Can making CPU-intensive processes lowest priority (19) have adverse effects? When I make a CPU-intensive process lowest priority (niceness of 19), it seems the amount of real memory consumption goes up. Perhaps this has other causes. But, **can making CPU-intensive processes lowest priority have adverse effects?**

Changing the priority/niceness only changes the process's time quantum.

From _Understanding the Linux Kernel_ (3rd ed.) §7.2.1.1:

![Table 7-2. Typical priority values for a conventional process](