Take the 2-minute tour ×  My laptop has Windows 7 x64 running on
a triple-core AMD Phenom. Every time I have a 32-bit process go
crazy and use 33% CPU (i.e., 100% on one core), every single
other 32-bit process becomes unresponsive, while the 64-bit
processes all hum along just fine, presumably on the other two
cores. The only explanation I can think of for this is that
WoW64 runs all 32-bit apps on a single core. Is that the case,
or is it something else? And if so, is there any way to make it
split them up like a good little multicore system should?
share|improve this question Educated guess, but only an educated
guess: while the individual apps obviously run in their own
threads, probably WoW64 itself isn't quite as isolated, so bad
activity in one process can cause havoc to anything down the
chain. –  Shinrai Feb 20 '12 at 20:52 Is it one particular 32bit
process "going crazy"? Or will any 32bit process cause this? – 
Moab Feb 21 '12 at 3:52 @Moab: It doesn't matter which one
spikes (although it's usual