X eating lot of RAM.

_UnPrEdictAbLe_ · 08-19-2006, 01:13 PM

Hi,

I am using kernel 2.6.17-1.2157_FC5smp (FC5), Xorg 6.5.8-0.1 on Intel 2.8 Ghz
HT, Intel 865GBF motherboard, 512 MB 400 FSB RAM. The swappiness is set to
60.

Almost all applications are using up a lot of RAM. An output of top is like
this.....
29826 anurag 15 0 61540 14m 9436 S 2 3.0 31:26.72 superkaramba
5577 root 15 0 565m 180m 4452 S 2 37.1 137:32.38 X
5815 anurag 15 0 17108 1960 1632 S 1 0.4 9:47.94 dcopserver
25935 anurag 15 0 99968 26m 19m S 1 5.4 3:03.70 kmail
5819 anurag 15 0 41104 9764 8076 S 0 2.0 13:30.11 kded
5831 anurag 15 0 65928 12m 9848 S 0 2.6 6:39.50 kdesktop
5833 anurag 15 0 43656 13m 8600 S 0 2.8 12:24.99 kicker
5857 anurag 15 0 36584 12m 8296 S 0 2.5 1:48.08 yakuake
10548 anurag 16 0 24652 6324 5772 S 0 1.3 0:13.33 knetstats
1 root 16 0 1996 556 532 S 0 0.1 0:01.51 init

The major concern is X using up a lot of RAM (Vmsize 565MB, 180MB Resident). Is
it normal? Is there a way to check if there is a problem? Please help me.

Thanks.
unpredictable

Centinul · 08-19-2006, 02:03 PM

Most likely it's probably just cached. Check the output of free -m. It will show you how much is in buffers/cache and show you really how much is in use. Pay attention to the second line second and third columns of output from the command above. Then we can see if there really is any problems.

_UnPrEdictAbLe_ · 08-19-2006, 02:45 PM

Code:

[anurag@localhost ~]$ free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:           486        480          5          0         11         71
-/+ buffers/cache:        397         88
Swap:         1498        610        887

This is what it gives.. cant interpret much.. but seems a lot of RAM is being used. What do you say now?

syg00 · 08-19-2006, 06:44 PM

Yep, looks like a lot - not to mention the swap usage.
X can be a bit of a pig, but generally it's just the guy who provides the underlying services - you want plenty of eye-candy, it's going to cost storage.
KDE has a bit of a reputation; don't know if that's your problem, but those numbers are out of order.

However ... if that is really the version of X you are running, you are unlikely to get much sympathy until you get a bit more current.

_UnPrEdictAbLe_ · 08-19-2006, 10:39 PM

Seems I typed the wrong version. That was the version of xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.5.8.0-1. Mine isn't using ATI drivers anyway.

Code:

X Window System Version 7.0.0
Release Date: 21 December 2005
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 7.0
Build Operating System:Linux 2.6.9-34.ELsmp i686Red Hat, Inc.
Current Operating System: Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.17-1.2157_FC5smp #1 SMP Tue Jul 11 23:24:16 EDT 2006 i686
Build Date: 30 June 2006
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present

And here is xorg.conf ... any problem with this?

Code:

# XFree86 4 configuration created by pyxf86config

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

Section "Files"

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, a font server independent of the X server is
# used to render fonts.
        FontPath     "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "extmod"
        Load  "fbdevhw"
        Load  "glx"
        Load  "record"
        Load  "freetype"
        Load  "type1"
        Load  "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
#       Option  "Xleds"         "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
#       Option  "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults).  For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
#       Option  "XkbModel"      "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
#       Option  "XkbModel"      "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
#       Option  "XkbLayout"     "de"
# or:
#       Option  "XkbLayout"     "de"
#       Option  "XkbVariant"    "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
#       Option  "XkbOptions"    "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
#       Option  "XkbOptions"    "ctrl:nocaps"
#
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "kbd"
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option      "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse0"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

 ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName    "E71fSB-2"
        DisplaySize  330        250
 ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
        HorizSync    30.0 - 71.0
        VertRefresh  50.0 - 160.0
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard0"
        Driver      "i810"
        VendorName  "Videocard vendor"
        BoardName   "Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     16
                Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Group        0
        Mode         0666
EndSection