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#1 2008-04-22 19:02:54

fiod
Member
Registered: 2007-04-02
Posts: 205

I am not happy with performance..

Hey,

I got arch up and running for 6 months now on my laptop.

Just this week I managed to work out some problems with my graphics card (a crappy intel GMA 950),
and get to ~5000 fps (using glxgears).

But - my system feels bloated, and a bit slow to my expectations.

So:
What is "normal" memory consumption on a system running X and KDE? (no special services)
I am posting my "free" listings, generally indicating that I use about 350 mbs for the core operating system.
Is that considered a lot?

What are "normal" fps (using the glxgears utility)? I am using the "intel" graphics driver for X.
I get about ~5000 fps, but on my desktop (5 years old, some generic Nvidia), I get around ~8000.

I am posting my rc.conf and xorg.conf just in case someone wants to take a look... smile

Thanks
Fiod

free+glxgears:

[*@lg-tux ~]$ free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:       1026416     807956     218460          0     154016     309816
-/+ buffers/cache:     344124     682292
Swap:       265032          0     265032
[*@lg-tux ~]$ glxgears
5256 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1051.009 FPS
5290 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1057.833 FPS
5288 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1057.423 FPS
5290 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1057.977 FPS

rc.conf:

#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# USEDIRECTISA: use direct I/O requests instead of /dev/rtc for hwclock
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
USEDIRECTISA="yes"
TIMEZONE="Asia/Jerusalem"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
#
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
#
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated
MODULES=(!rt2x00lib !rt2x00usb !rt73usb !joydev !pcmcia !pcmica_core ac battery button snd-hda-intel fan)

# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
#
HOSTNAME="lg-tux"

# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
# 
# DHCP:     Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
wlan0=""
INTERFACES=()

# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
 
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
#
# This now requires the netcfg package
#
#NETWORKS=(main)

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs crond hal net-profiles netfs acpid alsa kdm)

xorg.conf:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Xorg Configured"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
# PS/2 Mouse not detected
# Serial Mouse not detected
        InputDevice    "USB Mouse" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"  "true"
    
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
    ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/PEX"
# Additional fonts: Locale, Gimp, TTF...
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"
#    FontPath     "/usr/share/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/75dpi"
#    FontPath     "/usr/share/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/100dpi"
# True type and type1 fonts are also handled via xftlib, see /etc/X11/XftConfig!
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/western"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/decoratives"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/latex-ttf-fonts"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/defoma/CID"
    FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/defoma/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load  "ddc"  # ddc probing of monitor
    Load  "dbe"
    Load  "dri"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "glx"
        Load  "bitmap" # bitmap-fonts
    Load  "type1"
    Load  "freetype"
    Load  "record"
    #   Load  "synaptics"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    Driver      "keyboard"
        Option      "CoreKeyboard"
    Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
    Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
    Option "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option "XkbVariant" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Serial Mouse"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option      "Protocol" "Microsoft"
    Option      "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
    Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
    Option      "Emulate3Timeout" "70"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents"  "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "PS/2 Mouse"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option      "Protocol" "auto"
    Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"
    Option      "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
    Option      "Emulate3Timeout" "70"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents"  "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "USB Mouse"
    Driver "synaptics"
    Option  "Device"        "/dev/input/mouse0"
        Option  "Protocol"      "auto-dev"
        Option  "LeftEdge"      "1700"
        Option  "RightEdge"     "5300"
        Option  "TopEdge"       "1700"
        Option  "BottomEdge"    "4200"
        Option  "FingerLow"     "25"
        Option  "FingerHigh"    "30"
        Option  "MaxTapTime"    "180"
        Option  "MaxTapMove"    "220"
        Option  "VertScrollDelta" "100"
        Option  "MinSpeed"      "0.06"
        Option  "MaxSpeed"      "0.12"
        Option  "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
        Option  "SHMConfig"     "on"
EndSection

