Finally installed ATI driver, v. low fps

144419855310001 · 11-01-2006, 03:37 PM

I've been trying to get the ATI driver for my Radeon XPress 200M working for about the last 6 months. So naturally when after numerous requests to ATI I finally got some 3D support with the latest 8.30.3 driver (31/10/06), I was happy. (Or perhaps it was just the new 2.6.18 kernel?)

Unfortunately it is exceedingly slow! It struggles to play even glxgears, and things like "Neverball" are accelerated so slowly it is practically unusable. It averages about 320 FPS!

Here is glxgears output:

Quote:

[me@hawaii ~]$ glxgears
1691 frames in 5.1 seconds = 329.065 FPS
1680 frames in 5.2 seconds = 323.716 FPS
1680 frames in 5.2 seconds = 323.649 FPS
1680 frames in 5.2 seconds = 323.594 FPS
1680 frames in 5.2 seconds = 323.667 FPS

and glxinfo output:

Quote:

[me@waikiki ~]$ glxinfo
name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: No
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read,
GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_hyperpipe, GLX_SGIX_swap_barrier,
GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
client glx vendor string: ATI
client glx version string: 1.3
client glx extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_ARB_multisample,
GLX_ATI_pixel_format_float, GLX_ATI_render_texture
GLX version: 1.2
GLX extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_multisample
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.4.2)
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp,
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add,
GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3,
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_blend_color,
GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_texture_env_add,
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3,
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias
glu version: 1.3
glu extensions:
GLU_EXT_nurbs_tessellator, GLU_EXT_object_space_tess

visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x23 24 tc 0 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x24 24 tc 0 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 16 8 16 16 16 0 1 0 None
0x25 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 None
0x26 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 None
0x27 24 dc 0 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x28 24 dc 0 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 16 8 16 16 16 0 1 0 None
0x29 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 None
0x2a 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 None

I'm running Fedora Core 5 x86_64, and have used the installer direct from the ATI website (having had some very unpleasent experiences in the past involving the livna drivers).

Also, fglrxinfo returns with an error, strangely.
Here is fglrxinfo:

Quote:

[me@honalulu ~]$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.4.2)

Is the ATI proprietary driver working at all? (looking at fglrxinfo here) Or has mesa developed 3D acceleration for my card, in the latest kernel I just installed?

Any suggestions?
Thanks

stress_junkie · 11-01-2006, 05:17 PM

I've just been working through that as well. I noticed on the ATI web site that although they have binary drivers available they encourage the use of the drivers at freedesktop.org. Well that software is the Mesa driver.

You will notice in your output of glxinfo your direct rendering is not working. That's the same thing with my system. I have an ATI Radeon 8500 AIW. I'm beginning to wonder if we can ever expect to get hardware acceleration and OpenGL working correctly for ATI cards. It may be time to switch to Nvidia.

144419855310001 · 11-01-2006, 05:26 PM

Quote:

It may be time to switch to Nvidia.

I'd sure think about it, but I'm using a laptop. Even if I did feel confident about getting under the hood of my machine (fiddling with laptops definitely not recommended for novices), there would still be the warranty issue.

As it turns out, the 3D acceleration still worked when I uninstalled the ATI driver, showing that it was the mesa drivers that were doing the 3D rendering, as the outputs aove had suggested. This was a nice surprise, as I hadn't known and still thought that mesa could still only handle 2D acceleration. I'd have thought there would have been greater publicity of this (or has it been around for a while, with some degree of support finalising for my card only recently?)

What's more, the rendering was actually faster without that broken ATI driver: about 440FPS.

A thank you note for the mesa developers and a complaint to ATI are clearly on the agenda. ATI shouldn't advertise support for Xpress 200M if they can't deliver it.

Th3_J3st3R · 02-14-2007, 11:07 AM

I have the same card and have it working with 2.6.17.13 and getting about 740-750 fps, sometimes it will jump to 840. I was wondering if anyone knew the average fps for this card?

nsk78 · 02-14-2007, 12:21 PM

@144419855310001:
Official ATI drivers (8.33 now?) don't have support for composite extension in AIGLX. So, to get 3D support you need to disable it in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Also, make sure you have "fglrx" for the driver (in the videocard section of your xorg.conf) instead of "radeon" or "ati".

I suggest you take a look at this post for further information.

HTH

Furlinastis · 02-15-2007, 10:21 PM

I have geforce 5200... and i get about 1100fps...so 7-800 sounds about right for onboard graphics... onboard graphics were designed to put a picture on your monitor not move polygons, so I wouldn't even expect descent 3D performance from that card even if ATi did support Linux as well as they should....

(BTW... I also have an x1950 pro... with just the VESA Framebuffer(as the drivers won't even install) I get 3-400 fps in glxgears... so don't feel so bad

)

144419855310001 · 02-24-2007, 12:37 PM

Quote:

@144419855310001:
Official ATI drivers (8.33 now?) don't have support for composite extension in AIGLX. So, to get 3D support you need to disable it in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Also, make sure you have "fglrx" for the driver (in the videocard section of your xorg.conf) instead of "radeon" or "ati".

I suggest you take a look at this post for further information.

HTH

Thanks anyway, but I have tried that sort of stuff before though

I've been messing around with the ATI drivers for months now. I'm just going to have to wait until the mesa opensource radeon driver project reverse-engineers the xpress 200M DRI. It's not yet supported...

Quote:

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep EE
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(EE) AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI capable

144419855310001 · 06-12-2007, 11:17 AM

Hi

I've eventually fixed this problem by... ummm... switching to ubuntu.

I think I once read somewhere that the Xorg people were tired of altering Xorg in order to work on Fedora, as Fedora uses a very modified version of Xorg.

And then I started wondering. Just where were all the people with a ATI radeon xpress 200m cards on ubuntu who were having this problem??

I figured that perhaps the problem was not with the driver per se, but rather due to the fact of the modified Xorg that Fedora must be using. True enough, I've just switched to ubuntu feisty 7.04, and using the Restricted Driver GUI, it installed the closed-source driver, and I'm getting ~1600 fps and direct rendering, at last!

(It also fixed the problem with my broadcom bcm43xx card, which now works without having to use ndiswrapper. I just installed the bcm43xx-fwcutter and followed a script that started).

...I highly recommended ubuntu if your problems with either of these are chronic.