[SOLVED] Video Acceleration?

gael33 · 06-11-2013, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark_alfred

The two commands I use to test for video acceleration are:

Code:

glxinfo | grep direct

Code:

glxgears

The second one shows gears spinning, and gives your FPS reading. It's stopped by pressing "q". If the FPS reading is lower than it should be, then there's a problem. Try it on Mint, and then on another distro (IE, run by Live CD) and see if there's a difference. If not, then there is no problem (though, from the sound of it, it seems you've solved the problem anyway, so good!)

$ glxinfo | grep direct
direct rendering: Yes

glxgears
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh. The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
305 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.871 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.997 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.000 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.999 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.998 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.998 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.999 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.999 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.998 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.998 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.999 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.999 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.995 FPS
301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.999 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.000 FPS

Thank you for responding

gael.

TobiSGD · 06-11-2013, 05:53 PM

You can see that direct rendering is enabled with the glxinfo command given to you by mark_alfred, but you can not see which renderer is in use. glxgears is for troubleshooting modern computers more or less useless, it mostly tests your CPU due to its very simple rendering.
Please post the output of

Code:

glxinfo | grep render

instead. Please use code-tags (see my signature) for posting that output.

mark_alfred · 06-11-2013, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gael33

$ glxinfo | grep direct
direct rendering: Yes

glxgears
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh. The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
305 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.871 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.997 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.000 FPS

That's kinda low. I have an older video card (from "lspci" --> 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX 4000] (rev c1)) and I get the following:

Code:

mark:$ glxgears
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
3111 frames in 5.0 seconds = 622.079 FPS
3267 frames in 5.0 seconds = 653.283 FPS
3268 frames in 5.0 seconds = 653.555 FPS
3204 frames in 5.0 seconds = 640.508 FPS
vector:/~

And TobiSGD is right, the command he/she suggests will tell you what renderer is being used. Mine states the following:

Code:

vector:/~
mark:$ glxinfo | grep render
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce4 MX 4000/AGP/SSE2

There was an open source driver for my video card that I initially used, but the rendering was not nearly as good as it was with the nonfree driver I ultimately installed. So, it may help to find out what video card you're using, and then search for a different driver (IE, nvidia).

TobiSGD · 06-11-2013, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark_alfred

That's kinda low. I have an older video card (from "lspci" --> 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX 4000] (rev c1)) and I get the following:

Code:

mark:$ glxgears
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
3111 frames in 5.0 seconds = 622.079 FPS
3267 frames in 5.0 seconds = 653.283 FPS
3268 frames in 5.0 seconds = 653.555 FPS
3204 frames in 5.0 seconds = 640.508 FPS
vector:/~

The output of glxgears from the OP is as it should be, since the drawing is synchronized to the monitors refresh rate.

Ztcoracat · 06-11-2013, 08:08 PM

I think from post #1 this is gael33 video card-

Code:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18)

TobiSGD · 06-11-2013, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ztcoracat

I think from post #1 this is gael33 video card-

Code:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18)

But that doesn't tells us if the correct driver is used on that system. Since there are compalints about software rendering I assume that Gallium over llvmpipe is used, so that all rendering is done on the CPU rather than on the GPU.

Ztcoracat · 06-11-2013, 08:59 PM

This thread is for Linux Mint 14 but it might help-

If the intel driver does not load you will get: GLX Renderer Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe in the inxi -Gx output.

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=117294

mark_alfred · 06-11-2013, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

The output of glxgears from the OP is as it should be, since the drawing is synchronized to the monitors refresh rate.

Then presumably my monitor refresh rate is ten times that of gael33's monitor refresh rate.

TobiSGD · 06-11-2013, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark_alfred

Then presumably my monitor refresh rate is ten times that of gael33's monitor refresh rate.

Or, since you use the proprietary Nvidia driver, your vertical synchronizing is not controlled by the VBLANK variable, which glxgears doesn't know and you simply have vertical synchronizing not enabled.