# Auto-generated by Archie mkxcfg

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor0"
        Option "DPMS" "true"
#    HorizSync    28.0 - 78.0 # Warning: This may fry very old Monitors
    HorizSync    28.0 - 96.0 # Warning: This may fry old Monitors
    VertRefresh  50.0 - 75.0 # Very conservative. May flicker.
#    VertRefresh  50.0 - 62.0 # Extreme conservative. Will flicker. TFT default.
    #  Default modes distilled from
    #      "VESA and Industry Standards and Guide for Computer Display Monitor
    #       Timing", version 1.0, revision 0.8, adopted September 17, 1998.
    #  $XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/etc/vesamodes,v 1.4 1999/11/18 16:52:17 tsi Exp $
    # 640x350 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 37.9kHz
    ModeLine "640x350"    31.5  640  672  736  832    350  382  385  445 +hsync -vsync
    # 640x400 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 37.9kHz
    ModeLine "640x400"    31.5  640  672  736  832    400  401  404  445 -hsync +vsync
    # 720x400 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 37.9kHz
    ModeLine "720x400"    35.5  720  756  828  936    400  401  404  446 -hsync +vsync
    # 640x480 @ 60Hz (Industry standard) hsync: 31.5kHz
    ModeLine "640x480"    25.2  640  656  752  800    480  490  492  525 -hsync -vsync
    # 640x480 @ 72Hz (VESA) hsync: 37.9kHz
    ModeLine "640x480"    31.5  640  664  704  832    480  489  491  520 -hsync -vsync
    # 640x480 @ 75Hz (VESA) hsync: 37.5kHz
    ModeLine "640x480"    31.5  640  656  720  840    480  481  484  500 -hsync -vsync
    # 640x480 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 43.3kHz
    ModeLine "640x480"    36.0  640  696  752  832    480  481  484  509 -hsync -vsync
    # 800x600 @ 56Hz (VESA) hsync: 35.2kHz
    ModeLine "800x600"    36.0  800  824  896 1024    600  601  603  625 +hsync +vsync
    # 800x600 @ 60Hz (VESA) hsync: 37.9kHz
    ModeLine "800x600"    40.0  800  840  968 1056    600  601  605  628 +hsync +vsync
    # 800x600 @ 72Hz (VESA) hsync: 48.1kHz
    ModeLine "800x600"    50.0  800  856  976 1040    600  637  643  666 +hsync +vsync
    # 800x600 @ 75Hz (VESA) hsync: 46.9kHz
    ModeLine "800x600"    49.5  800  816  896 1056    600  601  604  625 +hsync +vsync
    # 800x600 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 53.7kHz
    ModeLine "800x600"    56.3  800  832  896 1048    600  601  604  631 +hsync +vsync
    # 1024x768i @ 43Hz (industry standard) hsync: 35.5kHz
    ModeLine "1024x768"   44.9 1024 1032 1208 1264    768  768  776  817 +hsync +vsync Interlace
    # 1024x768 @ 60Hz (VESA) hsync: 48.4kHz
    ModeLine "1024x768"   65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344    768  771  777  806 -hsync -vsync
    # 1024x768 @ 70Hz (VESA) hsync: 56.5kHz
    ModeLine "1024x768"   75.0 1024 1048 1184 1328    768  771  777  806 -hsync -vsync
    # 1024x768 @ 75Hz (VESA) hsync: 60.0kHz
    ModeLine "1024x768"   78.8 1024 1040 1136 1312    768  769  772  800 +hsync +vsync
    # 1024x768 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 68.7kHz
    ModeLine "1024x768"   94.5 1024 1072 1168 1376    768  769  772  808 +hsync +vsync
    # 1152x864 @ 75Hz (VESA) hsync: 67.5kHz
    ModeLine "1152x864"  108.0 1152 1216 1344 1600    864  865  868  900 +hsync +vsync
    # 1280x960 @ 60Hz (VESA) hsync: 60.0kHz
    ModeLine "1280x960"  108.0 1280 1376 1488 1800    960  961  964 1000 +hsync +vsync
    # 1280x960 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 85.9kHz
    ModeLine "1280x960"  148.5 1280 1344 1504 1728    960  961  964 1011 +hsync +vsync
    # 1280x1024 @ 60Hz (VESA) hsync: 64.0kHz
    ModeLine "1280x1024" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688   1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
    # 1280x1024 @ 75Hz (VESA) hsync: 80.0kHz
    ModeLine "1280x1024" 135.0 1280 1296 1440 1688   1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
    # 1280x1024 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 91.1kHz
    ModeLine "1280x1024" 157.5 1280 1344 1504 1728   1024 1025 1028 1072 +hsync +vsync
    # 1600x1200 @ 60Hz (VESA) hsync: 75.0kHz
    ModeLine "1600x1200" 162.0 1600 1664 1856 2160   1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    # 1600x1200 @ 65Hz (VESA) hsync: 81.3kHz
    ModeLine "1600x1200" 175.5 1600 1664 1856 2160   1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    # 1600x1200 @ 70Hz (VESA) hsync: 87.5kHz
    ModeLine "1600x1200" 189.0 1600 1664 1856 2160   1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    # 1600x1200 @ 75Hz (VESA) hsync: 93.8kHz
    ModeLine "1600x1200" 202.5 1600 1664 1856 2160   1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    # 1600x1200 @ 85Hz (VESA) hsync: 106.3kHz
    ModeLine "1600x1200" 229.5 1600 1664 1856 2160   1200 1201 1204 1250 +hsync +vsync
    # 1792x1344 @ 60Hz (VESA) hsync: 83.6kHz
    ModeLine "1792x1344" 204.8 1792 1920 2120 2448   1344 1345 1348 1394 -hsync +vsync
    # 1792x1344 @ 75Hz (VESA) hsync: 106.3kHz
    ModeLine "1792x1344" 261.0 1792 1888 2104 2456   1344 1345 1348 1417 -hsync +vsync
