Kernel Task slowing down Everything

Suddenly this morning, a Kernel Task using over 700 MB RAM is slowing down my Mac Pro. Saving in Photoshop gives the wait cursor, and slow progress bars. I have 8 2.8 GHz cores and 10 GB RAM! What is going on? Mountain Lion, in spite of a carefully prepared clean install, has been buggy with numerous glitches. The most annoying Mac OS I can remember since OS 9.

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion, 8 x 2.8 GHz 10 GB RAM, Radeon 4870

Posted on Sep 10, 2012 11:17 AM

16 replies

Sep 22, 2013 10:24 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi everyone!

Seraching and searching everywhere, I've probably found the explanation for this problem:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3246#intel4000

The Intel HD 4000 graphic card consumes up to 768Mb from RAM. That's why kernel_task is using this amount of memory.

Hope this helps.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Kernel Task slowing down Everything

Welcome to Apple Support Community

A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.

Learn more Sign up