What's this?: idle_threa?

[aaike]

Recently I noticed (I have cycles running all the time) that my CPU-usage was higher than normal without even doing anything special. So I typed top in the terminal and this is what I got: (see attachment)

I noticed that a hig percentage of the processor time was used for 2 things: the finder itself and "idle_trea"... It's mainly for the last that I am very concerned. Anyone knows what this is (or how I can find out)?

 

[Matrix Agent]

I believe that means idle threads. Other than that I know nothing.

 

[aaike]

I found it myself, sorry guys! That Idle thread thing is in fact nothing to worry about isn't it? The real reason was that I left a movie file (the two towers-next lord of the rings) selected in the finder and it seemed to play all by itself in the background. It wasn't intended and as I noticed now how much of my processor-time it consumes I'll keep an eye on this! Maybe a good thing to know for you anyway (just sharing an experience)?!

 

[Sogni]

aaike, it's nothing to worry about really, and I wish that was easier to see actually.

It's pretty much telling you how much of your CPU is available for other processes, but those "threads" have nothing to do at the moment so they're taking a nap.

Mine is usually around the 150% mark because of my dual processors! hehe