    # 1856x1392 @ 60Hz (VESA) hsync: 86.3kHz
    ModeLine "1856x1392" 218.3 1856 1952 2176 2528   1392 1393 1396 1439 -hsync +vsync
    # 1856x1392 @ 75Hz (VESA) hsync: 112.5kHz
    ModeLine "1856x1392" 288.0 1856 1984 2208 2560   1392 1393 1396 1500 -hsync +vsync
    # 1920x1440 @ 60Hz (VESA) hsync: 90.0kHz
    ModeLine "1920x1440" 234.0 1920 2048 2256 2600   1440 1441 1444 1500 -hsync +vsync
    # 1920x1440 @ 75Hz (VESA) hsync: 112.5kHz
    ModeLine "1920x1440" 297.0 1920 2064 2288 2640   1440 1441 1444 1500 -hsync +vsync
    # Additional modelines
    ModeLine "1800x1440"  230    1800 1896 2088 2392  1440 1441 1444 1490 +HSync +VSync
    ModeLine "1800x1440"  250    1800 1896 2088 2392  1440 1441 1444 1490 +HSync +VSync
    # Extended modelines with GTF timings
    # 640x480 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 50.90 kHz; pclk: 43.16 MHz
    ModeLine "640x480"  43.16  640 680 744 848  480 481 484 509  -HSync +Vsync
    # 768x576 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 35.82 kHz; pclk: 34.96 MHz
    ModeLine "768x576"  34.96  768 792 872 976  576 577 580 597  -HSync +Vsync
    # 768x576 @ 72.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 43.27 kHz; pclk: 42.93 MHz
    ModeLine "768x576"  42.93  768 800 880 992  576 577 580 601  -HSync +Vsync
    # 768x576 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 45.15 kHz; pclk: 45.51 MHz
    ModeLine "768x576"  45.51  768 808 888 1008  576 577 580 602  -HSync +Vsync
    # 768x576 @ 85.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 51.42 kHz; pclk: 51.84 MHz
    ModeLine "768x576"  51.84  768 808 888 1008  576 577 580 605  -HSync +Vsync
    # 768x576 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 61.10 kHz; pclk: 62.57 MHz
    ModeLine "768x576"  62.57  768 816 896 1024  576 577 580 611  -HSync +Vsync
    # 800x600 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 63.60 kHz; pclk: 68.18 MHz
    ModeLine "800x600"  68.18  800 848 936 1072  600 601 604 636  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1024x768 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 81.40 kHz; pclk: 113.31 MHz
    ModeLine "1024x768"  113.31  1024 1096 1208 1392  768 769 772 814  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1152x864 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 53.70 kHz; pclk: 81.62 MHz
    ModeLine "1152x864"  81.62  1152 1216 1336 1520  864 865 868 895  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1152x864 @ 85.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 77.10 kHz; pclk: 119.65 MHz
    ModeLine "1152x864"  119.65  1152 1224 1352 1552  864 865 868 907  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1152x864 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 91.50 kHz; pclk: 143.47 MHz
    ModeLine "1152x864"  143.47  1152 1232 1360 1568  864 865 868 915  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1280x960 @ 72.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 72.07 kHz; pclk: 124.54 MHz
    ModeLine "1280x960"  124.54  1280 1368 1504 1728  960 961 964 1001  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1280x960 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 75.15 kHz; pclk: 129.86 MHz
    ModeLine "1280x960"  129.86  1280 1368 1504 1728  960 961 964 1002  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1280x960 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 101.70 kHz; pclk: 178.99 MHz
    ModeLine "1280x960"  178.99  1280 1376 1520 1760  960 961 964 1017  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1280x1024 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 108.50 kHz; pclk: 190.96 MHz
    ModeLine "1280x1024"  190.96  1280 1376 1520 1760  1024 1025 1028 1085  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1400x1050 @ 60.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 65.22 kHz; pclk: 122.61 MHz
    ModeLine "1400x1050"  122.61  1400 1488 1640 1880  1050 1051 1054 1087  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1400x1050 @ 72.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 78.77 kHz; pclk: 149.34 MHz
    ModeLine "1400x1050"  149.34  1400 1496 1648 1896  1050 1051 1054 1094  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1400x1050 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 82.20 kHz; pclk: 155.85 MHz
    ModeLine "1400x1050"  155.85  1400 1496 1648 1896  1050 1051 1054 1096  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1400x1050 @ 85.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 93.76 kHz; pclk: 179.26 MHz
    ModeLine "1400x1050"  179.26  1400 1504 1656 1912  1050 1051 1054 1103  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1400x1050 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 111.20 kHz; pclk: 214.39 MHz
    ModeLine "1400x1050"  214.39  1400 1512 1664 1928  1050 1051 1054 1112  -HSync +Vsync
    # 1600x1200 @ 100.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 127.10 kHz; pclk: 280.64 MHz
    ModeLine "1600x1200"  280.64  1600 1728 1904 2208  1200 1201 1204 1271  -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

