I'm leaving the task manager open (minimized) and watching the cpu
usage, I frequently see it running over 70%, and maxed out pretty often.

70% Sheesh, that doesn't sound right.

Mine might jump to 10% when I first open a browser or something, but it
usually sits around 2%-3%. I have an i7-4790K quad core with 16GB RAM and
Windows 7.

Have you tried cleaning your system with something like CCleaner?

How much RAM do you have in your computer?

Do you have any programs running in the background that could be hogging
processor time? The task manager should be able to tell you which programs
are using the most resources.

I'm just tired of sitting here waiting for the comp to catch up

My wife's 90 year old grandmother used to type in her username, then go
make a cup of tea while her ancient computer caught up to her eight
keypresses. Is it that bad?

figgered for under 20 bucks it's worth a try.

Well yeah, any improvement under 20 bucks is worth a try.

What are your old and new processors?

Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com