Better performance from Iris Plus Graphics 655 NUC8BEH [Solved]

kendew · 2021-03-18 18:12:47

I'm posting this question especially concerning two NUC8i5BEH computers that I have that use Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655, but this might relate to any Intel chip. I'm basically interested in any insights on how to tweak the BIOS, picom, or what software to install to get the best possible graphic performance.
I'm pretty satisfied with how things are working. At first I installed and used Intel's xf86-video-intel drive because it seemed logical Intel should work best with Intel. However, even using Option "TearFree" "true" in the end I found the modesetting driver worked better for my setup, so I'm using that.
I also installed vulkan-intel. Whether or not that helps I would like to know.
I have both LXQt and Openbox as DEs/WMs. With LXQt I use kwin and with Openbox I use picom for compositing. The performance is pretty similar. With Picom I use the default picom.conf. Except for some personal preference tweaks concerning shadow radius and offset, the only major change I made was to set backend as glx rather than the default xrender and vsync true. I haven't touched the BIOS.
So the main players here seem BIOS, picom, and any software I could install. Any suggestions for improvements would be welcome. The only real problems at the moment I've found are when I resize Zoom windows or go to full screen there is some unnatural flickering and strange pixel behavior that ceases after resize.

Last edited by kendew (2021-03-25 23:23:57)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2021-03-18 18:29:03

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_graphics

kendew · 2021-03-18 23:46:40

Thanks for link, and I do appreciate any response, but have already been there a few times. The wiki article was certainly helpful, but its purpose was to cover Intel graphics in general over a very wide range of Intel graphic hardware, old and new, which it did well. What I'm hoping for is something specific for this NUC8i5BEH, the Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655 or some similar configuration. I was hoping there might be experienced users of this model who would be willing to share their experience with drivers, BIOS and picom.conf tweaks, and possible tweaks to the modesetting driver. This is a little different than many posts, as I'm not asking for a solution to a problem, as such, but ways I might make improvements, getting the best graphic performance possible.
But thanks again, Head_on_a_Stick.

seth · 2021-03-19 08:06:42

What I'm hoping for is something specific for this NUC8i5BEH, the Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655

Maybe make your subject say that to attract users w/ the particular HW.

This is a little different than many posts, as I'm not asking for a solution to a problem, as such, but ways I might make improvements, getting the best graphic performance possible.

Ie. this TGN.

"What is the best I can do" is an open ended question baiting highly subjective answers.
Instead of waiting for suggestions how you *could* setup your system, set it up the way you *want* and then deal with the obstacles as they present themselves. This will yield faster results and get you more informed and objective comments on the forum, because one can reasonably answer "you can solve problem X by doing Y" but not "you should do this because I believe that's best for you" notably since "best graphic performance possible" lacks context:
Eg. if you want to improve the performance of SuperTurboTurkyPuncher 3, don't run a compositor to begin with; the DDX driver might still provide some 2D acceleration, but perform inferior on DirectVulkanGL,… this kind of stuff.

kendew · 2021-03-19 23:16:48

All input and suggestions appreciated.
I did change the subject to make it more specific. I understand what you are saying, Seth. If I go to the doctor with a skin infection it's a lot easier to diagnose and treat than something like complaining that I wish I had more energy.
What I'm looking for here is overall graphic performance which, I totally admit is vague, but I think it's a valid desire. Perhaps I should detail more what I'm using the NUC for.
For myself, I'll be using the NUC for web development and graphic design and general business. A couple of young kids may use it from time to time for education, learning graphic design and video editing, and I'm sure they'll want to do a little gaming. We'll all be doing a lot of Zoom and watching YouTube or Netflix. Also, since I donate computers when I get newer ones, it's an overall optimum scenario I'm hoping for.
What I want is smooth scrolling of text that's easy on the eyes, video that doesn't flicker or tear, and accurate color rendering. I've got that 90%. The only real issues I've already mentioned. Dragging windows isn't as smooth as I want and scrolling could be smoother as well. When I resize a window in Zoom I see a diagonal line for a split second, something I can live with but don't like. What I'm looking for is suggestions for tweaks that I can try and see if they might fill in some of the other 10%.
Eventually I'll figure out something, but suggestions based on experience can certainly make eventually come a lot sooner.
Thanks for the suggestions.

Last edited by kendew (2021-03-19 23:39:35)

seth · 2021-03-20 08:34:33

You might compare the behavior w/ https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … ver_(i965)
For video performance see esp. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ha … celeration
Also the sink actually used by videoplayer™ matters, eg. (nvidia) "mpv -vo=gpu --video-sync=display-resample" allows me a tear & judder-free playback, but the performance on -vo=vdpau is better and also it doesn't flicker on window resizes.

To mitigate the latter you can also disable showing the content during resizes for openbox.
Notice that resizing is generally asynchronous on X11, ie. you typically resize the frame and the WM then tells the client to update. There's a protocol to wait for the client which an itegrated WM/compositor (like kwin) can use to resize the window, but wait for the client to cause any visual update. I guess a standalone compositor could™ try to detect WM interaction synthesize the sync protocol and wait for the client to redraw frame and content at once, but I don't expect picom to do so.

The compositor obviously has a HUGE impact on performance and appearance. I think picom has some input lag because moving windows occasionally is slow while not charging the cpu and the xrender backend should™n't matter. I've never seen that w/ xcompmgr (which is a far simpler compositor)
The render protocol doesn't provide vsync (unlike OpenGL, different protocol background/purpose) so the only way to avoid tearing here is to not run a compositor (and ensure the clients sync, that's mandatory anyway) or use the TearFree option which is only available w/ the xf86-vide-intel driver.

Also picom has features like rounded corners or background blurring which both (even for dual-kawase blurring) have quite a performance cost.

Finally ;-) you might also want to give wayland a shot (eg. sway or, much fatter, gnome - I'm not sure how reliable the wayland backend of plasma/KDE is yet)

kendew · 2021-03-25 23:28:27

Thank you for suggestions. It's been awhile and seems no more replies are forthcoming (though certainly are welcome) so I am shortening the post title somewhat so I am allowed to mark this "Solved".
Great comments and leads, and I've started to explore Sway. i3 never really appealed to me, but maybe I can make some tweaks...

Last edited by kendew (2021-03-25 23:29:05)

Arch Linux

#1 2021-03-18 18:12:47

Better performance from Iris Plus Graphics 655 NUC8BEH [Solved]

#2 2021-03-18 18:29:03

Re: Better performance from Iris Plus Graphics 655 NUC8BEH [Solved]

#3 2021-03-18 23:46:40

Re: Better performance from Iris Plus Graphics 655 NUC8BEH [Solved]

#4 2021-03-19 08:06:42

Re: Better performance from Iris Plus Graphics 655 NUC8BEH [Solved]

#5 2021-03-19 23:16:48

Re: Better performance from Iris Plus Graphics 655 NUC8BEH [Solved]

#6 2021-03-20 08:34:33

Re: Better performance from Iris Plus Graphics 655 NUC8BEH [Solved]

#7 2021-03-25 23:28:27

Re: Better performance from Iris Plus Graphics 655 NUC8BEH [Solved]

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