Massive artifacts, redraw and performance problems: xorg 1.8 and Intel

Shapeshifter · 2010-06-28 15:07:04

Hi there.

Since the update to xorg-server 1.8 my intel GMA950 powered lap top is seriously acting up.

*Performance has dropped significantly, Games or compiz run slower than before
*Font drawing is sometimes garbled, sometimes not
*Some windows or parts of windows (sometimes only the decorations) show artifacts
*Drawing of fonts while typing is delayed by 1 or more characters sometimes

It might be related to this bug or the problem described in this thread.

Just look at this screenshot:

I tired moving xorg.conf, I tried running compiz with --indirect-rendering, I tried all kinds of options in xorg.conf and all but it just remains broken like this. Has anyone got similar problems and a solution?

Last edited by Shapeshifter (2010-06-28 15:07:21)

gabe_ · 2010-06-28 15:49:14

Lots of people are having similar problems... As far as I know, there is no solid solution yet. The best bet seems to be downgrading, as last I heard the latest git releases suffered from other stability issues. Here's another thread about it:

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=99488

olive · 2010-07-07 12:49:16

I experience similar problems. Although I have not seen performance problems, I experience the artifacts in the windows that you describe (although it appears more severe in your case). I have submitted a bug report about this (including a screenshot): http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/20098

eldragon · 2010-07-07 23:58:26

disable tiling (man intel)

run compiz with indirect-rendering and you should be set.

thats how im dealing with it, some apps like hydrogen still break.

olive · 2010-07-08 03:06:21

eldragon wrote:

disable tiling (man intel)
run compiz with indirect-rendering and you should be set.
thats how im dealing with it, some apps like hydrogen still break.

Without tilling glxgears goes from ~ 700 FPS to 45 and the problem with the artifacts persists. I think the best way to deal with it now is to downgrade to xorg 1.7. That fixes all these kind of problems. As there are many people experiencing these kinds of problems, it will be fixed in future releases. What are the new functionality of xorg 1.8 ? It uses udev instead of hal (which is IMHO a good idea but I do not think these bugs are related to that). Why try to fix something that worked?

Last edited by olive (2010-07-08 03:09:05)

Shapeshifter · 2010-07-11 12:22:13

If with "disable tiling" you're referring to "Option "Tiling" "false"" in the device section of xorg.conf: I've been running it like this for years and it's been fine. Now it doesn't make a difference if it's true or false. I tried all kinds of combinations of starting compiz and they all don't make a difference:

compiz --indirect-rendering --replace --sm-disable ccp &
compiz --replace --sm-disable --ignore-desktop-hints ccp &
LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=true compiz --replace --sm-disable ccp &

and variations of these...

George.Harmony · 2010-07-11 14:44:35

I've been having the same issue but not to the extent of the OP.

I read the man for intel

 man intel

and added these three lines to my xorg.conf

    Option         "XvPreferOverlay"     "false"
    Option         "SwapbuffersWait"     "false"    
    Option         "Tiling"         "false"  #{edit: after doing some testing I found tiling made no differnece so I ended up commenting it out}

The first option I added because the man says

The overlay
behaves incorrectly in the presence of compositing, but some
prefer it due to it syncing to vblank in the absence of com‐
positing

I use compiz ergo i have compositing and I noticed my video tearing and skipping sometimes. Seems to work fine now (more testing will be required)

The second option I added because the man says

Note  that  when enabled, this option can
              adversely affect  the  framerate  of  applications  that  render
              frames at less than refresh rate.

I have a hunch compiz probably isn't rendering at the refresh rate and also video would be rendered at less than my vert refresh of 60. So I disabled it.

The third and last option I added was because the man says

In most cases (especially for  complex  rendering),
              tiling dramatically improves performance.

Well this may be a case where it doesn't and the posters above have noticed improvements. {edit: after doing some testing I found this made no differnece so I ended up commenting it out}

In the end moving windows around the screen do not tear anymore and my video is smoother. I enabled all three at once so it maybe that one or a combination of 2 or possibly all 3 resulted in change. I suspect I will do some more testing but hopefully this is a place to start fro some of you having this issue.

Last edited by George.Harmony (2010-07-11 21:21:17)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-06-28 15:07:04

Massive artifacts, redraw and performance problems: xorg 1.8 and Intel

#2 2010-06-28 15:49:14

Re: Massive artifacts, redraw and performance problems: xorg 1.8 and Intel

#3 2010-07-07 12:49:16

Re: Massive artifacts, redraw and performance problems: xorg 1.8 and Intel

#4 2010-07-07 23:58:26

Re: Massive artifacts, redraw and performance problems: xorg 1.8 and Intel

#5 2010-07-08 03:06:21

Re: Massive artifacts, redraw and performance problems: xorg 1.8 and Intel

#6 2010-07-11 12:22:13

Re: Massive artifacts, redraw and performance problems: xorg 1.8 and Intel

#7 2010-07-11 14:44:35

Re: Massive artifacts, redraw and performance problems: xorg 1.8 and Intel

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