[SOLVED]Gnome Shell Very High RAM Usage

Ege · 2014-09-06 17:49:30

I installed Arch Linux with gnome-shell yesterday. RAM usage is about 900 MB(Not only in gnome shell even on dropbox my RAM is about 600 mb at start) at start and after running a few applications it increases to 1.3 GB. I only run Dropbox and Plank as autostart program.

https://db.tt/PAKaJrSY
https://db.tt/BebAus0B
https://db.tt/CB5rPWww

ps -A --sort -rss -o comm,pmem,rss | head -n 6
COMMAND         %MEM   RSS
firefox         11.2 438408
gnome-shell      7.1 278612
dropbox          2.2 88972
Xorg.bin         2.0 80548
tracker-miner-f  1.6 63772

inxi -F
Resuming in non X mode: glxinfo not found. For package install advice run: inxi --recommends
System:    Host: quaoar Kernel: 3.16.1-1-ARCH x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: Gnome 3.12.2 Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:   System: FUJITSU product: LIFEBOOK AH532/G21
           Mobo: FUJITSU model: FJNBB2B Bios: FUJITSU // Phoenix v: Version 2.06 date: 10/02/2012
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-3210M (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 1676 MHz 2: 2799 MHz 3: 1212 MHz 4: 2025 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF108M [GeForce GT 620M]
           Display Server: N/A driver: intel Resolution: 168x22
Audio:     Card Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.16.1-1-ARCH
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: r8169
           IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: 2c:d4:44:91:7c:60
           Card-2: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 driver: iwlwifi
           IF: wlp9s0 state: up mac: 84:a6:c8:1a:1e:4a
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (5.7% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: TOSHIBA_MK5061GS size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 196G used: 7.2G (4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: /boot size: 500M used: 39M (8%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 5.50GB used: 0.05GB (1%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda6
           ID-4: swap-2 size: 5.45GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda4
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 60.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 148 Uptime: 2:31 Memory: 1402.1/3815.3MB Init: systemd Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.2.3

Thanks.

Last edited by Ege (2014-09-06 19:42:11)

graysky · 2014-09-06 18:58:30

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=122269

?

pacman -Rs gnome gnome-extra

KingYes · 2014-09-06 19:01:33

@graysky: LOL

graysky · 2014-09-06 19:04:55

KingYes wrote:

@graysky: LOL

Wasn't a joke. If that 2+ year old memory leak is still affecting gnome, the OP should try something else or live with it. I find xfce4 to be an excellent alternative.

Ege · 2014-09-06 19:41:35

Thanks for your answer and script. Removing gnome and gnome-extra fixed it now it only uses 210 MB(max) and I noticed dropbox uses more than 100 mb of RAM. I'll remove it.

mpmistr · 2014-09-09 23:09:31

It's not even really a memory leak but a case of memory increasing as you interact with the shell.

Ege, do you have an nvidia card and are you using the proprietary drivers? I think this issue happens on all hardware but with the nvidia proprietary driver, the problems are on steroids. I know that the gnome-shell process just increases over time for me, never releases memory.. until you log out or alt+f2 and "r"estart the shell.

On nvidia proprietary drivers when I change my desktop background, I see an instant 150mb+ jump in the gnome-shell process, doesn't matter how you change the wallpaper from system settings or not. In fact you can change wallpaper over and over and it just keeps going and going.. after a few wallpaper changes you are at 2gb+ memory usage for gnome-shell, I cannot recreate this using intel video drivers.

There are open bug reports for all these issues and quite frankly I don't think any of it will be fixed any time soon. Heck it may very well be an issue with the nvidia driver, but others have seen it on nouveau and intel drivers. I don't know about AMD/ATI though, I assume it's the same situation there too.

Rickrock · 2015-06-09 19:19:04

Old thread, I know, but...I noticed the same behaviour with ATI as well.
It's great fun when you try to record your desktop with Ctrl/Shift/Alt/R, memory usage increased to 4GB over here..even when the recording has ended.

Too bad, because the Gnome shell is the only one I like besides Xfce.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-09-06 17:49:30

[SOLVED]Gnome Shell Very High RAM Usage

#2 2014-09-06 18:58:30

Re: [SOLVED]Gnome Shell Very High RAM Usage

#3 2014-09-06 19:01:33

Re: [SOLVED]Gnome Shell Very High RAM Usage

#4 2014-09-06 19:04:55

Re: [SOLVED]Gnome Shell Very High RAM Usage

#5 2014-09-06 19:41:35

Re: [SOLVED]Gnome Shell Very High RAM Usage

#6 2014-09-09 23:09:31

Re: [SOLVED]Gnome Shell Very High RAM Usage

#7 2015-06-09 19:19:04

Re: [SOLVED]Gnome Shell Very High RAM Usage

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