Recommendations for optimizing system performance

General system Kernel, boot, graphics & hardware
1

Not sure if I should really do anything at all but it doesn’t hurt to ask.
This is a custom-built desktop with no discrete graphics. Specs pasted below.

Will I benefit from a zen kernel and/or system tweaks?

I run Windows 10 in VirtualBox. In the VM, I run light apps such as Microsoft Word.
Sometimes, on the host machine, I convert videos to a different format, using Handbrake.
Otherwise, I don’t do anything heavy. And I am not a gamer.
My memory usage is usually between 40% and 60% of my 16 Gb RAM.
Should I just leave things as is, or tweak?

inxi -F
System:
  Host: shmuel-arch Kernel: 5.13.10-arch1-1 x86_64 bits: 64 
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.22.4 Distro: EndeavourOS 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME B365M-A v: Rev X.0x 
  serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1203 
  date: 10/10/2019 
CPU:
  Info: 8-Core model: Intel Core i7-9700 bits: 64 type: MCP cache: 
  L2: 12 MiB 
  Speed: 1148 MHz min/max: 800/4700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1148 
  2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] driver: i915 
  v: kernel 
  Device-2: IMC Networks XHC Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  Display: x11 server: X.org 1.20.13 driver: loaded: intel 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: <missing: xdpyinfo> 
  Message: Unable to show advanced data. Required tool glxinfo missing. 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 200 Series PCH HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel 
  Device-2: JMTek LLC. USB PnP Audio Device type: USB 
  driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.13.10-arch1-1 running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.33 running: yes 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  driver: r8168 
  IF: enp3s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full 
  mac: a8:5e:45:e2:87:3c 
  Device-2: Realtek 802.11ac NIC type: USB driver: rtl8821cu 
  IF: wlan0 state: down mac: fe:aa:bd:65:7c:f7 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) 
  type: USB driver: btusb 
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 state: up address: see --recommends 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.26 TiB used: 907.15 GiB (39.3%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37480G size: 447.13 GiB 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Toshiba model: HDWD120 size: 1.82 TiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 38.51 GiB used: 18.85 GiB (49.0%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sda6 
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 96 MiB used: 37 MiB (38.5%) fs: vfat 
  dev: /dev/sda2 
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found. 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8 C mobo: 27.8 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 274 Uptime: 54m Memory: 15.49 GiB used: 6.6 GiB (42.6%) 
  Shell: fish inxi: 3.3.05
2

You can try/use the zen kernel, the gains are more noticeable on older cpus under heavy load and I believe it has the esync patch integrated for wine and support for anbox

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3

The golden rule is “tweak it until it breaks, then tweak it a little bit less”. :grin:

I would start with inxi command using -z to filter out private information when you post on internet. But that is probably my paranoia talking. :wink:

Anyway, with 40-60% memory used I would consider enabling swap. You have ssd disk so that could help in some edge conditions when you decide you want to run something fancy parallel to virtualbox.

It is also important to consider how is your filesystem split into those 2 drives. There are some tweaks for specific applications as well. For example I like this firefox on RAM. It helps a lot if you have your home directory on HDD.

2 Likes