Re: Effect of Processor and Memory on KDE4 execution speed

From: Mehmet Erol Sanliturk <m.e.sanliturk_at_gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:01:13 -0500
On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 4:47 AM, Harald Schmalzbauer <
h.schmalzbauer_at_omnilan.de> wrote:

>  schrieb Mehmet Erol Sanliturk am 14.02.2012 15:39 (localtime):
> > Dear All ,
> >
> > Today I have encountered a case which I think informing you about it may
> be
> > useful .
> >
> > In my previous messages , I have mentioned very slowness of KDE4 .
> >
> >
> > Onto another computer I have installed DruidBSD 9.0 b56 amd64 , and KDE4
> .
> > In that installation KDE4 worked surprisingly fast .
> >
> > To understand whether difference is among FreeBSD or DruidBSD , I have
> > installed
> > FreeBSD 9.0 Release amd64 and KDE4 on the same computer instead of
> DruidBSD
> > .
> >
> > The KDE4 has worked flawlesly i.e. , means very fast .
> >
> > To make equivalent the installations on both computers , I have installed
> > FreeBSD 9.0 Release amd64 and KDE4 on the slow computer exactly as in
> fast
> > computer .
> >
> >
> > Starting times after first boot ( to eliminate initialization effects )
> are
> > the following
> > ( All timings are from "root" ) :
> >
> >
> > >From "startx" ( which contains "exec ... kde4 ..." )
> > to   appearance of KDE menu symbol at the bottom left corner :
> >
> >
> > Fast computer : 8 GB : 0+ ( < 1 ) minute ( 4 x 2 GB )
> > Slow computer : 4 GB : 2+ ( < 3 ) minutes ( 2 x 2 GB ) ( 2 x ! GB chips
> > removed ) ,
> >                 6 GB : 8+ ( < 9 ) minutes ( 2 x ( 2 , 1 ) GB ) .
> >                 ( Memory chip installation conforms to main board manual
> . )
> >                 ( The clock does not have second counter . )
> >
> > Fast Computer
> >   CPU : Intel Pentium Dual CPU E2220 _at_ 2.40 GHz ( 2397.65-MHz K-8class
> CPU )
> >   ACPI APIC Table : < INTEL DG965WH >
> >
> > Slow Computer
> >   CPU : Intel Core 2 QUAD CPU Q6600 _at_ 2.40 GHz ( 2397.65-MHz K-8class
> CPU )
> >   ACPI APIC Table : < INTEL DG965WH >
> >
> > ( The main boards are the same ) .
> > ( All of the memory chips are the same : Kingston HyperX 800 MHz )
> >
> >
> >
> > I could not understand the reason(s) of the differences .
> >
> >
> > Boot DMESG outputs are attached .
> >
>
> Compare 'sysctl kern.timecounter'.
> That's the only difference I could see. Also, I'd try to disable two
> cores in the bios of the quad-core machine and see if it changes
> anything. Just to rule out scheduler issues.
>
> Have you tried memtest86 to see if RAM throughput and CPU-cache rates
> are comparable?
>
> -Harry
>
>
>


I have removed 2 GB memory chips from Q6600.
With 2 x 1 GB memory chips , timing is as follows :


Q6600 computer : 2 GB : 0+ ( < 1 ) minute ( 2 x 1 GB )


when compared to other memory configurations :

                4 GB : 2+ ( < 3 ) minutes ( 2 x 2 GB ) ( 2 x ! GB chips
removed ) ,
                6 GB : 8+ ( < 9 ) minutes ( 2 x ( 2 , 1 ) GB ) .
                ( Memory chip installation conforms to main board manual . )
                ( The clock does not have second counter . )

----------

   CPU : Q6600
Memory : 2 x 2 GB ( from E2220 computer ) ( slots 0 )
       : 2 x 1 GB Memory (slots 1 ) Own chips
         From "startx" to ( K ) Symbol : ?+ ( < ? ) minutes

kern.timecounter.tick: 1
kern.timecounter.choice: TSC-low(1000) i8254(0) ACPI-fast(900)
dummy(-1000000)
kern.timecounter.hardware: TSC-low
kern.timecounter.stepwarnings: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.mask: 16777215
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.counter: 2208372
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.frequency: 3579545
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.quality: 900
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.mask: 65535
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.counter: 41692
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.frequency: 1193182
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.quality: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.mask: 4294967295
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.counter: 2461358782
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.frequency: 9365823
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality: 1000
kern.timecounter.smp_tsc: 1
kern.timecounter.invariant_tsc: 1

-----------



   CPU : Q6600
Memory : 4 x 2 GB ( from E2220 computer )

         From "startx" to ( K ) Symbol : 0+ ( < 1 ) minutes



kern.timecounter.tick: 1
kern.timecounter.choice: TSC-low(1000) i8254(0) ACPI-fast(900)
dummy(-1000000)
kern.timecounter.hardware: TSC-low
kern.timecounter.stepwarnings: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.mask: 16777215
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.counter: 10225795
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.frequency: 3579545
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.quality: 900
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.mask: 65535
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.counter: 3291
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.frequency: 1193182
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.quality: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.mask: 4294967295
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.counter: 1168014633
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.frequency: 9365827
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality: 1000
kern.timecounter.smp_tsc: 1
kern.timecounter.invariant_tsc: 1

----------

>From the above values :
  (1) Scheduling is not effective
  (2) Memory sizes are not effective .
  (3) with the same memory chips , behavior of Q6600 and E2220 are similar .

