2600K: thread loaded 100% all the time

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

The first thread in Windows task manager stays loaded at 100% constantly, even if I do a fresh install or roll back the bios. Even running a fresh install of windows 7 doesn't fix it as no program that I would have installed is loading the core down.

Is the chip simply bad?

Ignore everything below here as I THOUGHT prime95 was the problem.

I just got my rig up and running and while I'm testing my 2600k, I notice Prime95 is not working at 100% despite the fact that Windows task manager states all 8 threads are running at 100%.

So in 7 mintues here's how many test each worker copmleted:
1. 0
2. 6
3. 6
4. 6
5. 2
6. 7
7. 6.
8.6

So core 0 is #1&5, right? Is that core dead?!

[IMG]http://i55.tinypic.com/4qsx0w.jpg[/IM]