$ time ./pthread # main uses lots of CPU time real 0m2.003s user 0m1.048s sys 0m0.955s At the same time in another window: $ mpstat -P ALL 1 1 12:39:08 PM CPU %usr %nice %sys %iowait %irq %soft %steal %guest %gnice %idle 12:39:09 PM all 13.22 0.00 11.47 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 75.31 12:39:09 PM 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00 12:39:09 PM 1 0.99 0.00 0.99 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 98.02 12:39:09 PM 2 50.00 0.00 45.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.00 12:39:09 PM 3 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 99.00 ### $ time ./pthread_cond # almost no CPU usage real 0m2.004s user 0m0.001s sys 0m0.004s ### $ time ./pthread_pipe # almost no CPU usage real 0m2.004s user 0m0.004s sys 0m0.000s