This is what I get on my laptop, one time with vsync enabled, one time disabled:

Code:

tobi ~ ☹ $ glxgears
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.886 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.866 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.873 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.869 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.869 FPS

tobi ~ ☹ $ glxgears
2615 frames in 5.0 seconds = 522.952 FPS
2631 frames in 5.0 seconds = 526.135 FPS
2631 frames in 5.0 seconds = 526.053 FPS
2631 frames in 5.0 seconds = 526.025 FPS
2630 frames in 5.0 seconds = 525.890 FPS

gael33 · 06-12-2013, 05:16 AM

WOW! you guys lost me after the first line

All I know is that if I had a better graphics card the FPS would be improved ... is that correct?
I am limited because my computer case is rather small ... it is a AX3950.
If anyone knows which graphics card would fit in the case, I would invest in one.
Could you recommend a graphics card that is not too complicated to install?

thanks again for all your help.

gael

PS. My monitor is a Benq 22 Senseye 3 which doesn't give me a refresh choice ... in fact, it doesn't tell me what the refresh number is!

TobiSGD · 06-12-2013, 08:16 AM

The problem at the moment for you is not that your video device is slow, but that it probably runs with the wrong driver.
Buying a better videocard only makes sense if you want to play 3D games or want to use CAD or 3D modelling programs with very large models.

Regarding your monitor, it is an LCD device, those usually run at 60Hz, which is fine for LCD devices.

gael33 · 06-12-2013, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

The problem at the moment for you is not that your video device is slow, but that it probably runs with the wrong driver.
Buying a better videocard only makes sense if you want to play 3D games or want to use CAD or 3D modelling programs with very large models.

Regarding your monitor, it is an LCD device, those usually run at 60Hz, which is fine for LCD devices.

I see the point you are making and it makes perfect sense.
I always thought that Linux, in this case Mint, always installs a working generic driver ... there appears to be no Proprietary drivers available, so it looks like I am stuck with whatever I have got.
Thanks for the advice on the LCD Monitor, that's one less thing to be concerned about.

Once again I am delighted that you took time to assist me.

Thank you.

gael

TobiSGD · 06-12-2013, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gael33

I always thought that Linux, in this case Mint, always installs a working generic driver

Usually it does. In case it, for whatever reason, can't find that one modern distributions use a software renderer.

Quote:

there appears to be no Proprietary drivers available, so it looks like I am stuck with whatever I have got.

No, you are not. Just provide the info you were asked for and we can try to help you. Without that info that is indeed impossible.

gael33 · 06-12-2013, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

Usually it does. In case it, for whatever reason, can't find that one modern distributions use a software renderer.

No, you are not. Just provide the info you were asked for and we can try to help you. Without that info that is indeed impossible.

This is a summary of my system;
-Computer-
Processor : 4x Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 550 @ 3.20GHz
Memory : 5006MB (1628MB used)
Operating System : Linux Mint 15 Olivia
User Name : gael33
Date/Time : Wed 12 Jun 2013 07:46:42 PM BST
-Display-
Resolution : 1920x1080 pixels
OpenGL Renderer : Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ironlake Desktop
X11 Vendor : The X.Org Foundation
-Multimedia-
Audio Adapter : HDA-Intel - HDA Intel MID
Audio Adapter : USB-Audio - USB Device 0x46d
-Input Devices-
Power Button
Power Button
AT Translated Set 2 keyboard
HID 0a5c:4502
HID 0a5c:4503
UVC Camera (046d:081d)
HDA Intel MID HDMI/DP,pcm : 3=
HDA Intel MID Line
HDA Intel MID Rear Mic
HDA Intel MID Front Mic
HDA Intel MID Front Headphone
HDA Intel MID Line Out
ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse
-Printers (CUPS)-
PSC-2350-series : <i>Default</i>
-SCSI Disks-
TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-H653G
ATA ST3500418AS
HP PSC 2355
Generic- Compact Flash
Multiple Flash Reader
HP DVD Writer 557s

Vielen Dank

gael

TobiSGD · 06-12-2013, 02:17 PM

That looks OK, so far. What is the output of

Code:

glxinfo | grep render

Also, can you try to install a little 3D game, like Tuxracer, and see if it is playable?