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muffinss

Member

From: united states

Registered: 2011-02-07

Posts: 54

Anyone notice CPU usage increase with xorg? - SOLVED - NV PROBLEM

I just did a fresh install and I noticed xorg is using 3% of my cpu at idle.. Is anyone else having the same issue?

USER       PID %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT START   TIME COMMAND
root       828  3.2  0.5 135128 43104 tty7     S<s+ 01:45   0:07 /usr/bin/X -nolisten tcp :0 -auth /tmp/serverauth.54aL5ws5Wn

Last edited by muffinss (2011-11-15 02:19:57)

moetunes

Member

From: A comfortable couch

Registered: 2010-10-09

Posts: 1,033

Re: Anyone notice CPU usage increase with xorg? - SOLVED - NV PROBLEM

Did you end up with a different kernel and therefore maybe a different graphics driver version?

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You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.

smellyman

Member

Registered: 2010-08-23

Posts: 11

Re: Anyone notice CPU usage increase with xorg? - SOLVED - NV PROBLEM

PID USER     PRI  NI  VIRT   RES   SHR S CPU% MEM%   TIME+  Command                                               
1102 root      20   0  147M 44552 14380 R 36.0  1.1  7:48.99 /usr/bin/

Mine bounces all over the place.  idle is usually around 11-14 percent.  I figured it was due to running kwin with some bells and whistles and dual monitors.  I am running the latest proprietary nvidia driver. [GeForce GT 440]

If it isn't due to my setup that would be great since there then could be a way to fix it.

just checked w/o Desktop Effects and no change.

muffinss

Member

From: united states

Registered: 2011-02-07

Posts: 54

Re: Anyone notice CPU usage increase with xorg? - SOLVED - NV PROBLEM

Did you end up with a different kernel and therefore maybe a different graphics driver version?

I'm running a newer kernel, kernel 3.1. Before I had kernel 3.0 but I am using the same nvidia drivers, 285.05.09. I'm using openbox and tint2. I turned off compositing but that didn't change anything.

EDIT:

I just did another fresh, clean install and Xorg is still using around 3-4% CPU usage.

Hardware Specs:
Intel 2500k @4ghz
8gb ddr3 1.8ghz
Nvidia 570

System Specs:
Kernel 3.1.0-4 Arch
Nvidia 285.05.09
Openbox 3.5.0-4
Xterm 275-1
Xorg-server 1.11.2-1

Xorg File:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 285.05.09  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-02.nvidia.com)  Fri Sep 23 17:55:57 PDT 2011

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/cantarell"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/encodings"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/local"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/OTF"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/util"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

I tried with no xorg file and xorg still used 3-4% cpu usage. I have compositing off completely. I also installed conky and conky too is reporting 3-4% cpu usage.. at idle...

EDIT 2:
I set Xorg to use Vesa in xorg.conf and my cpu usage dropped down to 0 during idle... So it appears to be a Nvidia driver releated issue. I didn't notice that the latest Nvidia drivers are 285.05.09-3. Is there anyway I could drop down to nvidia-lts-285.05.09-1 without having to pull in kernel26-lts-2.6.32.46-1?

EDIT 3:
The CPU spikes appear to be caused by Nvidia's PowerMizer. The Wiki states this is an issue with the 4xx series, but my 570 is apparently being affected by it too. When I set it to "prefer maximum performance" my cpu usage dropped down to 0 accross all cores and Xorg appears to be using less CPU usage now as well. Problem Solved. Avoid PowerMizer with 4xx series and at least 570's.

Subedit 3:
To permanently change PowerMizer level add the following to xorg "Section "Device"" field:
Since my 570 supports three different power levels...

first power level - Lowest

Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x3"

second power level - Middle

Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x2"

second power level - Max

Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x0"

Example:

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x2"
EndSection

Last edited by muffinss (2011-11-15 05:48:48)

smellyman

Member

Registered: 2010-08-23

Posts: 11

Re: Anyone notice CPU usage increase with xorg? - SOLVED - NV PROBLEM

success for me too Muffinss.  Nice work and thanks!