Arch Linux

stefanwilkens

Member

From: Enschede, the Netherlands

Registered: 2008-12-10

Posts: 624

xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

Compiz judt dropped from 70 to about 40 on my intel GMA965 (x3100), glx went from 600 to 350

Ever since the update today, effects have been severely choppy and near unusable. Has anybody else noticed this with the recent update?

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Arch i686 on Phenom X4 | GTX760

Mystal

Member

From: fancy glass enclosure

Registered: 2007-04-27

Posts: 13

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

*raises hand* I have.

My Compiz dropped from about 80 to 50 here.

jperry

Member

Registered: 2009-01-30

Posts: 17

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

It's because the updated version of xf86-video-intel has EXA and XAA acceleration support removed. It only supports UXA acceleration now.  But I don't know why anybody thought this was a good idea. I also have X3100 and experienced the huge performance drop. Of course, we could always downgrade, but is there any way to improve UXA performance? Otherwise, the penalty outweighs the advantages.

dienadel

Member

Registered: 2005-12-23

Posts: 179

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

me too, i downgraded to previous version

anrxc

Member

From: Croatia

Registered: 2008-03-22

Posts: 834

Website

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

Ever since the update today, effects have been severely choppy and near unusable. Has anybody else noticed this with the recent update?

It is probably because of this commit. Some days later a workaround was added. Install xf86-video-intel-git and control it from xorg.conf with:

# Improve apps that render frames at less than refresh rate
#Option       "SwapbuffersWait"       "false"

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You need to install an RTFM interface.

panosk

Member

From: Athens, Greece

Registered: 2008-10-29

Posts: 241

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

Same here. Indeed, previously EXA was used, now UXA is used but the performance hit is huge. glxgears fps dropped dramatically from around 800 to 200, games are slower, compositing also feels a little jerky. I will downgrade too because I don't want to create an xorg.conf to work around the solution.

combuster

Member

From: Serbia

Registered: 2008-09-30

Posts: 711

Website

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

If u can't wait try with 2.6.31-rc2, glxgears 850fps and this new driver fixed some problems with resolutions lower than native one while running in full screen...

leeyee

Member

From: Kingston, Canada

Registered: 2009-01-07

Posts: 150

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

I'm not sure if it is connected to this upgrade, but my laptop would go to black screen without response after idle for a while. It should be screensaver running there~ I have to hard restart to get out of this, annoying!

glxgears shows 800FPS compared with 900FPS with former version, it's acceptable. 2D and 3D applications still work fine.

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Archlinux x86_64 on Thinkpad T400
Intel X4500MHD / ATI HD3470 Graphics, 2G RAM, 160G HD

Shapeshifter

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 230

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

On a GMA945 I don't have any of these problems. Make sure you're using KMS, so that DRI2 and GEM are both being used, and UXA should play nice.

Square

Member

Registered: 2008-06-11

Posts: 435

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

glxgears is reading 850 FPS on average for me now, when previously it read 1300+ with my X4500MHD.

I'm not terribly worried, and plan on waiting for something new to hit the repos.

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Renan Birck

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2007-11-11

Posts: 401

Website

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

I would use KMS, if it didn't kill dual-head/monitor out here. For now I've disabled it and downgraded my driver, and I'm getting 900FPS with Intel X3100.

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x64 Arch + KDE|last.fm|twitter|blog|git|stack exchange|AUR

d7wang

Member

Registered: 2009-05-17

Posts: 23

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

I have to remove it and use xf86-video-intel-stable from the AUR because it ALWAYS hang my laptop with a blank screen. Such driver should be marked EXPERIMENTAL but not STABLE !!!!! It make me feel unsafe for those drivers. If such things happen frequently, no one can promise that something which is possible to damage the hardware will not appear in the source.

andrasf

Member

Registered: 2009-06-30

Posts: 9

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

Mine is unusable since upgrade. I use intel legacy right now. I guess I'm gonna look at aur, and take care of video driver myself (this is not the first time it messes up my system)

SomeGuyDude

Member

Registered: 2008-10-09

Posts: 271

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

Gears went from 850fps to 360fps, Compiz transparency is all screwed up. Using Openbox now because I just don't feel like messing with all the different drivers.

