machine load extreme peaking for short periods....mouse not moving etc.

[JD]

On 01/15/2013 02:58 PM, Peter Teuben wrote:
> On 01/15/2013 03:42 PM, JD wrote:
>> On 01/15/2013 01:30 PM, Peter Teuben wrote:
>>> On my old 2GB memory 32-bit Ubuntu 12.04 laptop I "frequently"
>>> encountered
>>> debilitating periods of extremely high load (>10) and a completely
>>> useless system
>>> for extended periods.  As this never occurred on earlier versions of
>>> Ubuntu and
>>> Fedora, I blaimed this on Unity/Compiz,  as the event where it was
>>> triggered usually
>>> was some mouseclick in either the browser or picasa..
>>>
>>> I figured my new i7 based 4GB memory SSD on / based laptop would make
>>> this history.   I can't
>>> believe this is still happening. Admittedly, 4GB on a 64bit machine is
>>> theoretically
>>> not much better than 2GB on a 32bit machine, but this is really crazy
>>> that I have
>>> to wait for the mouse to respond again for good fraction of a minute.
>>> What is going on here,
>>> is this is problem others have seen as well?
>>>
>>> peter
>>>
>> Hi peter,
>> Open a terminal, exdpand it to full screen, and run
>> top
>>
>> Wait for a while and click the mouse.
>> You should be able to see what's hogging the cpu.
>>
>>
> I've done that in these cases, and it's nothing particularly striking,
> other than compiz at not even 100%

HUH??
you mean you would consider that if compiz were at 90 % of cpu as OK?
Please clarify your statement. :)

>
> My "clicking the mouse" isn't a very reliable way to get the system to
> respond badly I should add,
> but it's not like starting some known app, it's when I'm in the middle
> of something seemingly innocent.
> Not something that I would expect to eat up my swap.
>
>
> I'm planning to expand to 16GB anyways, this problem surely better go away.

What is the memory consumption of compiz when you see it consuming so 
much of cpu?
In particular what is the RSS (Resident Set Size) of compiz?
Perhaps buying more memory will not solve the problem at all.
What is the current size of swap? Mine is 8GB.
> peter