing things like running the network connection and USB ports. If you have on-board sound (or a lower-end sound card), part of the CPU is busy controlling that. If your graphics is on-board, that is also taking up some of the CPU.

Then of course you have the "housekeeping" tasks that all systems have. Controlling memory, controlling drives, managing the cache file, even running Windows itself takes some of the CPU.

There are some ways to reduce that, but never completely eliminate it. Getting a NIC with it's own CPU (like the Bigfoot Killer NIC) can improve framerate and performance by 3-10%, but are you willing to spend $300 just for a network card (although it has it's own 400 MHz processor, and it's own USB port to run USB headsets without tasking the main CPU)? And you can get a sound cark like the X-Fi, with it's own dedicated CPU. This will give you another percentage point or two in performance.

10-16% CPU useage for "housekeeping" is not all that unusual. In fact, it is right around average to be honest.

Okay, so I took my USB joystick and stuff like that out. Still have that problem. I've NEVER had that problem before and Guild Wars is unplayable even at the lowest graphics settings. I don't know what's going on....