# emergeing software eats CPU

## damoncf

I am not sure if this is normal or not but when I am installing software and it is compiling the emerge command (along with sub processes) eat up considerable cpu (in excess of of 60%.)

To keep it from overheating and resetting I have it constantly on powersave setting.  Also not sure if this is typical for this CPU or not but lately my temp has been averaging between 48-53 degrees C. 

On the side I also have a thread open about Plasma eating up CPU. Not sure if this is related but thought I would mention it here as well.

Damoncf

BTW I posted here instead of portage because it seemed more to do with the hardware than portage its self.

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## damoncf

I just ran emerge -aunD world and while it was figureing out what it was going to install "Python2.6" topped out at 41% cpu. Not sure if this info in helpful or not. I am tracking it in system activity w/ kde 4.3.4.

Damoncf

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## cach0rr0

that's...pretty much expected behaviour on all accounts. 

temperature doesn't look obscenely high

cpu utilization we fully expect to increase notably during compilation 

you could look at fiddling with MAKEOPTS and going down from say, -j4 to -j2, or you could experiment with PORTAGE_NICENESS, but this would all be to curb something that is more or less expected.

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## NeddySeagoon

damoncf,

PORTAGE_NICENESS will not reduce CPU usage, it just makes portage owned processes get out of the way for other things.

If there are no other things needing the CPU, portage will get 100% of it.

Your CPU should be good for normal operation to al least 70C.

As this is a laptop, prop it up by its edges on a couple of books, to allow air to circulate underneth while you compile things.

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## aCOSwt

Is'nt the athlon 4000 renown for needing massive heatsinks ?

The only article I read about under-cloking was taking this CPU as a typical example of potential CPU in need of under-clocking.

Having such a processor in a laptop... => modest heatsinks... mmm... heating sounds... "normal" whatever you can do...

If you worry about overheating (and your laptop too if it sometimes resets)

- Think about increasing your ram.

- Think about under-clocking.

Could well be with your configuration (ram & other peripherals access times) that in fact, your cpu is just "waiting faster" => underclocking (down to 2.2-2.1GHz) would not have a too negative impact on performances.

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## dE_logics

If it's 60% it's bad...it should be 100, that will be ok and actually good. You can set the portage niceness to a higher value if you do not want interference in your work.

If your cpu is exceeding 70°, then it's a matter of concern, otherwise not that much. However it will be very good if it does not exceed 60.

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## Mad Merlin

If your laptop overheats under full load, you're either in an incredibly hot room (>30C), it's hopelessly clogged with dust (happens over time), or defective (return it).

Guessing by the specs, it's an older laptop, so it's probably very dusty inside. Consider taking it apart to clean it, or vacuuming it from the outside (at the vents).

Edit: 50 C isn't particularly warm for a CPU under load.

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## damoncf

Thanx for all the replies. I have used an air canister to clean out the inside. My problem is so much the CPU usage (now that I think of it) as much as the unresponsiveness of the computer when under a full load. The only way I know some times that it hasn't frozen up / over heated is to press the caps lock key and see if it will light up after a few seconds.  Is this also normal? Would changing portage's nice value increase the responsiveness? Is there a way to tell portage to always run at a certain value?

Damoncf 

(BTW Sorry for how long it took to respond it has been a hectic week for me.)

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## NeddySeagoon

damoncf,

Probably not - is the system short of RAM, so its using a lot of swap during the compile process?

Keep an eye on top.

If thats not it, preemption in the kernel may help (low latency desktop). Also check that DMA is on for the hard drive.

If your drive is /dev/sd...  then is required, if its /dev/hd... its an optional extra that needs kernel support.

hdparam /dev/hd...    will show it

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