Mac Pro Slow

[dogbait]

I have a Mac Pro 2.66 (4-core) with 5GB RAM and a 500GB RAID-0 system disk, yet despite this I find running Lightroom and Vmware Fusion causes the machine to slow down.

I'm seeing CPU usage in Activity Monitor around 70-80% and page outs around 22k.

Surely this machine shouldn't even be breaking a sweat...?

 

[martinlk]

Which processes are hogging the CPU?

 

[dogbait]

vmware-vmx, System Events and kernel_task.

I notice a lot of disk thrashing as well despite having 5GB RAM. My page ins/outs are 1246905/196768.

thanks

 

[IJ Reilly]

Does it change much after a reboot?

 

[dogbait]

No, not really. I'm pulling the trigger on more RAM, perhaps that will help...(it's either that or an 8-core...

 

[IJ Reilly]

No, not really. I'm pulling the trigger on more RAM, perhaps that will help...(it's either that or an 8-core...

You've already got a ton of RAM -- plenty for virtually any purpose. If you've got money to burn, I suppose, but I don't see it curing your issues.

 

[hayduke]

Are you running vmware in full screen mode? I've noticed that this can eat up resources well beyond what one would expect.

 

[dogbait]

I wish I had a ton of money, but RAM is relatively cheap.

Is it the case that a large number of page outs within a short space of time is an indication that the system needs more RAM?

Hayduke, I am running vmware in full screen mode. Changing it to single window makes little difference.

Is vmware's high CPU usage normal?

 

[TheMonarch]

Since you have 4 cores, the readout for CPU usage can go up to 400% if iirc.

So 70/80% isn't that high... I could be wrong though...

 

[IJ Reilly]

Is it the case that a large number of page outs within a short space of time is an indication that the system needs more RAM?

Yes -- which is why I asked you if performance was better after a reboot. Restarting deletes the VM swap files which get created when physical RAM is exceeded, and they are what cause the slowdowns. If this is the issue, you should see a performance bump after the restart, at least for a while.