You are correct that the CPU use is in the 3-5% range, that in itself isn't the problem. The problem is that it is ALWAYS 3-5% and ALWAYS at the top of the list. That signifies a runaway process in tdepowersave that is not playing nicely. tdepowersave should only require 3-5% of the cpu when it does something, not continually. tdepowersave should only be monitoring input and starting timers, screensavers, suspend, etc.... Those are all negligible and darn sure less that was X is doing. So there is a live Gremlin in tdepowersave somewhere....
Yes, I understood that ALWAYS 3% is an unhealthy indication. That was what I was implying when I shared that kmix and knotification- daemon were always at about 2%.
I don't know whether Slavek's patch will remedy the ALWAYS problem, but we should look at all three apps for why they are consistently at the top of top.
Darrell