Arch Linux

Xs1t0ry

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 181

Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

Hi all

I have a bit of a problem... sometimes windows will freeze or be laggy when dragging them in my DE. This is a concern because I have a very high-end system and I wouldn't expect any performance problems whatsoever. I would venture a guess that it is a minor hardware configuration problem and I was wondering if you could give me any advice on troubleshooting or optimizing.

I'm running Xfce4 (over Arch, of course) and my hardware is basically a C2D proc, 8800GTS gpu and 2 GB DDR2 RAM.

Thanks!

Last edited by Xs1t0ry (2008-03-06 00:31:14)

blu3ness

Member

From: Edmonton, Canada

Registered: 2007-12-28

Posts: 169

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

be more descriptive of your problem might help, what WM are you running, your hardware etc.

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Archlinux on Compaq Presario v5000 laptop

Xs1t0ry

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 181

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

Edited, thanks!

liquibyte

Member

Registered: 2007-11-11

Posts: 91

Website

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

32 or 64bit?  I'm running a Core2 Quad Q6600, 8800 GT, and 4 GB DDR2 RAM on 64bit Arch with absolutely no probs whatsoever.  I would say that it would have to be a configuration problem though I wouldn't propose to tell you how to fix it without a bit more information such as what you have loaded as far as modules etc.

dmartins

Member

Registered: 2006-09-23

Posts: 360

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

I have trouble with apps which draw their own window decorations (audacious comes to mind right now). I am using Gnome with metacity. The window moves sluggishly and sometimes erratically. Does this sound like what you're experiencing?

Xs1t0ry

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 181

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

You know, I'm not actually sure whether it's 32 or 64bit. I forgot. How can I check?

Also, could you please define what you mean by "modules?"

Thanks!

dyscoria

Member

Registered: 2008-01-10

Posts: 1,007

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

This tell's you what your processor is:

uname -p

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Xs1t0ry

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 181

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

Oh. I thought you meant the 64-bit version of Arch (I assumed Arch has a 32 and 64 bit version?). My processor supports 64 bit (Intel C2D e6300).

@ dmartins - yes, that basically sums it up!

edit: How do you check if your Arch is 32 or 64?

Last edited by Xs1t0ry (2008-03-06 02:59:21)

eerok

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-03-20

Posts: 171

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

edit: How do you check if your Arch is 32 or 64?

$ uname -m

"i686" is 32 bit.

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noobus in perpetuus

Xs1t0ry

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 181

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

Ah. I am using i686. Does that mean I'm not 'taking full advantage' of my computer's capabilities? Would it really make a big difference?

eerok

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-03-20

Posts: 171

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

Ah. I am using i686. Does that mean I'm not 'taking full advantage' of my computer's capabilities? Would it really make a big difference?

It depends on what you do.  I have a similar machine to yours (C2D 3GHz, GeForce 8600GT, 4GB RAM, etc.) and I use 32 bit because that's all I need -- mostly I do regular net and desktop stuff, some dev stuff, and LaTeX crunching.

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noobus in perpetuus

Xs1t0ry

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2007-07-01

Posts: 181

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

I'll probably switch over once I get a new mobo and soundcard because then I'll have to make new conf files and stuff anyways so it works. In the future, more apps will start taking advantage of 64 bit architecture, right? Currently, what does it have the biggest impact on (game performance, multitasking, etc.)?

eerok

Member

From: Canada

Registered: 2005-03-20

Posts: 171

Re: Some lag and freezing on a high-end machine

In the future, more apps will start taking advantage of 64 bit architecture, right? Currently, what does it have the biggest impact on (game performance, multitasking, etc.)?

Largely hardware.  Most things that seem slow to do on a modern computer (now that CPU cycles and RAM are so cheap) are bottlenecked by disk I/O ... or in the case of online gaming, by conn and GPU.  Super fast solid state drives will make a bigger difference to computing than any software, I think.

Anyway, my understanding is that 64 bit is not well implemented, and is only worth the bother for some specialized heavy lifting.  But don't let me dissuade you -- I'm just an old curmudgeon.

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noobus in perpetuus