Choppy/High CPU usage on playback of smaller files(1.4Gb and less)

[Inate8]

Hey guys, I couldn't find someone with my unique issue on the board so I figured I'd throw this out there, see if anyone has any ideas!
I'm running a E8400, on a P5N32E-SLI(680i version) Dual 8800GT 512's with 4 gigs of 1066 ram running at 800.
640WD Black - OS/games
640WD Black - scratch/page file (used to be raid, but Nvidia's onboard raid is crap so I'm saving up for a better Raid card atm)
1TWD Black - Music, TV, misc crap
1.5TWD Green - Anime/Movies
The only codecs I have installed are via the CCCP project's codec pack.  It is all I have ever used and it's never let me down.  Fresh(about 2 weeks) install of W7x64, standard games installed, latest drivers for all my hardware(nvidia 197.13, nforce 15.53).

The problem I have been running into lately is that with, or without that pack installed smaller video files run choppy.  They play for about 30 seconds and then lag out.  Watching the system usage you can see the CPU peak out during these "lag outs", also searching is hampered, but I can use my computer as normal while the video plays, it's just a touch slower than normal. This is with avi's, mkv's, mpg's, anything.

The catch here is that running say, the latest Code Geass release(a 1080p release) full screen on my 24", it runs flawlessly.  I can search, pause, stop, whatever with no noticeable lag or choppiness, or over-usage on the CPU.  It runs fantastic.  I have tried to attribute it to the slower WD Green drive, but the larger files run fine no matter what drive they are on, and also streaming to the media PC in the front room, ALL my files run just fine over the network so I cannot see it being an issue with the hard drives.

The PC will run games no worries, with great temps.  So Dragon Age, Borderlands, Metro 2033, Fallout 3, they all run as I would expect on this system.  I have great cooling that I monitor myself with an IR temp probe, core temp and evga's precision tool. CPU never passes 55C and my GPUS peak around 80-85 depending on the game.

Thanks for your time guys, this is boggling my mind!

[nstgc]

First check for an answer here

Simple answer: DXVA

[Inate8]

Well I thank you for taking the time to comment.
I did search, and no I didn't find anyone with problems like mine.
DXVA you say, I will have to look into that more, but for something that looks like it would help(I already use MPC x64 exclusively) it looks like it still does it.

[nstgc]

DXVA off loads the vast majority (at least for me) of the work that would be done by the CPU onto the GPU. I can watch the BSS 1080p Gundam Unicorn rip (7.4kib/s video) with 2% CPU usage if I turn the subtitles off (with subs its about 12% for some reason). I have a Phenom II 945, which is better than an E8400, but still 2% says a lot.

There is a very nice guide thats easy to fallow in BBT's playback section if you search for DXVA. Its the first result in the list.

[edit] Oh, by the way, I did not fallow the guide in the post, but rather the guide that is linked to in the post.

[edit2] I tacked that last edit on just in case there is a difference, even though it says on the site that its the same.

[Inate8]

Hm okay, I do appreciate the information, but I believe you misread my post, or I was not being clear enough.
1080p type files (I have some Blue-ray Pirates of the Caribbean rips sitting at 13Gb's +) LARGE files run 100% fine, the CPU doesn't even sweat.

It's the small files that have trouble, think 20 minute TV rips of anime, like the 150-300meg files for naruto, etc.  I'll start watching it'll be fine, and then intermittently it'll start sucking up CPU usage and chopping out, stopping video and then fast fowarding the last 10 seconds it missed to catch up and such.

I really appreciate the help, and my system already uses DXVA so I'm good there.  It's just a weird issue, may have something to do with my removing windows media player entirely.

[fohfoh]

Hardware video overlay vs VMR?