CPU never runs above 10%

[DarkTerbear]

I like to run Minecraft, and I just installed Ubuntu 14.04 on my desktop. When I run Minecraft, I notice that it runs extremely slowly (20-30 fps). My CPU is an i7-920, and it sits around 45 degrees Celsius while playing Minecraft (a very CPU intensive game). The fan is almost silent, and the CPU usage is around 5 percent. I'm thinking that this tiny CPU usage is the cause of my lag. Do you guys have any solutions? Thanks!

 

[nitrium]

That is a bit low (my i5 760 uses 25%), although you might be bound by your GPU. What's your GPU? You might be able to check it's load using GPU-Z.

 

[DarkTerbear]

It's a ATI Radeon HD 4350. It's really old, but I thought Minecraft is not at all GPU heavy. Also, GPU-Z is a tad hard to get on Ubuntu

 

[coovargo]

What GPU do you have? While GPUs are not as important, minecraft isn't coded very efficiently for GPU usage and a large number of GPUs fall short of the games playable field. Minecraft is only CPU intensive so far as content generation. Try to find a tool to monitor GPU usage levels.

 

[coovargo]

Sorry to be late on that one. Sadly you'll need a better gpu. The problem with minecraft is the rendering is handled very poorly.

 

[Cons29]

yeah, your cpu is not being utilized because your gpu is too slow for it. it basically sits and wait for your gpu before it (cpu) gets to work. you have a bottleneck right there

 

[nitrium]

It's a ATI Radeon HD 4350. It's really old, but I thought Minecraft is not at all GPU heavy. Also, GPU-Z is a tad hard to get on Ubuntu

My OCed HD7950 GPU shows 30% load running Minecraft. Also, Minecraft is just barely playable on the lowest settings on my MCPC using Intel's integrated graphics (i3 4130). Have you tried lowering the quality settings within Minecraft?
As others and myself have said it's quite possible your GPU simply isn't fast enough.

 

[DarkTerbear]

When I have everything turned down to lowest, I get 30 fps
When I have everything turned down to lowest other than render distance up to max, I get 25 fps
When I have everything turned up, I get 15 fps.
I'm starting to believe its my GPU

 

[DarkTerbear]

I have a laptop that has i3-3110M with integrated HD 4000 that runs MC at 70 FPS.

 

[nitrium]

I have a laptop that has i3-3110M with integrated HD 4000 that runs MC at 70 FPS.

at 1080p?

 

[nitrium]

I have a laptop that has i3-3110M with integrated HD 4000 that runs MC at 70 FPS.

at 1080p? At max settings?

 

[mdocod]

I was going to ask if you were running fglrx or gallium, but after looking up the core config of the HD4350 I don't really think the driver is going to be able to fix this so it doesn't matter...

Time for a GPU upgrade.

I personally prefer nvidia GPUs in linux because I like to be able to run 5.1 audio over the HDMI to our receiver. This is well supported on nvidia GPUs, and so far as I have been able to figure, impossible at this time on AMD GPUs, (I have TRIED, a LOT).

If you don't care about audio over HDMI, both AMD and nvidia GPU options work pretty good in linux especially with the binary closed source drivers.