Every time I open a new window on screen, the entire display freezes for 3 seconds. Every time a window is closed, the entire display freezes for 3 seconds. The first few windows after reboot are relatively snappy, but the problem gets worse with time. No other effects visible - everything else seems snappy.
I'll try to list things that might be interesting:
- Thinkpad T540p
- Core i7-4700MQ, Intel HD 4600
- nVidia GeForce GT 730M present, but unused and unconfigured
- High resolution display: 2880x1620, running desktop at this native resolution
- Linux 3.13, Debian
- Gnome 3, Gnome Shell 3.8.4
I'll probably have to start narrowing it down by swapping things one by one, but I created this question here to see if anyone else has had similar problems - this might be a common problem with gnome shell and some mesa variant, or something.
I have now confirmed that gnome-shell takes 100% CPU time while this the freezes are happening.
I have now narrowed the problem down. It is probably caused by extensions, namely frippery bottom panel or the workspace grid extension. Gnome-shell leaks something, which will make it slowly get slower and slower. Full speed is restored by starting looking class and pressing 'r' to restart the entire gnome-shell.
I have not debugged this fully to find out what the exact cause is, as Debian is likely to update my gnome-shell to an even more recent version soon.