how to check if my system is working slow?

juanb · 10-28-2005, 11:12 AM

Hi ,

I use FC 4 and I want to check if I need to upgrade memory or cpu. how can I check this? someone told me that by issuing the top command and if the system is more than 2.0 % I should upgrade but im not sure.

Please help !

thanks !

juan

fouldsy · 10-28-2005, 11:26 AM

The top command will show you your CPU + memory usage, both physical + swap memory. Simply, type

Code:

top

from the console and view the figures at the top of the screen. 2% CPU utilisation does not mean you need to upgrade, don't know who told you that. What are the actual specs of your machine too? Don't think you need to upgrade just because you're using a lot of memory - upgrade if you think the system is a little sluggish and you feel like it could do with some upgrades, there's no hard + fast rules.

Vgui · 10-28-2005, 02:01 PM

He might have meant a 2.0 average load, not 2.0% CPU usage.
I wouldn't worry too much about exact numbers. If you are swapping alot or things are taking too long to complete, then yeah upgrade. There isn't some set of hard and fast rules for "when to upgrade".

Skazi · 10-28-2005, 02:18 PM

Try running 'vmstat 5' and watching the output. It gives a good overview of your system activity. Whereas top will show you data per process.

Thanks

juanb · 10-28-2005, 02:51 PM

okey I issued the command vmstat 5 and got a long output what it means?and as for the top command I see that under the system is 0.7 % is this the load on the system what does this munber mines?

thanks very much.

Juan

Skazi · 10-28-2005, 03:47 PM

'man vmstat' will tell you the meaning of the columns from the vmstat output. The information can be terse, though, so try that and see if you still have questions about specific columns.