kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

jamesbond007 · 2010-08-29 20:32:14

Hi all,

I have a big problem: after today's update (including KDE 4.5.0-1, kernel 2.6.35.4-1 and nvidia 256.44-3) kwin constantly draws about 30% cpu usage while the system is doing nothing. When I play a video (720x576) with vlc or smplayer the cpu usage of the kwin process raises to ~65%.

My system is barely usable in this state. I would really like to fix this somehow, possibly by downgrading the package that causes the problem. But I don't know which specific package/update is to blame here... - Is it a problem of the nvidia driver? Or a kernel bug? Or a bug in kwin/KDE 3.5? Or...?

My system:
- nVidia GeForce 8400 GS
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
- arch i686 (all updates done, testing repo not enabled)

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance & kind regards,
jamesbond007.

Last edited by jamesbond007 (2010-08-29 20:33:33)

aleXPS · 2010-08-30 07:12:08

Try do disable Kwin's blur effect

Gillian00 · 2010-08-30 15:52:09

use raster option, disable v sync

jamesbond007 · 2010-08-30 20:25:29

aleXPS wrote:

Try do disable Kwin's blur effect

Cool, that prevents the high cpu usage! (Unfortunately, blur is my favourite kwin effect. - EDIT: No, it's not. I mixxed it up with wobbly windows. )

Gillian00 wrote:

use raster option, disable v sync

I disabled v sync, but I have no idea where or what the raster option is...

Last edited by jamesbond007 (2010-08-30 20:28:45)

Gillian00 · 2010-08-30 22:31:09

sorry: all informations are there : https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=81677

it changed a lot for me (I run with catalyst)

EDIT: I can see you are running under i686. Your hardware has been built for x64 architecture. You will have better responsiveness with x64 about cpu and gpu. It also xhanged a lot for me when I tested i686 and x64.

ps: sorry for my bad English

Last edited by Gillian00 (2010-08-30 22:36:48)

jamesbond007 · 2010-08-31 21:04:26

I updated to KDE 4.5.1 today: When I activate the "Blur" effect, the problem is still there.

jamesbond007 · 2010-09-01 20:33:01

No improvement with today's new nvidia driver (256.53-1).

@Gillian00: I really don't see a reason to change all these settings, because my system has been running perfectly well for more than one year without them. The current situation with the high cpu load (when blur effect is enabled) came from the update three days ago, not from modified settings. So, in my opinion, it should also be solved by an update. (Unfortunately, I still don't know which package/update introduced the annoying behaviour.)

Gillian00 · 2010-09-01 20:58:28

I agree with you, I've also this kind of issues but I try to find some workarounds while KDE fix all this

jamesbond007 · 2010-09-09 17:59:46

Any new information on this (still very annoying) issue?

Meanwhile, I have disabled the KDE desktop effects completely. But most of the time when the system should be idle, it has about 20 to 25% cpu load. The only thing that has changed is the fact that now X is the process that occupies the cpu:

top - 19:57:28 up 2 days,  9:50,  2 users,  load average: 0.92, 0.65, 0.55
Tasks: 150 total,   1 running, 149 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s): 23.5%us,  1.8%sy,  0.2%ni, 74.4%id,  0.2%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.0%si,  0.0%st
Mem:   3098600k total,  2864132k used,   234468k free,   153340k buffers
Swap:  4096568k total,     7128k used,  4089440k free,   725252k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND                 
 1917 root      20   0  164m 145m  21m S   36  4.8 675:24.17 X                       
 2085 td        20   0  315m 106m  24m S    4  3.5 148:16.13 plasma-desktop          
31217 td        20   0  408m 358m 326m S    4 11.8  80:25.68 VirtualBox              
 2229 td        20   0  388m 102m  28m S    2  3.4 100:16.01 thunderbird-bin         
 2439 td        20   0  139m  24m 9720 S    1  0.8   0:35.13 chromium

My systems feels as if the cpu has been replaced by one that has the computing power of maybe ten years ago.

Any solution for this in sight? Am I the only one with this problem?

Thanks in advance & kind regards,
jamesbond007.

MadCat_X · 2010-09-09 22:23:07

If you leave the compositing active and enable only simple effects, does it lower X's CPU usage? I've been having problems similar to yours though the blur effect works for me.

iggy · 2010-09-10 18:40:19

here you find some new information about the performance issues introduced with kde sc 4.5...

http://hugo-kde.blogspot.com/2010/09/pe … -call.html

executed the script on my machine and the performance is a lot better on my nvidia machine!

lecoeus · 2010-09-10 21:19:34

Did you try disabling the plasmoids one by one? I had a similar problem with the smooth tasks plasmoid when I upgraded to 4.5.1.

jamesbond007 · 2010-09-11 21:25:39

lecoeus wrote:

Did you try disabling the plasmoids one by one? I had a similar problem with the smooth tasks plasmoid when I upgraded to 4.5.1.

