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#1 2016-11-27 16:00:32

ramsesdv
Member
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 13

945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

Hi everyone!
I have a pretty old Toshiba laptop on which i installed Arch a long while back.
Now my problem is that the integrated GPU is bottlenecking the system to an almost unusable extent.
As i wanted to improve it i decided to investegate and i found that according to lshw my iGpu is only running at 33 Mhz, whilst the normal clock speeds are around 133Mhz/166Mhz depending on which GMA chip you have.

Here is the output of lshw

  *-display:0               
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 03
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:16 memory:dc100000-dc17ffff ioport:1800(size=8) memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:dc200000-dc23ffff memory:c0000-dffff
  *-display:1 UNCLAIMED
       description: Display controller
       product: Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2.1
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
       version: 03
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:dc180000-dc1fffff

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#2 2016-11-27 16:14:04

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

What lshw shows is definitely *not* the GPU clock. Whatever issues you have, they're elsewhere. Do note that this GPU is total crap, has been since its release. However, basic stuff should work at least ok.

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#3 2016-11-27 21:12:55

ramsesdv
Member
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 13

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

Gusar wrote:

What lshw shows is definitely *not* the GPU clock. Whatever issues you have, they're elsewhere. Do note that this GPU is total crap, has been since its release. However, basic stuff should work at least ok.

Well i do know that this is a pretty bad chip but i find it hard to believe that it can't play back a 720p youtube video at 60fps.

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#4 2016-11-27 21:28:13

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

Youtube on Linux is all software, the GPU isn't involved at all. And depending in the CPU (which I assume is a very old one in your case, if it's paired with 945 graphics), 720p at 60fps can indeed be a problem. Download the videos and use a dedicated player, like mpv. There's no hardware decoder on a machine that old, but a dedicated player will at least give you hardware presentation, so it might be possible to play those videos. 30fps shouldn't be a problem, no idea about 60fps.

Last edited by Gusar (2016-11-27 21:29:52)

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#5 2016-11-27 21:43:19

Head_on_a_Stick
Member
From: London
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 7,680
Website

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

Gusar wrote:

Youtube on Linux is all software, the GPU isn't involved at all

... unless the PPAPI FlashPlayer is used instead of HTML5.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Br … figuration

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#6 2016-11-27 21:52:38

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

... unless the PPAPI FlashPlayer is used instead of HTML5.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Br … figuration

What you linked to actually describes configuration for the NPAPI Flash version. Which only supports VDPAU (so Intel is out, no VDPAU there), and even that is extremely buggy.

But you did remind me that freshplayer-plugin supports hardware presentation (it supports hardware decoding too, but there's no hardware decoder on the 945).

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#7 2016-11-28 20:37:54

ramsesdv
Member
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 13

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

So basically you are suggesting that lshw just shows incorrect clock speeds? Is there any other way for me to make sure that is indeed the problem?

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#8 2016-11-28 22:04:13

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

lshw might show the clock speed of something else and the 33MHz is correct for that something else. No clue actually. What I do know is that focusing on the GPU clock speed will not get you closer to a solution.

What exactly is the problem anyway? You've only mentioned youtube, and you got the explanation for that - it has nothing to do with the GPU, the problem with youtube is that web browsers are really crappy video players, especially in Linux.

BTW, what CPU do you have?

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#9 2016-11-30 19:27:21

ramsesdv
Member
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 13

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

Gusar wrote:

lshw might show the clock speed of something else and the 33MHz is correct for that something else. No clue actually. What I do know is that focusing on the GPU clock speed will not get you closer to a solution.

What exactly is the problem anyway? You've only mentioned youtube, and you got the explanation for that - it has nothing to do with the GPU, the problem with youtube is that web browsers are really crappy video players, especially in Linux.

BTW, what CPU do you have?

I used to have a T2050 i believe and now it's a T7400.
The problem is just getting unacceptably slow performance in normal desktop usage, but i got this laptop for free so i'm not going to complain all that much. Recently though i have been noticing screen tearing in just normal scrolling through firefox etc.

Last edited by ramsesdv (2016-11-30 19:28:22)

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#10 2016-11-30 19:29:56

Slithery
Administrator
From: Norfolk, UK
Registered: 2013-12-01
Posts: 5,776

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

The 33MHz refers to the PCI bus speed, not the GPU clock speed.


No, it didn't "fix" anything. It just shifted the brokeness one space to the right. - jasonwryan
Closing -- for deletion; Banning -- for muppetry. - jasonwryan

aur - dotfiles

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#11 2016-12-01 10:09:42

kevku
Member
From: Estonia
Registered: 2009-11-21
Posts: 73

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

I would guess that laptop bios doesn't support T7400 and it is locked to the min clocks.

Last edited by kevku (2016-12-01 10:11:28)

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#12 2016-12-02 00:36:17

pypi
Wiki Maintainer
Registered: 2014-04-22
Posts: 250

Re: 945GM Graphics running at only 33 Mhz?

I'm not entirely sure how you could check that, but perhaps this might help?

I get decent performance with the same graphics chipset and a marginally faster CPU, so that should be fine (although I might be used to less than you).

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