Arch Linux

basemt

Member

Registered: 2021-12-07

Posts: 20

Sluggish Arch on decently specced machine

Hello everyone.
I've been using the current Arch install for about 1.5 years. It always felt slow/sluggish.
However, I booted from a live Manjaro Gnome, for some GParted action, and I was shocked at how fast, how snappy that was!
I also have an old WIndows install (corporate stuff...) that I keep around, and gave it a try, and that's also very responsive.

I run DWM, and it is a lot slower compared to the live Gnome or Windows. What gives?

I have a cronjob doing some rsync every hour, and when the rsync starts, my machine turns into an 486. This was somewhat fixed by switching to the zen kernel, as it doesn't go to a grinding halt, but it still doesn't feel right.
Either way, when I start any app for the first time, it takes several seconds to do so. Thunar, Firefox, Joplin, anything. After the first run, it's not that slow, but still feels sluggish.

Right now I only have Firefox running, with about 15 tabs and about 10 extensions, youtube running in full screen on a second monitor and the CPU sits around 40%, 75°C and the fans are blasting.
From time to time, youtube buffers and it switches to 480p. Also, loading pages is just... slow. I have a pretty good internet connection (700Mbps/50Mbps), so I don't think that's the reason.

If I want to play some Zomboid, I close every single app, disable my cronjob, and kill picom.
It just doesn't feel right... Feels like a VM with no guest utils/drivers installed.

The machine is a Lenovo ThinkPad E15 with an i7-10510U and 16GB of RAM. Arch sits on an nvme drive, luks encrypted.
It's also connected to a Lenovo usb-c docking station, with a couple of monitors connected to it.
The GPUs are the integrated intel (modesetting) and an AMD 540/640 (amdgpu).
BIOS and firmware are all up to date.

Here's the inxi: https://pastebin.com/pP5pYWpd

Any idea on where to start looking?

Thanks a bunch!

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: Sluggish Arch on decently specced machine

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … e_hostname

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Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

basemt

Member

Registered: 2021-12-07

Posts: 20

Re: Sluggish Arch on decently specced machine

My hostname is properly set.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,362

Re: Sluggish Arch on decently specced machine

Check top/iotop (or alternatives like glances) to see what sort of bottlenecks you're experiencing.

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 76,446

Re: Sluggish Arch on decently specced machine

Do you have a swap partition inside an LVM?

when the rsync starts, my machine turns into an 486

when I start any app for the first time, it takes several seconds to do so […] After the first run, it's not that slow

Arch sits on an nvme drive, luks encrypted.

Cause it's likely the disk I/O …

Instead of feelings and shock, run some conclusive tests, isolating the major system parts.
Boot only into the multi-user.target (console login, 2nd link below) and try to stress
1. the CPU
2. the drive
3. the RAM

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Benchmarking
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Stress_testing

I suspect it's the drive, so (larger) dd's will show an abysmal throughput, so you may also test that first. But since it's encrypted, this could be because of unaccelerated encryption or because your CPU lags (so you'd still have to test that independently)
For a cheap CPU test that you can also run on some live distro (likely, dd will be available)

scale=1000; 4*a(1)" | time bc -l

The bigger you make the scale, the longer it'll run, the more unbiased the results will be.
(1000 will take notime™ , but nb. that the scale scales exponentially!)

I also have an old WIndows install

See the 3rd link below - since booting windows or an external device will have significant impact and this shit causes all sorts of weird trouble…

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

basemt

Member

Registered: 2021-12-07

Posts: 20

Re: Sluggish Arch on decently specced machine

Thanks for the tips, I will give them a try!

In terms of the swap, I don't have a partition, but a file in the root of the main drive, so it's also luks encrypted.