Arch Linux

Chaniyth

Member

Registered: 2008-03-10

Posts: 33

Crap frame rates - Nvidia 8600 GTS

Hey all, so far i've really liked Arch Linux, that is, until I started playing 3D games...

My system specs are: AMD 64 X2 4000+ (32-bit mode), 3 Gigs of RAM, and  Nvidia GeForce 8600 GTS OC.

In some games such as Nexuiz I get like 30FPS in 1680 x 1050, even with High and/or Normal settings I get around 50. Sure I can lower my resolution, but it looks like crap because I have an LCD widescreen. I know in Ubuntu I would get 100 - 200+ FPS even with that res. Then again they use older drivers... like 100.xx or something like that... however the latest drivers from Nvidia have been poo, I think I tried them under Ubuntu and had a horrible frame rate penalty, and went back to the default drivers.

Here is a copy of my xorg.conf -- I added some lines to 'tweak' hoping it'd work, and it didn't.

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder3)  Thu Feb 14 18:21:33 PST 2008

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder3)  Thu Feb 14 18:20:37 PST 2008

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/lib/X11/rgb"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
    Load           "dri"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "keyboard"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Acer X221W"
    HorizSync       31.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8600 GTS"
    Option         "DRI"     "true"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "true"
    Option         "backingstore" "true"
    Option         "TripleBuffer" "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
       Option         "Composite"   "Enable"
 EndSection

Section "DRI"
       Group 0
       Mode 0666
 EndSection

Any ideas what may be wrong? Is it Arch Linux itself, or is it the latest drivers that are the issue? I'll assume it's the drivers, and that could be the reason why Ubuntu and nearly all of it's derivatives use an older driver, instead of the latest.

Thanks for any advice.

Dheart

Member

From: Sofia, Bulgaria

Registered: 2006-10-26

Posts: 956

Re: Crap frame rates - Nvidia 8600 GTS

Well since arch is actually i686 optimized, whereas ubuntu is i386 is really doubt it is arch related problem... However the only way to test it is to build old nvidia drivers with abs and see the result.

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You know what I'm looking for
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freakcode

Member

From: São Paulo - Brazil

Registered: 2007-11-03

Posts: 410

Website

Re: Crap frame rates - Nvidia 8600 GTS

Do you turn off VSync?

Chaniyth

Member

Registered: 2008-03-10

Posts: 33

Re: Crap frame rates - Nvidia 8600 GTS

Yes I always disable Vsync.

I did a complete system re-install, and now things seemt o be a bit smoother... weird.