CPU high because memory pressure
If memory is under pressure, the system does extra work that shows up as CPU usage.
Common symptoms
- CPU and memory usage rise together
- Swap becomes active
- Performance collapses suddenly
Likely causes
- Not enough RAM
- Too many workers
- Heavy allocation and GC pressure
Evidence to look for
Swap activity is non-zero
Available memory falls sharply
CPU rises but throughput does not
What it usually means
The system is spending CPU cycles managing memory instead of doing useful work.
What to do next
- 1Reduce worker count
- 2Add RAM or reduce memory footprint
- 3Cut unnecessary allocations
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