performance: 0.963 KVM: 0.859 device: 0.837 graphic: 0.830 other: 0.735 network: 0.606 semantic: 0.550 PID: 0.494 socket: 0.422 debug: 0.416 boot: 0.392 files: 0.296 vnc: 0.273 permissions: 0.261 cirrus vga is very slow in qemu-kvm-0.12 As has been reported multiple times (*), there were a regression in qemu-kvm from 0.11 to 0.12, which causes significant slowdown in cirrus vga emulation. For windows guests, where "standard VGA" driver works reasonable well, -vga std is a good workaround. But for e.g. linux guests, where vesa driver is painfully slow by its own, that's not a solution. (*) debian qemu-kvm bug report #574988: http://bugs.debian.org/574988#17 debian qemu bugreport (might be related): http://bugs.debian.org/575720 kvm mailinglist thread: http://