Hangs, Slow performance, Long launch, etc

Question

Hi all,
Okay, I have been working on this for a while, thought I'd bring it to your attention.
FCPX is getting slower and slower, taking 5 to 10 minutes to launch, takes 5+ minutes to load a 3 minute project (of optimized media), hangs for 3 to five minutes every few minutes or so (with beachball) with no background processes (like rendering) active.
The MOST interesting thing I have found in researching the problem is that when launching fcpx, AND when fcpx hangs, the four processors are not being utilized, only one processor shows activity at those points, and that processor is peaked at 100% usage.  The remaining three cores show no load at all.  FCP will hang like this for three to five minutes (with only 1 core being used), then will finally release and there will be partial usage of all four cores....  then a little while later, it will do it again.
BEFORE I realized that there was odd behavior with the processor utilization, here is what I have done to try to fix the problem (without success):
- all sync services are turned off
- all security and virus software off
- All disk protection software off
- Tossed render files
- created new admin user
- reinstalled FCPX
- tossed prefs
- disabled third party plug-ins
- disconnected all peripherals
- Disk Utility permissions and disk repair
- removed the few extra projects and events
Specs on my computer.....
Mac OS 10.6.8
Model Name:          Mac Pro
  Model Identifier:          MacPro1,1
  Processor Name:          Dual-Core Intel Xeon
  Processor Speed:          3 GHz
  Number Of Processors:          2
  Total Number Of Cores:          4
  L2 Cache (per processor):          4 MB
  Memory:          14 GB
  Bus Speed:          1.33 GHz
ATI Radeon HD 5770:
Graphics Card:          ATI Radeon HD 5770
  Type:          GPU
  Bus:          PCIe
  Slot:          Slot-1
  PCIe Lane Width:          x16
  VRAM (Total):          1024 MB

Answer 1

It's an awesome application - you just need to see why it's not working well on your system.
First, check the spec of your iMac against the system requirements:
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/specs/
Particularly your graphics card. If it's listed here, it's not suitable:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4664
If you are getting crashes, there is some conflict on the OS. Create a new (admin) user account on your system and use FCP X from there - if it runs a lot better, there's a conflict and a clean install would be recommended.
Other ways to improve performance:
Create optimised media.
Hide Waveforms at all times when you don't need them (both in Browser and Storyline / Timeline). They take up a lot of processor power.
Create folders in the Project library and put any projects you are not working on currently, in there. (Twirl it closed to hide them).
Move your Projects and Events to an external HD (make sure it's formatted OS Extended - with journaled on or off) and run from there.
Do you have FCS or FC 7 installed on the same partition as FCP X - not advised by Apple.
Keep Projects Short - the longer the project, the slower FCP X loads, works, and shuts down.
Andy