Using external display causes slowdowns

[SDAVE]

I have a early 2011 MBP w/ 16gb RAM...I've been using an external monitor for a while through the DP in clamshell mode. I rarely shutdown my laptop, so it's always sleeping. Well, after a while, my system slows down (seems like the graphics card forgets to run in full speed) and when I use mission control, open folders, etc...all the animations are slow.

Any ideas?

 

[Ccrew]

I have a early 2011 MBP w/ 16gb RAM...I've been using an external monitor for a while through the DP in clamshell mode. I rarely shutdown my laptop, so it's always sleeping. Well, after a while, my system slows down (seems like the graphics card forgets to run in full speed) and when I use mission control, open folders, etc...all the animations are slow.

Any ideas?

Clear out on a reboot?

I'd suspect a system process with a memory leak personally.

 

[SDAVE]

Yeah, rebooting helps. But that wastes a bit of time as I have to relaunch all the applications.

I work constantly and will jump back on the computer.

I usually have Adobe apps and Chrome open...that's about it. I guess the only option is to reboot, shut it down after each use, or just don't let it sleep.

Any ideas how I can check for a memory leak? Also afaik GUI animations are handled by the GPU, so it might be an issue with the GPU? Or do you think its the new Corsair RAM I Put in? I never used to use it in Clamshell mode, but nowadays I do.

 

[dusk007]

With 16GB you'd need a big memory leak. You can just watch activity monitor to check.
reboot shouldn't be necessary. If an app makes problems jsut restart that one.
Are you sure you aren't just holding shift while triggerin MC.

Could be a problem with the GPU. Are temps normal? Might be it throttles because it gets too hot.

Describe slow. Do you see the spinning beach ball to much? Is it really choppy? Does it lag too much? Or is just the animation somehow slower?

 

[SDAVE]

With 16GB you'd need a big memory leak. You can just watch activity monitor to check.
reboot shouldn't be necessary. If an app makes problems jsut restart that one.
Are you sure you aren't just holding shift while triggerin MC.

Could be a problem with the GPU. Are temps normal? Might be it throttles because it gets too hot.

Describe slow. Do you see the spinning beach ball to much? Is it really choppy? Does it lag too much? Or is just the animation somehow slower?

Not holdling shift while triggering MC

Temps seem to jump up when using Flash (which is a given). I added the Noflash script to Chrome and that helps. Usually when I have a lot of tabs open, the temp and fans jump up a lot. Sometimes to 6000rpm. GPU is sometimes at 70º when these fans kick in.

As far as describing how it slows down, I get no beach ball. But when I switch around desktops through mission control, everything just lags. When I open windows, drag them, etc., the redrawing is really slow (just imagine that youre using really old hardware and it cant keep up). A restart helps this.