KDE is faster than GNOME

[praveesh]

Atleast in my computer, with all the bells and whistles, the KDE is faster than the GNOME . Iam using KDE 4.3.2 and GNOME 2.26.1 which is shipped with the Ubuntu . The file system is ext4

[the.dark.lord]

Oh, the eternal debate! :)

[CharmyBee]

KDE 3.5 outperforms both, but we all know that's too good to keep around these days.

[praveesh]

Is it odd? Is it only in my computer?

[Tibuda]

It is just me or there are more flamebaits started these last days?

[purgatori]

Uh... no... perhaps if you're running compiz or something, but standard Gnome runs at quite a decent clip on my old Netvista, whereas the base-install of KDE4 is almost unusable. I'm not bashing either one here, as I like them both, but there is a marked difference in performance for me.

[snowpine]

Why wouldn't it be faster? I don't get it. :)

[gnomeuser]

QT4 and KDE are as I understand very threaded by design (at least so says my Programming QT3 book), some GNOME developers seem to shy away from using threads because of the inherent problems with that style of programming and the hardship in getting it right.

This may be one reason why KDE4 seems faster especially on modern multicore machines.

I comment the KDE developers on this fine work, but I will remain a GNOME user as I find the UI much more sanely designed.

I am unsure if manual threading is the right solution, e.g. it is literally impossible as a programmer to determine the right amount of threads for any given machine statically at implementation time. You can't account for what the system is doing, the current load and other running processes, you don't know how many cores are in the machine. Clearly you need some kind of hint from the kernel and toolchain here, akin to what Grand Central Dispatch does for Apples new Snow Leopard OS.

Performance is just one measure of a desktop environment though and should only be used in that context, there are many other factors that play into picking a good default.

*edit*

I forgot to mention, I would be extremely interested in seeing some numbers to show the exact delta between the two if any.

[RiceMonster]

I use KDE, and it runs well on my computer, but I will not call it fast. if you were really concerned about speed, you wouldn't use GNOME or KDE

[praveesh]

Uh... no... perhaps if you're running compiz or something, but standard Gnome runs at quite a decent clip on my old Netvista, whereas the base-install of KDE4 is almost unusable. I'm not bashing either one here, as I like them both, but there is a marked difference in performance for me.

Yes I am running compiz. It's the Gnome of Ubuntu. I have a multi core processor and 512 Mb Nvidia graphics . That may be the cause of the speed difference.

[grturner]

Oh the age old debate, KDE or GNOME. Simply said... They're both good, they don't interchange too well. My advice is to find the one that you like and stick with it.

[Artificial Intelligence]

Moved to Recurring Discussions.

[praveesh]

I use KDE, and it runs well on my computer, but I will not call it fast. if you were really concerned about speed, you wouldn't use GNOME or KDE

Iam not using KDE just for speed . But I was surprised to see the speed at this much eye candy . Are you using the Kde 4.3.x ?

[keplerspeed]

Prav, are you saying KDE is faster for you at loading apps, opening a file manager or maybe faster response with the the desktop cube? Where exactly is it faster, or are you just making a general observation? A general observation with no data to back up your claims is no arguement at all.

The few times I have tried KDE I couldnt really distinguish between them in terms of speed.

[RiceMonster]

Iam not using KDE just for speed . But I was surprised to see the speed at this much eye candy . Are you using the Kde 4.3.x ?

Yes, 4.3.1. I don't have speed problems with it at all, but of course, other things do run faster. I just personally find it silly to compare both by speed, as it's an area neither of them are good at.

[samjh]

Is it odd? Is it only in my computer?

Nope, I've also observed it on my computer. Been using KDE 4.3.0 for a while, and just recently switched to Gnome 2.26.3.

Gnome with Compiz composition is perceivably slower than KDE with KWin composition. However, Gnome is easier on memory footprint by 25-30% during normal use.

[MasterNetra]

For me Gnome consumes half the resources KDE does and is faster. But..your mileage may vary.

[samjh]

But..your mileage may vary.

Exactly. Much depends on setup and usage.

I run a Arch Linux x86_64 system, and the results are as I posted before.

[-grubby]

I think they're both faster.

[samjh]

... than Windows Vista? ;)

* Stokes fire. *

[the.dark.lord]

I think they're both faster.

Then you need to try Xfce, IceWM or any of the other faster WMs out there.

[snowpine]

Windows 98 for the Win!!!

[Artificial Intelligence]

Nothing beats a C64 and its tape recorder.

[Tipped OuT]

KDE is faster then GNOME, when Vista is faster then XP.

Then you need to try Xfce, IceWM or any of the other faster WMs out there.

Those aren't really fast, they're just light weight. Less stress on your hardware.

[Simian Man]

What do you guys mean by faster? Where are your benchmark results? Or are you just going by "feel" - which is subjective to the point of being completely useless.

[Tipped OuT]

What do you guys mean by faster? Where are your benchmark results? Or are you just going by "feel" - which is subjective to the point of being completely useless.

I guess so. But I'm unsure if they mean faster, by more light weight and responsive, or faster by being able to get operations done faster. Like compressing a file.

[-grubby]

... than Windows Vista? ;)

* Stokes fire. *

Hardy har har.

Then you need to try Xfce, IceWM or any of the other faster WMs out there.

I've used several of them extensively.

The point of that post was to poke fun at the debate by making no sense. It meant that they're both faster than each other.

[conorsulli]

Nautilus always seems to open way faster than dolphin for me with the directory icons drawn and all... dolphin takes a few secs.

I wait a long time for the kde-splash to go away too.

I would be more than happy to give kde another shot when things stabilize a bit more and qt is fully upgraded.. including k3b.


But maybe speed has changed since I used it... 4.2 i think.

[Whiffle]

Can't really judge them on just one distro either.

KDE 4.2 in Slack64 is very quick, 4.3 on Ubuntu felt slower. Same hardware.

[samjh]

Probably slower on Ubuntu due to the extra crud on the default installation. Kubuntu is unfortunately not a good KDE distro. Slackware is more KDE-friendly, according to what I've read.