ATI open driver bad performance under kde

flaque · 2011-09-22 03:00:04

Hi! I've been using archlinux for about a year, so I know how to handle myself around here

The thing is, I recently moved from a customized Xfce 4.8 (with compiz, awn, etc) to KDE 4.7 and I couldn't help but notice that the game Teeworlds now runs noticeable slow when kwin effects and compositing are turned on. It runs perfectly when compositing is suspended.

My system is Athlon II (4 x 3 GHz), 4 Gb RAM (using arch x86_64) and most importantly ATI HD 5850 (using xf86-video-ati).

The thing is, just for the sake of trying, I installed openSuse 11.4 x86_64 (KDE 4.6, which used R600 classic 7.10 according to sysinfo) and everything worked all right! (Teeworlds running perfectly with kwin compositing turned on, same effects).

I just installed lib32-mesa{,-demos} and lib32-ati-dri just in case, and it's still the same.

What could be happening? How can I get it to work properly in arch?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Original post title was ATI open driver slower than in other distros, why?, changed it to better describe the issues.

Last edited by flaque (2011-09-25 20:25:34)

flaque · 2011-09-22 23:22:21

More info on this:

I set Teeworlds to display the fps ingame, and it stays at 59 with and without kwin's compositing enabled. Also, I made some demos of the game (using the built in recording), and when I play them they all look perfectly, no slowness, no lag, again with and without compositing enabled, even though the game did "render" (if it's okay to call it like that) a bit slowly when compositing was on.

* Just for the record, I tested this on some internet server with ping around 70, and on a local server with ping 8.

Any ideas??

whitethorn · 2011-09-23 01:03:58

I'm just guessing here, but might it have something to do with vsync? It is an older post and I'm not sure if it applies, but maybe you need to up the vsync rate for kwin. Try setting it to 60 or a little higher.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=870266

flaque · 2011-09-23 02:23:39

I tried with some values for MaxFPS but nothing changed (of course, restarting kwin each time).

Checking the box "Suspend desktop effects for fullscreen windows" under Settings>Effects>Advanced did solve the issue for one or two times, but mostly it just made Plasma/Teeworlds/X crash when opening or closing the game

Now I just disabled vsync from KDE System Settings and Teeworlds works properly! And most importantly, it doesn't seem to affect effects performance (no tearing or anything like that), so I guess that must have been the reason.

Anyways, I had it enabled in openSuse and everything worked all right, dunno why it didn't here... (I mean, I still don't know why, which is what I wanted to know, but hey, it works now, so )

I believe my problem is solved, thanks for your help

EDIT: Took of the [solved] tag because of another user with same problem.

Last edited by flaque (2011-09-25 20:26:33)

sasa13e · 2011-09-25 19:05:01

Hi, I have your problem too,
My system is Athlon II (4 x 3 GHz), 8 Gb RAM (using arch x86_64) and most importantly ATI HD 4250 (using xf86-video-ati).
I disabled vsync from KDE System Settings and enable "Suspend desktop effects for fullscreen windows" and Teeworlds(quakelive too) NOT works properly! I cann't disable VSync in my system!!!!!!!! I tried with some values for MaxFPS but nothing changed
glxgears = ~60 FPS
I also add (from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AT … nce_tuning ):

Section "Device"
Identifier "My Graphics Card"
Driver "radeon"
Option "DRI" "on"
Option "EXAVSync" "off" # EXAVSync is explained above.
EndSection

in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, disable VSync with programm driconf
~~~~~~~~~

Any ideas??

Last edited by sasa13e (2011-09-25 19:16:52)

flaque · 2011-09-25 20:31:50

Take into account that, as I said before, the option "Suspend desktop effects for fullscreen windows" did not work correctly in my system. It would work one or two random times, but mostly it would cause Teeworlds to crash at load, or plasma to crash when Teeworlds was closed, forcing me to kill X from a tty.

Do the games run properly when desktop effects are manually suspended? (consider that your graphics card is not as powerfull as mine, and that I had previously tested that Teeworlds should run perfectly with full desktop effects enabled on my system)

sasa13e · 2011-09-25 20:44:03

Game run properly, without lags, but I would like to run game without VSync (fps 125 or more)(sorry bad english %) )

I have second computer
Intel E7400, 3Gb , Intel X4500 , Arch x64. KDE.
And cann't disable VSync too....

ADD:
Install Awesome3, but VSync working

Last edited by sasa13e (2011-09-26 07:41:20)

sasa13e · 2011-09-26 07:54:32

When I run from awesome:

~$ sudo vblank_mode=0 glxgears
ATTENTION: default value of option vblank_mode overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: default value of option vblank_mode overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: option value of option vblank_mode ignored.
ATTENTION: option value of option vblank_mode ignored.
302 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.216 FPS
301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.020 FPS

Last edited by sasa13e (2011-09-26 07:54:52)

flaque · 2011-09-26 14:59:13

Sorry, I don't know enough to help you. Maybe if you try in kde forums?

Arch Linux

#1 2011-09-22 03:00:04

ATI open driver bad performance under kde

#2 2011-09-22 23:22:21

Re: ATI open driver bad performance under kde

#3 2011-09-23 01:03:58

Re: ATI open driver bad performance under kde

#4 2011-09-23 02:23:39

Re: ATI open driver bad performance under kde

#5 2011-09-25 19:05:01

Re: ATI open driver bad performance under kde

#6 2011-09-25 20:31:50

Re: ATI open driver bad performance under kde

#7 2011-09-25 20:44:03

Re: ATI open driver bad performance under kde

#8 2011-09-26 07:54:32

Re: ATI open driver bad performance under kde

#9 2011-09-26 14:59:13

Re: ATI open driver bad performance under kde

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