Strange Activity Monitor on 3.2 ghz Quad Core 2010 model?

[ejosepha]

When I open Activity Monitor on my new Quad Core Mac Pro the % of Idle constantly changes. In general, even if almost nothing is being used, the % Idle fluctuates between 49-50 %, then pops up to maybe 61%, and if I open a program then it goes up to 97%.
The % user, and % system remain low, less than 1 or2 %, but the total of % Idle constantly changes. If I leave the computer on idle only, the % Idle remains at around 49%.
Nothing in the %CPU shows any real activity. My first theory was that at certain times the total cores being monitored were one or two, therefore the % Idle remains at 49%, but maybe something is wrong. The Istat Pro shows normal almost 100% idle or a little less.
Any theories, or do others have the same kind of results using Activity Monitor.
thanks

 

[Hellhammer]

Have you rebooted? Ran Disk Utility? Sounds like a glitch

 

[ejosepha]

Have you rebooted? Ran Disk Utility? Sounds like a glitch

Yes I have rebooted, repaired permissions, verified disk, reset smc and pram and done a hardware test. The symptom started when I noticed that the PCI fan and I think graphic card would rev up without doing much, like just looking at pages on the internet....surfing simple sites, like Apple for example. Applecare is arranging for a repair or replacement of the machine because of the supposed graphic card problem, but they found this activity monitor symptom to be quite strange as well. No explanation yet, though interestingly the Istat Pro doesn't show this.

 

[derbothaus]

So Activity Monitor shows no PID eating cycles? Have you toggled the view to All Processes and listed by cpu top to bottom? Or anything show up with a terminal "top -u" command? Have you deleted your Activity Monitor .plist?

 

[ejosepha]

So Activity Monitor shows no PID eating cycles? Have you toggled the view to All Processes and listed by cpu top to bottom? Or anything show up with a terminal "top -u" command? Have you deleted your Activity Monitor .plist?

In all processes nothng eating up CPU, though kernel_task and activity monitor share the top spots, but each with less than 1%. How do you remove Activity Monitor.plist or make a "top -u" command? PID-Acivity Monitor 907, mdworker 770, safari, 797, mail 903. Safari, mail, and skype I leave open on dock.
Could this be related to the graphic card problem that has been established above?

 

[derbothaus]

If you are getting it looked at I'd wait to further test anything. Might just be wasted energy.