I've been experiencing this same issue. I saw gnome-system-monitor go up to 200% at one point. I guess that's 100% for each core as it's a dual- core cpu.
I've attached a screenshot showing high CPU usage. I'm using a relatively old Belinea laptop with an Intel Core2 Duo T7100 processor and 2GB of memory. Ubuntu 12.10 (quantal) 32-bit Kernel Linux 3.5.0-21-generic Gnome 3.6.0 ** Attachment added: "screenshot of problem - Ubuntu 12.10" https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-system-monitor/+bug/93847/+attachment/3471005/+files/high_CPU_usage.jpg -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Desktop Bugs, which is a bug assignee. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/93847 Title: Excessive CPU usage by Gnome System Monitor To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-system-monitor/+bug/93847/+subscriptions -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs