Arch Linux

When Kernel 2.6.17.X was introduced to current, I upgraded to it along with the latest NVIDIA drivers, which caused my system to start exhibiting very sluggish behaviour. The first give away was the NVIDIA logo (which usually appears if it's enabled) stayed on the screen for 2 to 3 seconds, as opposed to flashing on and off immediately. Then, I noticed that scrolling webpages was very choppy and OpenGL performance was cut by a lot.

It seemed I was the only one experiencing this issue, so I kept quiet about it, but then I noticed some other people speaking about it on the nvnews.net forums. The topic I am referring to can be seen here: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72040

I've been going back and forth with an NVIDIA representative, but we have not yet solved the problem. Here's what's been discovered so far.

1. 'top' shows a constant increase in CPU usage with 2.6.17.X.

Kernel 2.6.16.20 -

top - 17:49:02 up 2:46, 1 user, load average: 0.04, 0.14, 0.12
Tasks: 55 total, 1 running, 54 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 0.3%us, 0.0%sy, 0.0%ni, 99.7%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 0.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 1035492k total, 788524k used, 246968k free, 71260k buffers
Swap: 1116508k total, 0k used, 1116508k free, 586436k cached

Kernel 2.6.17.7 -

top - 18:01:36 up 3 min, 2 users, load average: 0.25, 0.27, 0.12
Tasks: 57 total, 2 running, 55 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 4.0%us, 3.3%sy, 0.0%ni, 82.6%id, 0.0%wa, 0.0%hi, 10.0%si, 0.0%st
Mem: 1035648k total, 298160k used, 737488k free, 27956k buffers
Swap: 1116508k total, 0k used, 1116508k free, 185224k cached

2. I've profiled both kernels (2.6.16.X and 2.6.17.X) many times with oprofile, under the same conditions and for the same period of time. Strangely, it shows the NVIDIA drivers use more CPU in 2.6.16.X than the other, even though it's 2.6.17.X that has the problem. The two latest profiles are attached.

3. I do not experience this problem with a completely up to date Arch Linux x86_64 installation. I guess there could be a difference in the kernel config between Arch32 and Arch64, apart from the obvious ones, which my hardware does not like.

4. The increased CPU usage is not present when no X server is running and nor is it present when I use an alternative driver (e.g xf86-video-nv).

5. I've tried booting with acpi=off, but it made no difference.

6. I've also tried tpowa's 2.6.18-rc3 kernel and nvidia drivers, and the problem was present with this configuration as well.

System Specs -

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra
1GB (2x512MB) OCZ Premier
128MB GeForce 6600 GT
SB Audigy
Arch Linux 32 and 64 bit

Thanks for any help,
- Rpg Cyco