toddf: was this a new VM or an existing one that became slow?
Considering it was running OpenBSD 5.5, I'm *hoping* it was an old one :P
5.5 is about 2 years old
nathani: it was a mpbios issue. I forgot to disable it. its a wonder it was even functioning. 'disable mpbios' and it suddenly was all right with the world. I am stuck for now at an older rev of OpenBSD ... ;-)