Quote from: Bitcoiner on July 15, 2010, 05:22:33 PM

Quote from: SmokeTooMuch on July 15, 2010, 04:46:25 PM

Quote from: Strofcon on July 15, 2010, 04:29:17 PM

I think an increased difficulty just means more hashes are (typically) required to create a block successfully. I don't think it should slow the actual hashing rate though...

That is correct.

And this

Quote from: knightmb on July 15, 2010, 04:37:13 PM

As it generates more heat, it will start to slow down slightly unless you have some kind of crazy fan setup or liquid cooling.

could also be correct. All newer CPU'S start throttling down their speed if they recognize a high temperature. It's a safety feature.
So mabye that's your problem. Try reading you CPUs temperature sensor out (I recommend CoreTemp) and tell us what temperatures you have when the hashing slows down.

I should clarify that if I stop and start it 1 second later, the hashing goes back to fullspeed and stays there for a while, so I don't think that's the issue...

The desktop goes up to 61C CPU max.