Hello Rik, I did some more benchmarks on this --- puh, took me some time...:-) Test machine: 256 MB, K7 550 SlotA, SCSI, IDE, ReiserFS 3.6.23, Blocksize=4K Test: dbench 48 2.4.0-test13-pre5 + Rik's VM fix #2 /dev/sda7: Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 6.07 seconds = 10.54 MB/sec Throughput 7.54785 MB/sec (NB=9.43482 MB/sec 75.4785 MBit/sec) 41.200u 95.870s 13:59.50 16.3% 0+0k 0+0io 1797pf+0w -O -mcpu=k6 -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -malign-functions=4 -fschedule-insns2 -fexpensive-optimizations Throughput 7.7981 MB/sec (NB=9.74762 MB/sec 77.981 MBit/sec) 42.180u 96.620s 13:32.54 17.0% 0+0k 0+0io 1799pf+0w -------------------------------------------------- /dev/hdc1: Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 2.89 seconds = 22.15 MB/sec Throughput 9.4113 MB/sec (NB=11.7641 MB/sec 94.113 MBit/sec) 36.990u 117.720s 11:13.24 22.9% 0+0k 0+0io 1505pf+0w -O -mcpu=k6 -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -malign-functions=4 -fschedule-insns2 -fexpensive-optimizations Throughput 10.254 MB/sec (NB=12.8175 MB/sec 102.54 MBit/sec) 36.620u 112.870s 10:17.91 24.1% 0+0k 0+0io 1505pf+0w ******************************************************************************* 2.4.0-test13-pre7 /dev/sda7: Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 6.07 seconds = 10.54 MB/sec Throughput 9.61382 MB/sec (NB=12.0173 MB/sec 96.1382 MBit/sec) 43.950u 96.790s 10:59.06 21.3% 0+0k 0+0io 1746pf+0w -O -mcpu=k6 -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -malign-functions=4 -fschedule-insns2 -fexpensive-optimizations Throughput 10.8312 MB/sec (NB=13.539 MB/sec 108.312 MBit/sec) 44.510u 93.000s 9:44.99 23.5% 0+0k 0+0io 1795pf+0w ------------------------------------------------- /dev/hdc1: Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 2.89 seconds = 22.15 MB/sec Throughput 12.3312 MB/sec (NB=15.414 MB/sec 123.312 MBit/sec) 35.220u 112.630s 8:33.83 28.7% 0+0k 0+0io 1505pf+0w -O -mcpu=k6 -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -malign-functions=4 -fschedule-insns2 -fexpensive-optimizations Throughput 14.4331 MB/sec (NB=18.0414 MB/sec 144.331 MBit/sec) 36.060u 119.760s 7:19.00 35.4% 0+0k 0+0io 1505pf+0w Addition: Your fix show some 'bad' swap behavior on my 'normal' load (3D medical visualization). It do some 'little' swap out and in. Mostly the (not needed?) swap in hurts performance. A little 'cp -a X11R6 X11R6-new' take more than 2 times longer. If my system hits the 'ZERO swap wall' the currently running process (render) abort immediately and restart. With test13-pre7 it runs several times longer (render generates some more frames) but then load goes up to 10 and render would be killed. SunWave1>cat /proc/version Linux version 2.4.0-test13-pre7 (root@SunWave1) (gcc version 2.95.2 19991024 (release)) #1 Sat Dec 30 22:13:04 CET 2000 SunWave1>free -t total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 255728 164980 90748 0 34160 46488 -/+ buffers/cache: 84332 171396 Swap: 200772 8 200764 Total: 456500 164988 291512 Happy New Year! I'll be back on Monday. -Dieter -- Dieter Nützel Graduate Student, Computer Science University of Hamburg Department of Computer Science Cognitive Systems Group Vogt-Kölln-Straße 30 D-22527 Hamburg, Germany email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] @home: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/