Version: 2.1 (using 4.1.60 (KDE 4.1.60 (KDE 4.2 >= 20080709)), Gentoo) Compiler: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-gcc OS: Linux (x86_64) release 2.6.24-gentoo-r8.Sheridan.home.amd new konsole (kde4, svn) works much slower than old konsole (kde3)
Do you have an NVidia graphics card? If so, please try launching Konsole with the --notransparency option.
On KDE 4.1.0 with konsole 2.1 (Linux, with nvidia card, no compositing), I get the same issue. Konsole spikes the X cpu usage to 100% (nothing else I can find does this), makes drawing/redrawing very slow. On nvidia card, --notransparency does nothing, and konsole appears unaffected by Xrender/2D improvements. I can load konsole 1.6.6 in the same KDE4 environment and it works like normal.
Appears to relate to Bug #160467 (Slow performance with NVidia graphics).
Closing as a duplicate of #160467. Performance should have improved somewhat with the latest NVidia graphics drivers. Please ask Gentoo support for help installing them. *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 160467 ***