New Calibre makes PC run too slowly

rainbowworrier · 11-03-2009, 12:24 PM

I use Calibre a couple of times a day, I really love it! But when I upgraded from v .16 to v .20 I found it chews up all my virtual memory and makes my computer run ver........ry slowly. After doing about 4 or 5 tasks (removing books from the library, editing metadata etc) it comes to a halt and slows my computer right down. It takes me a good 5 minutes to quit and restart Calibre, which then runs fine.....for about 4 or 5 tasks.

Also I can no longer have Firefox open at the same time as Calibre, it seems to take up too much virtual memory now to allow me to use two big programs at once.

Presumably buying a big, fast computer would solve the problem....I'll have to write Santa a hopeful letter. But in case I have been too naughty this year, is there anything I can do to pimp the program so it runs at reasonable speed on the PC I've got?

itimpi · 11-03-2009, 01:00 PM

I have not found the .20 version to be any slower than previous ones. I suspect it is something else that is causing your slowdown.

Toxaris · 11-03-2009, 01:54 PM

I must admit that I also found that my PC is much more slowly with Calibre running in the background. I find myself closing it completely before doing anything else on the PC.

I will look at the memory usage next time. Maybe a memory leak somewhere?

itimpi · 11-03-2009, 02:52 PM

I have posted in a number of threads here the batch file I use to run Calibre that runs it at lower than normal priority to help keep foregound apps responsive.

It does make a big difference to perceived system responsiveness on a single processor single-core system, and does not appear to impact calibre itself much at all.

rainbowworrier · 11-03-2009, 03:58 PM

Thank you for the batch file!

Which directory should it be run from or doesn't it matter?

itimpi · 11-03-2009, 04:44 PM

It can be run from wherever you like.

You may need to edit it to suit your disk layout/directory structure. The comments should make it clear how it all works.

GJN · 11-03-2009, 08:10 PM

Shouldn't that read "PC makes new calibre run too slowly"?
Seriously, though, it sounds like your machine could use more memory. How much do you have?

Toxaris · 11-04-2009, 05:15 AM

I have 4Gb memory, so that should not be a problem...

bthoven · 11-04-2009, 05:16 AM

Several older version of Calibre also gave me the same problem "some times", even I set all the Calibre processes priority to low. I still cannot conclude which scenario have caused the problem. But when my notebook became ve....ry...slow (dual core 1.6ghz, 1.5gb mem), I always found some "Calibre-parallel" process was enjoying eating up my NB memory, sometimes upto 1gb. It does not happen everytime I ran Calibre.

So far so good with .20, fingers crossed!

rainbowworrier · 11-04-2009, 09:36 AM

Mmm....I almost certainly need more memory. I have 1Gb RAM which sounds pretty antiquated these days. It may not even be Calibre that's provoked the problem, maybe Firefox has got more memory hungry lately.

itimpi · 11-04-2009, 10:06 AM

My system has 2GB and that seems OK (I am not running Vista). However looking at Task Manager I regularily exceed a commit charge of 1GB which suggest that if I only had 1GB I would be getting into having Windows paging in progress (which clobbers performance). To get good performance it is a good idea if your physical RAM exceeds the commit value.

11-03-2009, 12:24 PM	#1
rainbowworrier Frazzled Posts: 32 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: UK Device: PocketBook Pro 603	New Calibre makes PC run too slowly I use Calibre a couple of times a day, I really love it! But when I upgraded from v .16 to v .20 I found it chews up all my virtual memory and makes my computer run ver........ry slowly. After doing about 4 or 5 tasks (removing books from the library, editing metadata etc) it comes to a halt and slows my computer right down. It takes me a good 5 minutes to quit and restart Calibre, which then runs fine.....for about 4 or 5 tasks. Also I can no longer have Firefox open at the same time as Calibre, it seems to take up too much virtual memory now to allow me to use two big programs at once. Presumably buying a big, fast computer would solve the problem....I'll have to write Santa a hopeful letter. But in case I have been too naughty this year, is there anything I can do to pimp the program so it runs at reasonable speed on the PC I've got?

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11-03-2009, 01:00 PM	#2
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	I have not found the .20 version to be any slower than previous ones. I suspect it is something else that is causing your slowdown.

11-03-2009, 01:54 PM	#3
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	I must admit that I also found that my PC is much more slowly with Calibre running in the background. I find myself closing it completely before doing anything else on the PC. I will look at the memory usage next time. Maybe a memory leak somewhere?

11-03-2009, 03:58 PM	#5
rainbowworrier Frazzled Posts: 32 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: UK Device: PocketBook Pro 603	Thank you for the batch file! Which directory should it be run from or doesn't it matter?

11-03-2009, 04:44 PM	#6
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	It can be run from wherever you like. You may need to edit it to suit your disk layout/directory structure. The comments should make it clear how it all works.

11-03-2009, 08:10 PM	#7
GJN Guilty Bystander Posts: 104 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Florida Device: MacBook Pro, Kindle, iPad, and other gadgets	Shouldn't that read "PC makes new calibre run too slowly"? Seriously, though, it sounds like your machine could use more memory. How much do you have?

11-04-2009, 05:15 AM	#8
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	I have 4Gb memory, so that should not be a problem...

11-04-2009, 05:16 AM	#9
bthoven Evangelist Posts: 475 Karma: 590 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Bangkok, Thailand Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Several older version of Calibre also gave me the same problem "some times", even I set all the Calibre processes priority to low. I still cannot conclude which scenario have caused the problem. But when my notebook became ve....ry...slow (dual core 1.6ghz, 1.5gb mem), I always found some "Calibre-parallel" process was enjoying eating up my NB memory, sometimes upto 1gb. It does not happen everytime I ran Calibre. So far so good with .20, fingers crossed!

11-04-2009, 09:36 AM	#10
rainbowworrier Frazzled Posts: 32 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: UK Device: PocketBook Pro 603	Mmm....I almost certainly need more memory. I have 1Gb RAM which sounds pretty antiquated these days. It may not even be Calibre that's provoked the problem, maybe Firefox has got more memory hungry lately.

11-04-2009, 10:06 AM	#11
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	My system has 2GB and that seems OK (I am not running Vista). However looking at Task Manager I regularily exceed a commit charge of 1GB which suggest that if I only had 1GB I would be getting into having Windows paging in progress (which clobbers performance). To get good performance it is a good idea if your physical RAM exceeds the commit value.