Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

gamewolf · 2010-03-12 04:03:56

My laptop has an ATI Radeon X1200 integrated card. On Windows, I am able to play some games that have 3D graphics, such as Civ 4: Colonization. On Linux, however, it runs horribly slow.

I have tried all three drivers:

Official ATI Drivers: Wouldn't install, gave an error.
xf86-video-ati: Works the best, but not the best graphical performance.
xf86-video-radeonhd: As I understand it, this driver shows the most potential and 3D acceleration is enabled for my card, however the Gnome Desktop ran painfully slow with this and the game wouldn't run at all.

Any suggestions for getting the best performance for the limited drivers I have?

Thanks.

bgalakazam · 2010-03-12 05:08:46

I have ATI X1300 on my Acer Aspire 5102WMLi. When I was using Arch, I followed what Krzysztof Burghardt wrote on his website regarding Debian. I suggest you give it a try:

http://www.burghardt.pl/2007/11/debian- … -5102wlmi/
Scroll down to the "Graphic" section.

edit: he was using fglrx instead of downloading the package from ATI's website.

Last edited by bgalakazam (2010-03-12 05:10:40)

gamewolf · 2010-03-12 05:39:12

Since the Arch repos do not contain fglrx, how would I go about retrieving it?

bgalakazam · 2010-03-12 06:03:46

As per the wiki: "Formerly known as fglrx, ATI has rebranded their proprietary Linux driver, which is now known as 'Catalyst'. Currently, only the package name has changed, while the kernel module retains its original 'fglrx' name, therefore any mention of fglrx below is specifically in reference to the kernel module, not the package."

Did you try the catalyst package? I was left with the impression you tried the direct download from ATI's website "Official ATI Drivers: Wouldn't install, gave an error."

Davigetto · 2010-03-12 10:04:20

To switch to ATI official drivers (I've done it recently and the 3D performance is very nice), you need to downgrade your xorg to 1.6. Look at this webpage, and http://chakra-project.org/repo/xorg-old/x86_64/ , edit /etc/pacman.conf, add the repository of old xorg, comment temporary the extra repository (otherwise you will not be able to download the older version of xorg), uninstall with -Rd the packages the webpage tells you and install the older version of xorg with the command that the webpage provides to you. (while installing the packages, do not install the xf86-video-vesa as long as you will not need it and conflicts).

After you get the old xorg you will be able to install the catalyst package and make use of it. Once installed remember to load the fglrx module and put fglrx as your driver in xorg.conf.

gamewolf · 2010-03-12 19:13:23

I am sorry, I forgot to mention that I did try using the catalyst driver. Because my chipset is legacy, I have to use catalyst 9.3 or older. I will try again using that repo for the old xorg as I didn't use that one. I am trying to find a good catalyst 9.3 driver on the aur. Ill let you know how it goes.

Thanks.

gamewolf · 2010-03-12 19:19:43

well installing the catalyst driver will require me to roll back not only the xorg-server but also my kernel. I don't think I want to be stuck with the 2.6.29 kernel for the life of this computer Any suggestions?

flamelab · 2010-03-12 19:28:55

Guys, ARE you kidding ? AMD has dropped support for ALL X19xx and older cards since last MARCH (March 2009). Only xf86-video-ati is for his card now.

Last edited by flamelab (2010-03-12 19:29:12)

gamewolf · 2010-03-13 00:02:11

flamelab wrote:

Guys, ARE you kidding ? AMD has dropped support for ALL X19xx and older cards since last MARCH (March 2009). Only xf86-video-ati is for his card now.

Well thats what I had found out. But I was just wondering if there was some possible way for me to get better performance out of my card.

Thanks for the help.

bananaoomarang · 2010-03-14 18:59:45

Don't give up there are options in xorg.conf to improve performence. Check this thread out

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=83521

and try enabling some of these options

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=849422

Last edited by bananaoomarang (2010-03-14 19:01:55)

flamelab · 2010-03-14 19:03:24

Most of the options mentioned in these links above are either deprecated (with KMS) or implemented as default (EXA on UMS).

bananaoomarang · 2010-03-14 19:45:41

He could still TRY installing the drivers from git with AUR. That was always what gave me the biggest boost on my old card.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-03-12 04:03:56

Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#2 2010-03-12 05:08:46

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#3 2010-03-12 05:39:12

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#4 2010-03-12 06:03:46

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#5 2010-03-12 10:04:20

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#6 2010-03-12 19:13:23

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#7 2010-03-12 19:19:43

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#8 2010-03-12 19:28:55

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#9 2010-03-13 00:02:11

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#10 2010-03-14 18:59:45

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#11 2010-03-14 19:03:24

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

#12 2010-03-14 19:45:41

Re: Getting the best graphical performance with an ATI Radeon X1200

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