Ahh, sorry i missed that part of your post, i didn't have it turned on.
I did like the idea of controlling cpu & memory resources so i installed it. WMI Provider Host is still at 0% and i got a new exe in task manager: "wsrm.exe" with description "Windows System Resource Manager". Something else must be messing with your windows, i don't think its Windows System Resource Manager.

I also dont have a hot shot cpu, only E2160 at stock speeds (1.8GHz) in my computer

Ah... I think the E2160 is a little slower than the Athlon X2 5000+. Only by a bit though from memory lol!

There used to be a site where you could choose any selection of CPU's and compare the benchmarks they did of them from over the years... can't remember the site. That was a good tool.

Everest does it too though =) Holy crapola I just discovered my 5000+ is underclocked to 4600+ speeds.... why is my multiplier so low!?!?! *Reboots and ups from x11 to x13*

Anyway, but yeah maybe. I installed it for the same reason - I would of used it for diagnostic purposes as I review a lot of software and do a lot of multitasking, I think it has the ability to set rules to prioritise certain processes depending on your current activity... that's pretty damn cool. But i'm also working on a software that can do that

But as soon as I stopped the service, my CPU usage went from the constant 5-10% back down to 0%. I even re-started it, it shot back up, and re-stopped it, went back down.

I think it just hates me!

Mind you, that was with Server 2008 R1, now I recall. I havn't bothered to try it with R2 yet. Coulda been anything though, a driver or something.

I totally forgot to tell you that the same problem with cpu usage appeared in my windows and indeed it stopped as soon as i uninstalled "Windows System Resource Manager". I think cpu usage was more than 30% on my computer, don't remember exactly.

Well, that's exactly what I was saying. But I didn't uninstall the feature, I just stopped and disabled the "Windows System Resource Manager" service.

By the way, i've turned to the dark side....

I switched over to Windows 7.

The latest build, 7057, which is listed as "Release Canditate 1" (but probably pre-RC1) is faster than EVER, and all the little bugs that were in Beta1 are GONE!

Server 2008 R2 has no leaked build this high, so Windows 7 is for me. Plus, my authentic Windows 7 Public Beta key works 100%

I am sticking with Server, the biggest reason being Hyper-V. I really like being able to run beta software or certain Dev tools in a VM. It's amazing how much more stable my system has become once the basic system does not have new installs coming and going alll the time.

Well 'performance' is relative to what you're benchmarking; a while back I ran Futuremark's frame rate benchmarks on x64 editions of: Windows 7 Professional, Server 2003 Web, and Server 2008 R2. Previously I'd done this with Server 2003 Web and XP and found Server 2003 to be substantially faster then Windows XP.

The results were odd and mixed generally giving Windows 7 small synthetic DirectX 9 and 10 performance leads over the other two Operating Systmes but often results were within the margin of error for the benchmarks. Running real games however was another matter, as Sever 2003 was able to consistently run DirectX 9 games faster then Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2, and running DirectX 10 games Windows 7 was faster then Server 2008 R2...