diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/CommandLauncher.java b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/CommandLauncher.java
index d0bcd1872ae..a37b0b0db25 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/CommandLauncher.java
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/CommandLauncher.java
@@ -154,27 +154,40 @@ public class CommandLauncher {
 		closure.runNonBlocking();
 		byte buffer[] = new byte[1024];
 		int nbytes;
+		int waited = 0;
+		boolean flushed = false;
 		while (!monitor.isCanceled() && closure.isAlive()) {
 			nbytes = 0;
 			try {
 				if ( errInPipe.available() > 0 ) {
 					nbytes = errInPipe.read(buffer);
 					err.write(buffer, 0, nbytes);
-					err.flush();
 				}
 				if ( inputPipe.available() > 0 ) {
 					nbytes = inputPipe.read(buffer);
 					output.write(buffer, 0, nbytes);
-					output.flush();
 				}
 			} catch( IOException e) {
 			}
 			monitor.worked(0);
 			if (nbytes == 0) {
+				//DELAY * 10 is half a second with no new input, flush anything thats waiting
+				if( !flushed && waited > DELAY * 10 ){
+					try {
+						err.flush();
+						output.flush();
+						flushed = true;
+					} catch (IOException e1) {
+					}
+					waited = 0;
+				}
 				try {
-						Thread.sleep(DELAY);
+					waited += DELAY;
+					Thread.sleep(DELAY);
 				} catch (InterruptedException ie) {
 				}
+			} else {
+				flushed = false;
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/ui/buildconsole/BuildConsolePartitioner.java b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/ui/buildconsole/BuildConsolePartitioner.java
index 56b7cf16d58..5151f39d6c5 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/ui/buildconsole/BuildConsolePartitioner.java
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/ui/buildconsole/BuildConsolePartitioner.java
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ public class BuildConsolePartitioner
 	 */
 
 	public void appendToDocument(final String text, final BuildConsoleStream stream) {
+		if( text.length() == 0 )
+			return;
+		
 		Runnable r = new Runnable() {
 
 			public void run() {
@@ -298,7 +301,8 @@ public class BuildConsolePartitioner
 		}
 
 		public void flush() throws IOException {
-			appendToDocument(readBuffer(), fStream);
+			if( fBuffer.length() > 0 )
+				appendToDocument(readBuffer(), fStream);
 			fManager.showConsole();
 		}
 
@@ -308,7 +312,8 @@ public class BuildConsolePartitioner
 
 		public synchronized void write(byte[] b, int off, int len) throws IOException {
 			super.write(b, off, len);
-			flush();
+			if( fBuffer.length() > 4096 )
+				flush();
 		}
 	}