# Auto-generated by Archie mkxcfg


Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "intel"
    VendorName  "All"
    BoardName   "All"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Card0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    DefaultColorDepth 16
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     1
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     4
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     8
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     15
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     16
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     24
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     32
        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Mode 0666
EndSection

thanks again,
fiod

Last edited by fiod (2008-04-22 19:05:39)

Offline

#2 2008-04-22 19:12:33

shining
Pacman Developer
Registered: 2006-05-10
Posts: 2,043

Re: I am not happy with performance..


pacman roulette : pacman -S $(pacman -Slq | LANG=C sort -R | head -n $((RANDOM % 10)))

Offline

#3 2008-04-22 19:28:21

fiod
Member
Registered: 2007-04-02
Posts: 205

Re: I am not happy with performance..

Hmm..

Thanks a lot for the reply.

Tried doing as suggested (by you) in the post:
Tried adding: Option "AccelMethod" "xxa" to the xorg.conf file.

I got this on the log file:

(**) intel(0): Option "AccelMethod" "xxa"
(II) intel(0): Integrated Graphics Chipset: Intel(R) 945GM
(--) intel(0): Chipset: "945GM"
(--) intel(0): Linear framebuffer at 0xD0000000
(--) intel(0): IO registers at addr 0xFE180000
(II) intel(0): 2 display pipes available.
(==) intel(0): Using EXA for acceleration

For some reason EXA stays active?

Got any idea why?

thanks
fiod

Offline

#4 2008-04-22 20:01:19

peart
Member
From: Kanuckistan
Registered: 2003-07-28
Posts: 510

Re: I am not happy with performance..

I think it's xaa, not xxa.

Offline

#5 2008-04-22 20:25:31

shining
Pacman Developer
Registered: 2006-05-10
Posts: 2,043

Re: I am not happy with performance..

The link I posted should be the post where I mentioned the "greedy" option for exa. But using xaa should give an equivalent result.
I am not sure which is the best solution. And I am not sure it will solve the problem you have.


pacman roulette : pacman -S $(pacman -Slq | LANG=C sort -R | head -n $((RANDOM % 10)))

Offline

#6 2008-04-22 20:56:17

wuischke
Member
From: Suisse Romande
Registered: 2007-01-06
Posts: 630

Re: I am not happy with performance..