There is nothing to disable, I don't use any plasmoids.

jamesbond007 · 2010-09-11 21:32:58

Hi iggy,

iggy wrote:

here you find some new information about the performance issues introduced with kde sc 4.5...
http://hugo-kde.blogspot.com/2010/09/pe … -call.html
executed the script on my machine and the performance is a lot better on my nvidia machine!

so you think it's a KDE issue?

I looked at the script, but I have to say that I really don't like to compile and install software bypassing the package manager, so this is not an option for me.

denn1s · 2010-09-11 23:59:13

When that happens to me, I usualy go to System Settings > Application Apearence > Style > Fine Tuning > High display resolution and low cpu (or low display and low cpu)

It may work for you as well

jamesbond007 · 2010-09-16 22:01:09

Just for the record: I dumped KDE now, have switched to standalone compiz. My system is faster than ever, cpu load is between 0 and 2% now when it has nothing to do (about 15 apps running).

Last edited by jamesbond007 (2010-09-16 22:01:57)

Adriano ML · 2010-09-17 04:05:59

You could change widget style AND window decoration from Oxygen to QtCurve, This "solves" the problem. Well, you lose Oxygen, but at least QtCurve has the advantage of working seamlessly with any Gtk app!

In the end, Oxygen and Kwin composition are the ones eating up CPU with nvidia drivers, and Plasma also likes to leak memory with nvidia, mainly if you have many activities.

panosk · 2010-09-17 07:49:36

The major problem with KDE 4.5 has to do with Intel graphics and not nvidia. My laptop has Intel graphics and I have to disable the blur effect and functionality checks. But then I get very good performance, better than KDE 4.4 (occasionally, there are some glitches with windows redrawing, but nothing too disturbing). Just for the record, I have 2 activities with 4 desktops each and the laptop is very responsive. My desktop has an nvidia 9600GT and performs flawlessly. So, it is not safe to say that something is wrong with KDE. The problem may lie in configuration files, aur packages, or elsewhere. CPU usage is minimal: xorg consumes 7-15%, plasma and kwin around 5%.
As others have already suggested, the culprit may be a widget. This doesn't necessarily mean a plasmoid in your desktop, but something you may have in your taskbar, for example. You could try to delete every configuration file related to plasma and relogin/reboot:

rm ~/.kde4/share/config/plasma*

Good luck.

jamesbond007 · 2010-09-17 23:30:59

panosk wrote:

CPU usage is minimal: xorg consumes 7-15%, plasma and kwin around 5%.

Cpu usage between 12 and 20% is what you call "minimal" for an idling system???

panosk wrote:

You could try to delete every configuration file related to plasma and relogin/reboot:
rm ~/.kde4/share/config/plasma*

If "you" refers to me: As I don't use KDE anymore, there is no point in trying that.

I am really quite happy with my new window manager and with a system, where nearly all the computing power is availabe to the applications.

Kind regards,
jamesbond007.

panosk · 2010-09-18 08:29:55

Cpu usage between 12 and 20% is what you call "minimal" for an idling system???

The system is never idle. I have a ton of plasmoids, that do some task (system monitoring, twitter, 50-60 feeds, etc), and are spread in 2 activities with 4 desktops each. Also, these numbers include kmail, strigi, and korganizer applets, as well as a Chrome window with 4-5 tabs. As I see it, yes, this is *minimal* consumption. Also, I trust that my system knows when and how to distribute resources to applications, and I can always open as many applications as I like without a problem.

If "you" refers to me: As I don't use KDE anymore, there is no point in trying that.
I am really quite happy with my new window manager and with a system, where nearly all the computing power is availabe to the applications.
Kind regards,
jamesbond007.

Well, enjoy then .

Arch Linux

#1 2010-08-29 20:32:14

kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#2 2010-08-30 07:12:08

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#3 2010-08-30 15:52:09

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#4 2010-08-30 20:25:29

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#5 2010-08-30 22:31:09

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#6 2010-08-31 21:04:26

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#7 2010-09-01 20:33:01

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#8 2010-09-01 20:58:28

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#9 2010-09-09 17:59:46

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#10 2010-09-09 22:23:07

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#11 2010-09-10 18:40:19

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#12 2010-09-10 21:19:34

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#13 2010-09-11 21:25:39

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#14 2010-09-11 21:32:58

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#15 2010-09-11 23:59:13

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#16 2010-09-16 22:01:09

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#17 2010-09-17 04:05:59

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#18 2010-09-17 07:49:36

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#19 2010-09-17 23:30:59

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

#20 2010-09-18 08:29:55

Re: kwin constantly draws 30% cpu after today's update

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