Why is IntelliJ 13 IDEA so slow after upgrading from version 12?

Question

While using IntelliJ 13 ultimate edition for a week, it just seems really slow.

First of all, the whole IDE stops for a second or so every once in a while. The Java

Answer 1

In my case, GIT integration appears to be causing the editor to be frustratingly slow with 13.

While typing, even comments, with GIT integration turned on, after about 30 characters, the UI freezes for a second or so. Its usually not long, but very annoying.

I am using GIT 1.7.8.0. Running on Windows 7 64 with a solid state drive and 12 gigs of ram and an intel I7 with 8 CPUs. I tried various things, like updating the idea64.exe.vmoptions to use more memory, like -Xmx2400m and -XX:MaxPermSize=2400m, -XX:ParallelGCThreads=6, but it didn't fix the problem.

The git repository is 1.3 gigs with 65,000 files.

I created a new "grails" project in a new git repository, and there is no issue. I created a new grails project in the existing large git repository, and intellij is slow. I turned off git integration by opening the project settings dialog and deleting the git root, and the problem goes away.

I tried disabling all of the GIT background operations through the 13 UI, but it didn't make a difference. I also tried both GIT built-in and native modes, and it made no difference.

In my case the workaround seems to be to disable GIT integration until I need it, and to then just re-add the git root. If anyone else can verify the same problem, then we might report it as an issue.

Answer 2

I had similar issues with a very slow start and heap issues, increasing VM did not make a huge difference, just delayed the inevitable, the fix for me was to invalidate the cache via File > InvalidateCaches/Restart.

https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/2016.1/cleaning-system-cache.html

Answer 3

I have solved my performance issues by switching to the 32 bit mode. It seems to be related with the JRE that IntelliJ runs with. It ships with a 32 bit 1.7 JRE which is used when starting idea.exe. If you start idea64.exe, it uses a 64 bit JRE installed on the system. In my case this was a 1.6 JDK (the one I use for development). This caused IntelliJ to be nearly unusable.

After installing a proper 64 bit 1.7 JDK everything was fine with the 64 bit mode, too.

See the answer on the IntelliJ Support web site.

Answer 4

Increase heap size for the compiler. By default the value is 700m which is a way too small with increasing number of plugins.

At v2019.1 it located here:

Settings -> Build, Execution, Deployment -> Compiler -> Build process heap size (Mbytes)

After I put 4000 there it solved most my performance issues.

Answer 5

I am on 13.1, and I have found the following setting works wonders for me: IDE Settings --> Editor --> Autoreparse delay (ms), which I have set to 1500 (default is 300).

On a large project, the compiler and inspections would be constantly kicking off between interactions. The delay perhaps help to reduce heap pressure and generally make the whole experience a lot quicker. My cpu is a lot cooler as well, which probably helps.

Answer 6

My particular case (Mac) was I edited the info.plist to use java 1.7* (for whatever reason), and it ran like an absolute dog.

Changed back to 1.6* and installed java 1.6, and it was fast.