I don't see a problem here. I have a comparable configuration (C2D 1,66GHz, 1GB, Intel GMA950) and your fps are good for this graphics module. Your RAM usage should be OK, too, I have currently 345MB using xmonad, mpd and firefox.

I have not much experience with KDE, but when I used KDEmod on this machine it was very responsive and didn't feel slow at all.

Maybe you could try to explain "feels bloated and a bit slow" a bit better, so we could try to see what's exactly slowing your system down - I don't believe it's your graphics card (except with compiz, but you didn't say anything about compiz) nor your memory usage.

Offline

#7 2008-04-22 21:11:22

vogt
Member
From: Toronto, Canada
Registered: 2006-11-25
Posts: 389

Re: I am not happy with performance..

might I add that: glxgears is not a benchmark.

Any change in glxgears framerate by changing various settings for your driver may not necessarily have the same effect where it matters.

Last edited by vogt (2008-04-22 21:11:49)

Offline

#8 2008-04-23 06:27:37

fiod
Member
Registered: 2007-04-02
Posts: 205

Re: I am not happy with performance..

Hey,

Thanks for the replies.

Shining:
The "greedy" mode did make firefox move much faster. Thank you.

Regarding the "bloated" feeling:
I did all sort of tweaking to my system, but it still feels not as I expected.
I expected a different feeling because I have a desktop running Arch,
and everything there is a lot more responsive: I don't have to wait 5-7 seconds for firefox (or open office) to launch,
it takes 1-2 seconds. As I mentioned, the glxgears fps is much higher there. Even hard disk performance is a lot better (I am adding hdparm testing,
please tell me if you see anything special, maybe thats the main problem).

And I am talking about a 5 years old desktop, in comparison to a 6 months old laptop!

Every extra tip you can give about accelerating my machine will be appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
fiod

hdparm:

[**@lg-tux fio]# hdparm -tT /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   1562 MB in  2.00 seconds = 780.51 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  116 MB in  3.05 seconds =  38.06 MB/sec
[**@lg-tux fio]#

fstab:

#
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>        <dir>         <type>    <options>          <dump> <pass>
none                   /dev/pts      devpts    defaults            0      0
none                   /dev/shm      tmpfs     defaults            0      0

/dev/cdrom             /mnt/cd   iso9660   ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/dvd               /mnt/dvd  udf       ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
/dev/fd0               /mnt/fl   vfat      user,noauto             0      0
/dev/sda2               /mnt/windows ntfs-3g defaults,users     0 0

/dev/sda5 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sda6 / ext3 defaults,noatime 0 0

PS: Maybe some extra parameters can be added to fstab? Something other than noatime?

Thanks again
fiod

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#9 2008-04-23 07:19:15

zenlord
Member
From: Belgium
Registered: 2006-05-24
Posts: 1,221
Website

Re: I am not happy with performance..

From my limited experience:

- I see you used ext3 for your root partition. That is a very stable choice, but using XFS or JFS (in combination with a separate ext2-boot partition) would be a faster solution.
- Could you list the most hungry services using the top-cmd?
- in your MODULES=() you made a typo with !pcmica-core

I'm currently looking for all kinds of lightweight programs instead of the complete gnome desktop, and switching to openbox has given me lots of speed and responsiveness. Once I am satisfied with my desktop settings, I will be going through all necessary modules and removing unnecessary ones (and ditching MOD_AUTOLOAD). I think this will give even more responsiveness.

And the final step would be configuring a complete OS through AUR with optimal makepkg-settings. But that won't be happening for a long time since I don't have the time to do all this...

Zl.

Last edited by zenlord (2008-04-23 07:20:10)

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#10 2008-04-23 07:38:56

fiod
Member
Registered: 2007-04-02
Posts: 205

Re: I am not happy with performance..

Hey,

Thanks a lot for the post.

Which column is of interest? %MEM?

If so, then:
firefox-bin - 5.6
amarokapp - 3.5
X - 2.2
Skype - 3.0

And thats about it. (All other processes have at the time of this writing 0.0 memory usage on the %MEM column).

thanks again
fiod

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#11 2008-04-23 09:39:18

iphitus
Forum Fellow
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: I am not happy with performance..

Usually....
Desktop - Faster CPU & Faster HDD (usually 7200RPM)
Laptop - Slower or speed stepped CPU & Slower hard drive (typically 5400RPM)

So there's going to be a difference.

