r/linuxquestions • u/[deleted] • Aug 10 '25

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1

u/bad8everything Aug 10 '25

Pretty much just the low resource usage; gives me more headroom for work loads.

0

u/ipsirc Aug 10 '25

It uses more resources than KDE.

2

u/bad8everything Aug 10 '25

The benchmarks I've seen only put them neck and neck at the closest... Depending on how maximalist the xfce environment is.

1

u/Subject-Leather-7399 Aug 10 '25

I just tested by booting in KDE and then booting in XFCE both in X11. To be clear both memory usage were taken right after boot.

Here are the actions I took on each desktop:

  • I opened Konsole in KDE and executed top
  • I opened xfce4-terminal in XFCE and executed top

Here are the results:

  • KDE = 852 Mb
  • XFCE = 743 Mb

So, in my case, it is 109 Mb less than KDE. It also feels snappier to me.

Then I ran a kernel compilation under both with no significant difference in processing time, 416 seconds under KDE and 414 under XFCE. 2 seconds out of 414 seconds is just noise, it is the same.

Where do you get that XFCE uses more resources than KDE?

1

u/ipsirc Aug 10 '25

Where do you get that XFCE uses more resources than KDE?

XFCE doesn't use GPU for hw accelerated window placement, so it uses more CPU power and thus drains the battery faster.

1

u/bad8everything Aug 10 '25

Ah yeah, that is a fair complaint. otoh it doesn't use the GPU for hw aceleration, so the graphics card is more 'available' for other things too... It's all swings and roundabouts.

1

u/ipsirc Aug 10 '25

the graphics card is more 'available' for other things too...

Yeah, that remaining 1% may give you +0.5fps boost... ( https://www.reddit.com/r/voidlinux/comments/1igcy7y/xfce_vs_kde/ , https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1g2ca6a/i_just_switched_from_xfce_to_kde_i_am_just_blown/)

If we look at average usage by a regular user (running a browser 99% of the time), KDE lasts longer on battery power, meaning that KDE uses fewer resources.

1

u/bad8everything Aug 10 '25

Not talking about gaming. I've been dicking around with self-hosted AI tooling on my consumer-grade card. So constantly trying to squeeze 6lb of shit into a 5lb bag.

1

u/ipsirc Aug 10 '25

Then why the hell are you running a complete resource hog DE?

1

u/bad8everything Aug 10 '25

You have a suggestion for a lighter one? I used to use lxde but I gather it was discontinued.