Here is the top output which I gathered:
I noticed that top shows VLC's CPU usage at more than 100%.
Can anybody please explain why top is showing those numbers? Is this a bug in top or something else?
asked Mar 18, 2012 at 10:43
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It's not lying to you, because your load average is up over 4. That seems high - try restarting vlc, and do something to free up some memory first.Paul Tomblin– Paul Tomblin2012-03-18 11:43:52 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2012 at 11:43
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Also, I see you're using compiz. Do you have a good 3d graphics card? If not, that's probably where all your CPU is going, trying to render a movie onto a 3d surface.Paul Tomblin– Paul Tomblin2012-03-18 11:45:04 +00:00Commented Mar 18, 2012 at 11:45
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1 Answer
You are in a multi-core/multi-CPU environment and top is working in Irix mode. That means that your process (vlc) is performing a computation that keeps 1.2 CPUs/cores busy. That could mean 100%+20%, 60%+60%, etc.
Press 'I' (capital i, Shift+i) to switch to Solaris mode. You get the same value divided by the number of cores/CPUs.
answered Mar 18, 2012 at 11:45
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3After you switch out of Irix mode by pressing
I, you can pressWto save that as the default configuration if you are root.RubyRedGrapefruit– RubyRedGrapefruit2012-10-17 13:37:13 +00:00Commented Oct 17, 2012 at 13:37 -
2Before you've pressed
Wto have saved those as def. config, you can also press1once or twice to get an idea of how exactly CPUs/cores are being loaded. ;)poige– poige2012-10-20 11:19:24 +00:00Commented Oct 20, 2012 at 11:19 -
what should be concluded if we have a single core machine and
topdisplays one of the process as 100% cpu usage. Does this means the machine is hung and no other process will get CPU time.Krishna– Krishna2018-07-05 12:20:56 +00:00Commented Jul 5, 2018 at 12:20 -
1@krishna_oza: If that were the case then
topwouldn't be able to update the list of processes anymore, cause it's a process too. 100% on a single core machine means “no other process requested any CPU time during the measuring interval” (or maybe something did, but was so quick it ended up a measuring error). Most importantly, when another process becomes active you should see that 100% value drop intopagain with the other process getting the remaining share.ntninja– ntninja2019-10-01 16:21:02 +00:00Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 16:21 -
8THATS A CAPITAL i, LIKE IDIOT, FOR ME SPENDING 5 MINUTES PRESSING LOWERCASE L WONDERING WHY THE HELL IT DOESNT WORKuser433342– user4333422020-10-05 20:28:24 +00:00Commented Oct 5, 2020 at 20:28