Firefox is CPU intensive, not graphics intensive. Starting firefox is primarily bottlenecked by the hard drive. Tweaking your graphics card is only going to help 3D applications/games, nothing more.

Further... if you've got a gig of ram, and you're presently using 350mb... trying to cut that down isn't going to make any programs run faster. You could use a more efficient alternative though, say openbox instead of KDE, but you lose features and that won't speed firefox up.

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#12 2008-04-23 10:14:43

fiod
Member
Registered: 2007-04-02
Posts: 205

Re: I am not happy with performance..

Thanks for the reply.

Firefox is not the main issue for me at all, especially after implying Shining's offer (now firefox runs significantly faster).

I'll try to describe better what annoys me:
1. File copying takes for ages - copying a 600 megs file will take up to 2 minutes (!) (inside KDE), and about
a minute or so in the terminal (a bit less).
2. Starting applications (firefox, open office, amule) takes much longer than expected (again, in comparison to my 5 years old, amd, desktop). Open office can take up to 10 seconds to load, firefox as well.
3. Up till now, the frames per seconds reported by glxgears was very low (2000-3000), and after tweaking
xorg.conf in the last two days, I managed to get to ~5000 fps, so that not a problem anymore.
4. I don't think that a 350 megs memory usage is to much in comparison to 1 gig, but I still want to know
more or less the memory usage of other KDE users, so I know I am not over the hill...
5. I get memory problems only when I do the following:
Run 2 sessions of VirtualBox on my Arch host, running both WinXP and another Arch (for testing kde4..), only
then I get memory issues.. (big SWAP usage)... but then again, what can I expect from running 3 OSes simultaenously? smile


Generally speaking, in both parameters I checked my laptop against my desktop, the desktop (again, 5 years old) won big time (both parameters meaning glxgears and hdparm).

thanks again
fiod

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#13 2008-04-23 10:43:30

iphitus
Forum Fellow
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: I am not happy with performance..

5 years old is still a 7200RPM hard drive vs a power saving slow 5400RPM laptop drive.

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#14 2008-04-23 10:45:00

moljac024
Member
From: Serbia
Registered: 2008-01-29
Posts: 2,676

Re: I am not happy with performance..

I can't seem to get more than ~599 FPS on glxgears on my intel GMA 950....how did you get ~5000 ?


The day Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck, is the day they make a vacuum cleaner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But if they tell you that I've lost my mind, maybe it's not gone just a little hard to find...

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#15 2008-04-23 14:04:51

Stoffi
Member
Registered: 2007-03-15
Posts: 107

Re: I am not happy with performance..

I agree on the harddrive probably being the cause of your problems.
try getting an old (or not) 5400rpm harddrive, then mirroring your desktop system to it,
and then boot up your desktop with the 5400rpm harddrive. you shoul see a noticoble difference.

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#16 2008-04-23 15:26:19

fiod
Member
Registered: 2007-04-02
Posts: 205

Re: I am not happy with performance..

moljac024 wrote:

I can't seem to get more than ~599 FPS on glxgears on my intel GMA 950....how did you get ~5000 ?

I spent a lot of time tweaking xorg.conf.

Eventually, "hwd -xa" did the best job smile

Try creating xorg.conf in this method as described in the Xorg wiki, and see what that gives.

Regards
Fiod

PS - you can have a look at my xorg.conf I posted at the beginning of this thread, and see if you see something special

Last edited by fiod (2008-04-23 15:28:13)

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#17 2008-04-23 15:27:07

fiod
Member
Registered: 2007-04-02
Posts: 205

Re: I am not happy with performance..

Stoffi (or anyone):

Would you mind posting your hdparm data (if you have a laptop, of course..)

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#18 2008-04-23 15:27:10

stonecrest
Member
From: Boulder
Registered: 2005-01-22
Posts: 1,190

Re: I am not happy with performance..

Since this solves 90% of topics related to "Archlinux feels slow"...

Is your hostname in /etc/hosts?

(You could also verify that loopback is up.)


I am a gated community.

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#19 2008-04-23 15:29:56

fiod
Member
Registered: 2007-04-02
Posts: 205

Re: I am not happy with performance..

thanks for the reply.

