Low CPU usage, high memory usage, slow performance

[Ryraiden]

Hello everybody, i need help as i could not find solution on google. as i described, i have a very low CPU usage, it varies between 0 - 6 and a high memory between 4 - 7, but the performance is still slow sometimes. to put more work on my CPU, i've opened several google chrome fans and SQL 2012, Vmware workstation with 3 machines : Winserver 2012, Win8 Enterprise, and Linux.... the usage is still 0-1. not only that, but my virtual machines are incredibly slow as !@#!@.
i have no viruses, i've ran chkdsk command,...simply put... i think something is wrong!!!
my pc specs:
Intel core i7 3610 QM
8 Gb RAM

 

[rockie_]

Your CPU is a fast one . Run a game to stress the processor .

 

[Lannister in the North]

You can try manually setting the size of your page file, what you describe might relate to windows not properly setting it.
Computer Properties > Advanced System Settings > Performance Settings > Advanced > Virtual Memory > Change -> Custom Size;
Try something like 1024 - 4096

 

[BLUuuE]

Try disabling Superfetch in services. Solved the high memory usage for me as it stores most used apps in RAM (BF4). I had about 5GB of RAM usage at idle when superfetch was enabled. Disabling it lowered the RAM usage to about 2-3GB (mind you, I have Steam, Origin ,AMD Gaming Evolved client and Chrome open)

 

[GhislainG]

Hello everybody, i need help as i could not find solution on google. as i described, i have a very low CPU usage, it varies between 0 - 6 and a high memory between 4 - 7, but the performance is still slow sometimes. to put more work on my CPU, i've opened several google chrome fans and SQL 2012, Vmware workstation with 3 machines : Winserver 2012, Win8 Enterprise, and Linux.... the usage is still 0-1. not only that, but my virtual machines are incredibly slow as !@#!@.
i have no viruses, i've ran chkdsk command,...simply put... i think something is wrong!!!
my pc specs:
Intel core i7 3610 QM
8 Gb RAM

What OS are you using? I presume that your CPU utilization varies from 0-6%, but what do you mean by high memory 4 - 7? What are the VMs doing that would be CPU intensive and how busy is the CPU within a busy VM?

Does your system have enough memory for everything that you run? Did you allocate enough memory to each VM to prevent swapping? That could make them extremely slow if you are using a hard disk instead of a SSD.

CPU utilization on my Hyper-V server (i7-3770 and 32GB of memory) is 1-2% while running 7 VMs that don't do much unless we use them to do some work.

 

[Ryraiden]

Try disabling Superfetch in services. Solved the high memory usage for me as it stores most used apps in RAM (BF4). I had about 5GB of RAM usage at idle when superfetch was enabled. Disabling it lowered the RAM usage to about 2-3GB (mind you, I have Steam, Origin ,AMD Gaming Evolved client and Chrome open)

Superfetch won't solve my problem, disabling it will help gamers to gain slightly more memory, and i want my pc to perform better in general as it has high or good specs.

 

[Ryraiden]

You can try manually setting the size of your page file, what you describe might relate to windows not properly setting it.
Computer Properties > Advanced System Settings > Performance Settings > Advanced > Virtual Memory > Change -> Custom Size;
Try something like 1024 - 4096

it is as it should be, around 3934

 

[Ryraiden]

Hello everybody, i need help as i could not find solution on google. as i described, i have a very low CPU usage, it varies between 0 - 6 and a high memory between 4 - 7, but the performance is still slow sometimes. to put more work on my CPU, i've opened several google chrome fans and SQL 2012, Vmware workstation with 3 machines : Winserver 2012, Win8 Enterprise, and Linux.... the usage is still 0-1. not only that, but my virtual machines are incredibly slow as !@#!@.
i have no viruses, i've ran chkdsk command,...simply put... i think something is wrong!!!
my pc specs:
Intel core i7 3610 QM
8 Gb RAM

What OS are you using? I presume that your CPU utilization varies from 0-6%, but what do you mean by high memory 4 - 7? What are the VMs doing that would be CPU intensive and how busy is the CPU within a busy VM?

Does your system have enough memory for everything that you run? Did you allocate enough memory to each VM to prevent swapping? That could make them extremely slow if you are using a hard disk instead of a SSD.

CPU utilization on my Hyper-V server (i7-3770 and 32GB of memory) is 1-2% while running 7 VMs that don't do much unless we use them to do some work.

by high memory, i didn't mean its a bad thing. just that the memory is doing all the work while the cpu is almost doing nothing. 4-7 GB memory being used. Actually, the problem is that my virtual WinServer 2012, Windows 8 Essentials on VM workstation is too slow. I tried exactly the same programs and settings on another pc with lesser specs, like 4 GB RAM and i3, and it worked fine and smoothly. i also tried to install the virtual machine with my friend who had an old pc with also lesser specs, we started at the exact same time and he finished installing everything MUCH faster than me and ran everything smoothly!!
in all these cases, their CPU was running good and showing power as using VM is excessive work... i think.
my OS is a Win7 64 bit

 

[GhislainG]

SSD or slow hard disk?

