Macbook pro OSX activity monitor help

Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Points
1
So something on my activity monitor is slowing down my mac while playing WoW, when it on average uses 1.62gb of my 8gb of ram. everything except for kernel/flashplayer is below 20mb, can anyone help me find the problem please. thanks in advance
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,242
Reaction score
1,463
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
So something on my activity monitor is slowing down my mac while playing WoW, when it on average uses 1.62gb of my 8gb of ram. everything except for kernel/flashplayer is below 20mb, can anyone help me find the problem please. thanks in advance

This doesn't sound right. Looking at my Activity Monitor...there are at least 15 things above 20meg...and I only have Safari & Mail open.

Can you tell us what this "something" is?

If this "thing" only happens when you play WoW...then it's probably something related to WoW. And it's possible that WoW itself is slowing down your Mac (maybe your Mac simply cannot handle WoW...or you have your WoW graphics settings too high).

As you can see...I'm doing a lot of guessing. Since your post is rather thin on information.;)

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Points
1
This doesn't sound right. Looking at my Activity Monitor...there are at least 15 things above 20meg...and I only have Safari & Mail open.

Can you tell us what this "something" is?

If this "thing" only happens when you play WoW...then it's probably something related to WoW. And it's possible that WoW itself is slowing down your Mac (maybe your Mac simply cannot handle WoW...or you have your WoW graphics settings too high).

As you can see...I'm doing a lot of guessing. Since your post is rather thin on information.;)

- Nick

I closed WOW and safari and I ended up sitting at 5GB of RAM used. I can post imgur linked screenies of all the processes if that'd help as I do not know how to just upload them onto here.
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,242
Reaction score
1,463
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I closed WOW and safari and I ended up sitting at 5GB of RAM used. I can post imgur linked screenies of all the processes if that'd help as I do not know how to just upload them onto here.

Three things:

1. Reboot/restart the computer & don't launch any apps. How many gigs used now?
2. Do you have anything (apps) that auto-load?
3. What OS version are you running?

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Three things:

1. Reboot/restart the computer & don't launch any apps. How many gigs used now?
2. Do you have anything (apps) that auto-load?
3. What OS version are you running?

- Nick

1. 2.5gb
2. nothing
3. 10.9.4
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,242
Reaction score
1,463
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
1. 2.5gb
2. nothing
3. 10.9.4

Thanks for the info.:) Remember...OS 10.9 manages memory/ram differently than previous OS version's. So just because it looks like a lot of ram is being used in Activity Monitor (compared to what you may have seen in older OS versions)...this may not be an issue.

And as I mentioned above...regarding the slowness with WoW. This may simply be that your computer doesn't have the specs to run WoW fast...or run it at a high or maxed out graphics detail settings.

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks for the info.:) Remember...OS 10.9 manages memory/ram differently than previous OS version's. So just because it looks like a lot of ram is being used in Activity Monitor (compared to what you may have seen in older OS versions)...this may not be an issue.

And as I mentioned above...regarding the slowness with WoW. This may simply be that your computer doesn't have the specs to run WoW fast...or run it at a high or maxed out graphics detail settings.

- Nick

still even on a hardware reset(turning off/on), wouldn't 2.5gb be a lot running with nothing open?
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,242
Reaction score
1,463
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
still even on a hardware reset(turning off/on), wouldn't 2.5gb be a lot running with nothing open?

Has anything changed on your computer recently (I didn't see anything mentioned in your posts)?

If not...maybe this is the way your computer has operated all along (you're just now noticing it)...and thinking this is an issue...when it's really the way your computer has been normally operating.:)

- Nick
 
C

chas_m

Guest
In 10.9, 2.5 gigs of memory being used in one fashion or another (mostly inactive, which doesn't really count), with no apps running is pretty typical. You're not going to really get great performance out of a 10.9 (or 10.10) Mac without at least eight gigs of RAM, an SSD drive, or both.
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Points
1
In 10.9, 2.5 gigs of memory being used in one fashion or another (mostly inactive, which doesn't really count), with no apps running is pretty typical. You're not going to really get great performance out of a 10.9 (or 10.10) Mac without at least eight gigs of RAM, an SSD drive, or both.

I am running 8gb of RAM. And also I don't recall what an SSD is sorry
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Has anything changed on your computer recently (I didn't see anything mentioned in your posts)?

If not...maybe this is the way your computer has operated all along (you're just now noticing it)...and thinking this is an issue...when it's really the way your computer has been normally operating.:)

- Nick

Uhm im not sure to be honest, theres a lot of duplicates of processes on my activity monitor usually. Like at one point I saw 4 XPCD processes running at the same time. I do not know if linking imgurs of my processes list is allowed here but if it is, can you take a look at them and see if they're all normal for the sake of there being something(like a virus, ect). greatly appreciated
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,242
Reaction score
1,463
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Uhm im not sure to be honest, theres a lot of duplicates of processes on my activity monitor usually. Like at one point I saw 4 XPCD processes running at the same time. I do not know if linking imgurs of my processes list is allowed here but if it is, can you take a look at them and see if they're all normal for the sake of there being something(like a virus, ect). greatly appreciated

If you feel something unusual is going on…post some pics of your Activity Monitor processes.

- Nick
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,242
Reaction score
1,463
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Thanks for the photos. I looked them over…and to be honest…I'm not seeing anything special.

- Nick
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Thanks for the photos. I looked them over…and to be honest…I'm not seeing anything special.

- Nick

alright thank you for the review of them. and for the sake of not starting another thread, what would cause plug-in failures? I've tried uninstalling adobe and reinstalling it and it still ends up doing it eventually.
 
C

chas_m

Guest
Why would you have Flash running while playing WOW? (I don't play so forgive me if this a dumb question.)
 
OP
M
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Why would you have Flash running while playing WOW? (I don't play so forgive me if this a dumb question.)

Sorry I didn't state it, its not while I'm running WoW, but rather while I'm watching twitch.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top