----------

   CPU : E2220
Memory : 2 x 2 GB Memory (slots 0 ) ( From Q6600 computer : Suspected chips
)
       : 2 x 2 GB Memory (slots 1 ) Own chips
         From "startx" to ( K ) Symbol : 0+ ( < 1 ) minutes


kern.timecounter.tick: 1
kern.timecounter.choice: TSC-low(1000) i8254(0) ACPI-fast(900)
dummy(-1000000)
kern.timecounter.hardware: TSC-low
kern.timecounter.stepwarnings: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.mask: 16777215
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.counter: 6899012
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.frequency: 3579545
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.quality: 900
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.mask: 65535
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.counter: 57542
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.frequency: 1193182
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.quality: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.mask: 4294967295
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.counter: 2476227169
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.frequency: 9365849
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality: 1000
kern.timecounter.smp_tsc: 1
kern.timecounter.invariant_tsc: 1

----------

   CPU : E2220
Memory : 1 x 2 GB Memory (slot 0 ) From Q6600 computer : Suspected chip ( A
)

         From "startx" to ( K ) Symbol : 0+ ( < 1 ) minute


kern.timecounter.tick: 1
kern.timecounter.choice: TSC-low(1000) i8254(0) ACPI-fast(900)
dummy(-1000000)
kern.timecounter.hardware: TSC-low
kern.timecounter.stepwarnings: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.mask: 16777215
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.counter: 9424409
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.frequency: 3579545
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.quality: 900
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.mask: 65535
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.counter: 26708
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.frequency: 1193182
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.quality: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.mask: 4294967295
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.counter: 1253729688
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.frequency: 9365814
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality: 1000
kern.timecounter.smp_tsc: 1
kern.timecounter.invariant_tsc: 1

----------


   CPU : E2220
Memory : 1 x 2 GB Memory (slot 0 ) From Q6600 computer : Suspected chip ( B
)

         From "startx" to ( K ) Symbol : 0+ ( < 1 ) minute


kern.timecounter.tick: 1
kern.timecounter.choice: TSC-low(1000) i8254(0) ACPI-fast(900)
dummy(-1000000)
kern.timecounter.hardware: TSC-low
kern.timecounter.stepwarnings: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.mask: 16777215
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.counter: 11731149
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.frequency: 3579545
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.quality: 900
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.mask: 65535
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.counter: 64399
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.frequency: 1193182
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.quality: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.mask: 4294967295
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.counter: 645213805
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.frequency: 9365840
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality: 1000
kern.timecounter.smp_tsc: 1
kern.timecounter.invariant_tsc: 1

----------




   CPU : E2220
Memory : 2 x 2 GB Memory (slots 0 ) From Q6600 computer : Suspected chips

         From "startx" to ( K ) Symbol : 8+ ( < 9 ) minutes

kern.timecounter.tick: 1
kern.timecounter.choice: TSC-low(1000) i8254(0) ACPI-fast(900)
dummy(-1000000)
kern.timecounter.hardware: TSC-low
kern.timecounter.stepwarnings: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.mask: 16777215
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.counter: 4145696
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.frequency: 3579545
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.quality: 900
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.mask: 65535
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.counter: 63021
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.frequency: 1193182
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.quality: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.mask: 4294967295
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.counter: 2469011804
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.frequency: 9365822
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality: 1000
kern.timecounter.smp_tsc: 1
kern.timecounter.invariant_tsc: 1


----------

   CPU : E2220
Memory : 2 x 2 GB Memory (slots 0 ) From Q6600 computer : Suspected chips

         From "startx" to ( K ) Symbol : 8+ ( < 9 ) minutes
         ( Chips are interchanged in slots )

kern.timecounter.tick: 1
kern.timecounter.choice: TSC-low(1000) i8254(0) ACPI-fast(900)
dummy(-1000000)
kern.timecounter.hardware: TSC-low
kern.timecounter.stepwarnings: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.mask: 16777215
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.counter: 5898054
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.frequency: 3579545
kern.timecounter.tc.ACPI-fast.quality: 900
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.mask: 65535
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.counter: 55278
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.frequency: 1193182
kern.timecounter.tc.i8254.quality: 0
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.mask: 4294967295
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.counter: 1771241087
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.frequency: 9365842
kern.timecounter.tc.TSC-low.quality: 1000
kern.timecounter.smp_tsc: 1
kern.timecounter.invariant_tsc: 1



>From the above values :
  (1) When 2 GB chips are used as single , speed is very fast .
  (2) When 2 GB chips are used as together , speed is very slow .
  (3) Interchanging chips in slots does not make any effect .



Previously , I had checked these chips in Q6600 computer .
Testing did not find any error .

Whatever reason is I do not know , when two chips are used together
they are triggering something which making the FreeBSD very slow .

This is occurring in only in FreeBSD .

In other operating systems ( Fedora , Centos , Mandriva , Mageia , Linux
Mint , Debian ,
Windows 7 Professional ) ( all 64 bits ) there is NOT such an effect :
They are working very well .




Thank you very much .


Mehmet Erol Sanliturk
Received on Wed Feb 15 2012 - 21:01:14 UTC

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