 

[Ryraiden]

SSD or slow hard disk?

SATA 3GB/s

 

[GhislainG]

That doesn't answer my question. What's connected to that SATA 3GB/s connector? A relatively slow 5400 RPM hard disk or a fast SSD?

 

[Ryraiden]

That doesn't answer my question. What's connected to that SATA 3GB/s connector? A relatively slow 5400 RPM hard disk or a fast SSD?

i think its an HDD here's a link showing it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374

 

[GhislainG]

It's a good 7200 RPM laptop hard disk. Now explain what you do with a VM when it feels slow and check how busy the CPU is in both the VM and the host OS. Did you allocate 2 processors to each VM?

 

[Ryraiden]

It's a good 7200 RPM laptop hard disk. Now explain what you do with a VM when it feels slow and check how busy the CPU is in both the VM and the host OS. Did you allocate 2 processors to each VM?

i've tried to allocate 2 processors, 2 GB RAM, OR 1 processor, 3 GB RAM. what im trying to say is that i've tried different possibilities.
what i do in VM, well, i didn't do much yet, since its too slow, the cursor moves awkwardly and when i click on something.. lets say the local server tab, it can take up to 10-15 seconds for it to open.
when i use the VM, my memory goes beyond 5 GB RAM and CPU goes from 0% - 3% and sometimes it goes 50% for a second and then drops again to 0 %
hope that was some detailed info

 

[GhislainG]

You left out a lot of important info. Is your laptop responsive when using the host OS? Is it connected to the charger or running on battery? What power plan are you using? Are VMware tools installed? What version of VMware workstation (9 or 10)? Is the hard disk activity light on as soon as you click the local server tab? If it takes 10-15 seconds for it to open, then something is very busy and you need to determine if it's your hard disk or another device.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

An important point to remember with VMware is that one virtual processor equals one thread on the physical processor, so if you allocate two processors to three VMs, your host has lost out on six of its eight threads. The same applies to RAM; 2GB across three VMs means you've used 6GB out of the 8GB available. You need to balance resources between the VMs and the host.

 

[Ryraiden]

You left out a lot of important info. Is your laptop responsive when using the host OS? Is it connected to the charger or running on battery? What power plan are you using? Are VMware tools installed? What version of VMware workstation (9 or 10)? Is the hard disk activity light on as soon as you click the local server tab? If it takes 10-15 seconds for it to open, then something is very busy and you need to determine if it's your hard disk or another device.

come on dude!! i know you're trying to help me, but plz, list all what you want from me and i will gladly tell you. but each time you ask something, i answer, then you come again with more questions!!
yeah my laptop IS responsive when i leave the VM, its just the VM thats killing me. I'm going to give the full scenario now, if you have a solution or a hint then plz tell me, if you don't, well thats fine:
my processor have 8 threads, SO, i turn on 1 virtual machine, winserver2012. i give it 2 processors = 2 threads, 2 GB RAM or more sometimes, and no matter how many i put in or how i balance vm with the host, i get the same results.
i run my laptop while its plugged in with high power performance, AND no i'm not running anything else beside the VM and maybe google chrome like i'm doing right now.
its workstation 10 and its updated and i'm using the right settings and everything is configured fine.
now thats the whole scenario, as i said before, pc's with lesser specs have shown better results than mine while my pc have much better specs.

 

[rockie_]

Try Balanced Windows power plan .Make sure max CPU state is 100%

 

[GhislainG]

I'm not sure what you mean by Workstation 10 is updated, but I suggest you contact VMware support. There is something wrong with your setup or an incompatibility between VMware tools and your laptop.

 

[Ryraiden]

I'm not sure what you mean by Workstation 10 is updated, but I suggest you contact VMware support. There is something wrong with your setup or an incompatibility between VMware tools and your laptop.

its VMware workstation 10 with the latest update... or maybe its not updated, for all i care that its the newest version of this product.
But Thanks for your help i hope that the issue is from the program and not from the laptop.

 

[Ryraiden]

Try Balanced Windows power plan .Make sure max CPU state is 100%

i didn't fully understand the ' make sure max CPU state is100% ' how do i do that

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

If you go to 'edit virtual machine settings' for one of your particular VMs, you should see 'SCSI Controller 0' in the hardware list. If the current type is set to any IDE option, that will create huge amounts of slowdown.

 

[rockie_]

Try Balanced Windows power plan .Make sure max CPU state is 100%

i didn't fully understand the ' make sure max CPU state is100% ' how do i do that

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/processor-power-management-windows

 

[GhislainG]

I'm not sure what you mean by Workstation 10 is updated, but I suggest you contact VMware support. There is something wrong with your setup or an incompatibility between VMware tools and your laptop.

its VMware workstation 10 with the latest update... or maybe its not updated, for all i care that its the newest version of this product.
But Thanks for your help i hope that the issue is from the program and not from the laptop.

So do I even though I don't have issues with VMware workstation 9 or 10 on my systems, including an older HP laptop that's much less powerful than yours. You lose nothing by contacting VMware support.