High kernel_task Memory Usage on MBP mid 2012 after 10.8.3 upgrade

mantheybln wrote:

I'm having this problem as well on my MBPr 15,4 , 256 GB SSD and 8GB of RAM.

kernel_task shows 1.11 to 1.2 GB of memory consumption.

On my macbook unibody late 2008 (256GB SSD / 8GB RAM) with 10.8.2 the kernel_task shows only around 400MB.

Both macbooks have the similar configuration and installed tools.

After the update of my macbook unibody late 2008 from 10.8.2 the kernel_task shows around 600 MB of consumption instead of around 400 MB.

I'm not sure how to detect 3rd party kernel extension, but the kextstat tool shows only "com.apple".. modules.

I guess the difference 600MB -> 1.2GB to the MBPr is caused by different kernel modules for different hardware.

did you count Safari webcontent and Kernel together in the older OS versions? And did you do this in 10.8.3 also? What differences do you get?

Memory normal yes, but kernel_task 900 , 1 gb i think is so much from old version 10.8.2 have 400 max 600 mb, and in Macbook pro 13 inch Battery is less , and heats up quickly ,this is not normal apple developers must be fixed the problems

in old it was more than 1GB for Safari and Kernel together, that has not changed very much: OS AND Safari have been changed in this new update.

This is likely to come from Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB . 400 + 512 = 912, Is it possible to be stored in RAM. but it is possible again to return kernel_task to 400, 600 mb But here should help Apple developers.

I had this on my MBP mid-2010 8GB. Also observed >50% System CPU utilization.

I restarted while holding the shift key down. Looked as though the firmware was being updated (progress bar on grey apple start-up screen.

Once this occurred, upon reboot, the problem was gone.

I suspect a firmware update failed to install during the 10.8.3 install.

Hope this helps(tm)!

Dan.

Hmmm... I may have indeed just started in safe mode. However, rebooting without holding the shift-key down does not cause the problem to return.

Have a Macbook Air with 8 gig ram. After upgrade to 10.8.3 i noticed 1.2Gig kernel_task then found this task. Nothing installed since a while, only the OS update +Xcode update for me.

i'm also bumping into this thread as someone now using 10.8 for the first time on a new 8 Gig MBP. my kernel task reliably uses > 1G and so i'm wondering what that's about. i got a good deal on the just ( ! ) 8 gig MBP, and the only extension i have are:

- MenuMeters

- Flash

- TeXdistribution

could any of these be the issue? else, if MacOS is now taking > 1 G for system, it's seeming even more like Microsoft.

Well how about this ... 2.57 GB for the kernel_task. Safari/webcontent etc are listed separately. This is on an early 2013 rMBP (10,1) running 10.8.3.

MBPr 15", 8G Ram. After 1.8.3. kernel_task used up 1.19GB. The worst part is that wired memory, 5.3G? The usage of the wired memory seems never went down, and when it used up ~ 7G, it will hang my macbook. Never happen before the update and I didn't install any new software after the OS update.

Pals, I think the explanation is:

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

Intel HD graphocs 4000 consumes up to 768Mb from RAM...

Hope that helps...

I have a macbook pro early 2011(13-inch) with the last OSX(Mavericks). My Activity Monitor shows 372.6Mb max on kernel_task activity, but my system starts slow(above 3min or more) and in some moments it becomes unuseful and very laggy, I don't know why. I'm start believing it's something with the HDD but what if I replace it and the problem is still there...

I have this problem too and I personally don't think it's normal. I have 12Gb of memory in my iMac and until the latest update it has always been fast, since then however it is considerably slower, with apps such as photoshop and illustrator (which have run well for the last year) now slowing to a crawl!

I checked activity monitor and with nothing else running (no apps i mean) the kernel_task is using 1.07Gb of memory. Whats more confusing is when I double click it to view statistics it shows Real Memory Size: 1.92Gb, and Virtual Memory Size: 11.59Gb! My overall Virtual Memory is 13.79Gb so thats 11.59 just for kernel_task!

Its also writing more to disk than anything else (close to 4Gb) andmy Memory Used is 5.61Gb! and i've only got Safari open!

It has never been this bad, I have always had 9-10Gb free. Whats going on?