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And in the midst of such perfection,
I can't help but feel diseased.

andrasf

Member

Registered: 2009-06-30

Posts: 9

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

Gears 800->150 for me (I have a Celeron with x3100), windows extremely slow, X.org around 100% cpu usage. This is a very good driver upgrade :>

eldragon

Member

From: Buenos Aires

Registered: 2008-11-18

Posts: 1,029

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

the reason must be that everyone was using EXA, which was stripped from that driver. now it only supports UXA.

the good news is that your performance will mostly come back on 2.6.31 (it does here on 945gma).

stefanwilkens

Member

From: Enschede, the Netherlands

Registered: 2008-12-10

Posts: 624

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

the reason must be that everyone was using EXA, which was stripped from that driver. now it only supports UXA.

the good news is that your performance will mostly come back on 2.6.31 (it does here on 945gma).

I forced UXA / DRI2 on the previous driver and had good performance compared to this recent driver update, so I'm not convinced that UXA is the only cause here.

I'll have a go at KMS and report back if things improve

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Arch i686 on Phenom X4 | GTX760

stefanwilkens

Member

From: Enschede, the Netherlands

Registered: 2008-12-10

Posts: 624

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

well I've enabled KMS through the "early start" method listed on the wiki:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Int … _.28KMS.29

it didnt' improve the framerates or performance in 2d / 3d, but tty switching is sexy

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Arch i686 on Phenom X4 | GTX760

andrasf

Member

Registered: 2009-06-30

Posts: 9

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

Ok, the problem was here, the driver works fine now.

Salamander1978

Member

From: Aachen, DE

Registered: 2007-10-24

Posts: 30

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

Installing xf86-video-intel-stable 2.7.1 from AUR made the GUI stuff(gtk+, qt) be drawn in decent speed again.  Thx for the hint.

SomeGuyDude

Member

Registered: 2008-10-09

Posts: 271

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

So what the hell is Intel doing with this driver that seems to make each new version break everything and then force us to wait for the next kernel? It's getting absurd.

---

And in the midst of such perfection,
I can't help but feel diseased.

Salamander1978

Member

From: Aachen, DE

Registered: 2007-10-24

Posts: 30

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

So what the hell is Intel doing with this driver that seems to make each new version break everything and then force us to wait for the next kernel? It's getting absurd.

From what I've heard Intel puts money and time into fixing the complexity problems involved when writing graphics card drivers for linux.  This is good! 

I also heard this involved heavy refactoring, which always causes some trouble for a (short) period of time.  This is unavoidable.

I'm not happy with the performance right now as well, but at least my intel based notebook doesn't crash as frequent as my nvidia driven PC.

Time will tell if its worth the hassle, but it seems to me their work is pretty important for the future of desktop linux.

Best,
-- Maik

SomeGuyDude

Member

Registered: 2008-10-09

Posts: 271

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

I agree it's a noble effort, but keep that "testing" or "beta". The UXA acceleration just plain doesn't work with Compiz. Transparency is terribly FUBAR.

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And in the midst of such perfection,
I can't help but feel diseased.

icanfly0307

Member

Registered: 2009-01-19

Posts: 16

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

Hi, I just installed arch linux yesterday and got it up and running. However, the fps from glxgears is extremely low: around 80 fps. I used to get ~330fps in fedora 11 on my i815 graphics card. I tried the "MigrationHueristic" "greedy" hack and tried to switch back to the legacy driver but it didn't help. I also have "nomodeset" in my kernel line for grub, so kms isn't an issue. any thoughts? thx.

loving arch for it's speed so far.

Last edited by icanfly0307 (2009-07-14 18:44:47)

fatty

Member

Registered: 2009-03-15

Posts: 16

Re: xf86-video-intel 2.7.99.901-1 just halved framerate

How can i find out what acceleration method i'm using? I've installed xf86-video-intel-newest from AUR with no xorg.conf. I also use KMS 'early start' like described in the wiki.