The loopback device is up and running, and /etc/hosts contains the correct host name..

Fiod

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#20 2008-04-23 16:27:37

GogglesGuy
Member
From: Rocket City
Registered: 2005-03-29
Posts: 610
Website

Re: I am not happy with performance..

moljac024 wrote:

I can't seem to get more than ~599 FPS on glxgears on my intel GMA 950....how did you get ~5000 ?

He's getting around a 1000, not 5000, which is the total number of frames in 5.0 seconds.
I'm  using a GMA X3100 (GM965 chipset) and getting this:

5613 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1122.593 FPS
5827 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1165.215 FPS
5831 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1166.193 FPS
5816 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1163.113 FPS

which seems pretty normal for that type of graphics card.

Last edited by GogglesGuy (2008-04-23 16:33:48)

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#21 2008-04-23 16:29:27

fiod
Member
Registered: 2007-04-02
Posts: 205

Re: I am not happy with performance..

thats right, my bad

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#22 2008-05-08 18:03:53

kamituel
Member
From: Poland
Registered: 2006-09-14
Posts: 47
Website

Re: I am not happy with performance..

GogglesGuy wrote:

5613 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1122.593 FPS
5827 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1165.215 FPS
5831 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1166.193 FPS
5816 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1163.113 FPS

which seems pretty normal for that type of graphics card.

That's pretty exactly the same performance as I can get out of mine x3100.
Can you play HD content? I've problems even with 720p, with any player (the best I've got is running it as superuser with higher priority, but's still not perfect hmm )


I tried, I failed, no matter. Try again, fail again, fail better.

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#23 2008-05-12 20:34:03

pfreire
Member
From: Portugal
Registered: 2008-05-12
Posts: 29

Re: I am not happy with performance..

Well I'm having the same feeling but the problem I see with my laptop is related with the IDE speed.
hdparm /dev/hda seems to show the problem:

hdparm /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 multcount     =  0 (off)
 IO_support    =  0 (default) 
16-bit)
 unmaskirq     =  0 (off)
 using_dma     =  0 (off)
 keepsettings  =  0 (off)
 readonly      =  0 (off)
 readahead     = 256 (on)
 geometry      = 1987/16/63, sectors = 2002896, start = 0

It seems strange why dma is not active and IO is at 16-bit... when I try to change any settings I get the error:

hdparm -d1 /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
 using_dma     =  0 (off)

So it seems that the IDE module is not working as it should be, maybe it's  ata_generic that is causing the problem, avoiding ata_piix to take control:

hwdetect --show-modules
AGP    : agpgart intel-agp 
ACPI   : ac battery button processor thermal video 
PATA   : pata_acpi pata_pcmcia ata_generic 
SCSI   : sd_mod sr_mod st 
SATA   : ata_piix 
USB    : usbcore uhci-hcd 
FW     : firewire-core firewire-ohci firewire-core firewire-ohci ieee1394 ohci1394 
NET    : 8139cp 8139too mii ppp_generic slhc 
INPUT  : evdev ff-memless joydev pcspkr psmouse serio_raw hid usbhid usbhid 
PCMCIA : pcmcia pcmcia_core rsrc_nonstatic yenta_socket 
SOUND  : ac97_bus snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-ac97-codec snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m soundcore 
VIDEO  : output 
OTHER  : cdrom intel-rng lp ppdev i2c-i801 i2c-core parport parport_pc pci_hotplug shpchp rtc-cmos rtc-core rtc-lib crc-itu-t

I will try to compile the kernel with ata_piix builtin to check if this makes sense and I'll report it back.

You should take a look at the IDE settings, maybe you have the same problem as me...

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#24 2008-05-12 21:20:17

pfreire
Member
From: Portugal
Registered: 2008-05-12
Posts: 29

Re: I am not happy with performance..

Forget my last post, I was testing my camera pcmcia card mounted as hda and not the hard disk sda! - I feel dumb now! lol

hdparm -i /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

 Model=TOSHIBA MK4025GAS                       , FwRev=KA100A  , SerialNo=           83423788S
 Config={ Fixed }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=48
 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16?
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=78140160
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 
 DMA modes:  sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 
 AdvancedPM=yes: unknown setting WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: Unspecified:  ATA/ATAPI-1,2,3,4,5,6

 * signifies the current active mode

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