Performance of desktop degrades after a period of time

[Rahul Jain]

Unity slows down after using the computer for a while. The compiz glide shows lag, side-by-side window snap animation shows slight lag, right click menu in Unity launcher shows fading effect where I did not notice it before, dash also feels slightly stiffer when previewing items and opening the dash. Passing unity --replace into a terminal fixes the problem, then after a while it happens again.

1) Description: Ubuntu 13.10
Release: 13.10
2) compiz:
  Installed: 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ saucy/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
3) Expect smooth desktop effects that don't degrade over time
4) Performance of effects and possibly Unity shell degrades over time.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: compiz 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-12.19-generic 3.11.3
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 16.946941] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
 [ 16.947201] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
 [ 16.983367] init: gdm main process (838) killed by TERM signal
 [ 17.872336] init: plymouth-stop pre-start process (1094) terminated with status 1
 [ 21.965926] init: cryptdisks-enable main process (1316) killed by TERM signal
Date: Thu Oct 24 12:47:42 2013
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: saucy
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RS880 [Radeon HD 4250] [1002:9715] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device [1458:d000]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-13 (10 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Beta amd64 (20131012)
LightdmGreeterLog:
 (lightdm-gtk-greeter:2542): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_shell_parse_argv: assertion 'command_line != NULL' failed

 ** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:2542): WARNING **: Failed to open sessions directory: Error opening directory '/usr/share/lightdm/sessions': No such file or directory

 ** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:2542): WARNING **: Failed to load user image: Failed to open file '/home/rahul/.face': No such file or directory
LightdmGreeterLogOld:
 (lightdm-gtk-greeter:2018): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_shell_parse_argv: assertion 'command_line != NULL' failed

 ** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:2018): WARNING **: Failed to open sessions directory: Error opening directory '/usr/share/lightdm/sessions': No such file or directory

 ** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:2018): WARNING **: Failed to load user image: Failed to open file '/home/rahul/.face': No such file or directory
MachineType: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-880GM-D2H
MarkForUpload: True
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-12-generic root=UUID=c996eed2-c02e-44a3-aab7-e8f807faf63b ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: compiz
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 01/10/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
dmi.bios.version: FF
dmi.board.name: GA-880GM-D2H
dmi.board.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAwardSoftwareInternational,Inc.:bvrFF:bd01/10/2012:svnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:pnGA-880GM-D2H:pvr:rvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:rnGA-880GM-D2H:rvr:cvnGigabyteTechnologyCo.,Ltd.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: GA-880GM-D2H
dmi.sys.vendor: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.10+13.10.20131011-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.46-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.2.1-1ubuntu3
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.2.1-1ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.14.3-3ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.2.0-0ubuntu10
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.904-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.9-2ubuntu1
xserver.bootTime: Thu Oct 24 12:46:15 2013
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.devices:
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 6
 input Power Button KEYBOARD, id 7
 input LITEON Technology USB Keyboard KEYBOARD, id 8
 input Logitech USB Optical Mouse MOUSE, id 9
xserver.errors:

xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.version: 2:1.14.3-3ubuntu2
xserver.video_driver: radeon

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

It sounds like your system is starting to swap. Can you please check your memory and swap usage (using the top or htop program from a terminal works best) and report back and, if possible, identify the process(es) with the biggest ongoing memory consumption?

[Rahul Jain (equites-vero)]

Compiz is using 35% - 45% CPU just moving windows from the left to right edge of the screen. Compiz is using 3.3% CPU at first then when I move a window to snapping zone, the animation is sluggish, then compiz' CPU usage spikes to 35%, then later it becomes smoother. But it stays at 35%-45% while moving a window. Xorg is also using 10%CPU all the time. Is that normal? I have a 3.5GHZ quad Phenom. All the UI elements like the dash feel sluggish as well, including fade, preview, etc., but preview becomes smoother if I do it a few times. I opened up 12 apps and Firefox, but it's not maxing out the ram and swapping. So I'm not sure if I reported the original bug properly.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for compiz (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]