Gary DeSorbo <isasitis@uchicago.edu> writes:
> Postgres is configured as follows:
> sort_mem = 128672
> shared_buffers = 60800
> fsync = false
Yipes. Back off that sort_mem setting --- that's 128M *per sort*,
which will undoubtedly run you out of memory (or at least into serious
swapping) as soon as several processes try to do concurrent sorts.
Something in the vicinity of 5 or 10 meg is probably more reasonable.
If you have multiple drives consider relocating the WAL (pg_xlog/)
onto a different drive, preferably one that normally doesn't touch
anything but WAL.
regards, tom lane