How to get my graphics card working better

Nem · 03-30-2007, 11:14 PM

Hi all,
I got a quick question.
I'm trying to get more performance
out of my ATI Radeon 9200 graphics card.
I installed the latest linux driver
from ati and still I get bad FPS performance.
After installing the driver and rebooting,
I ran this.

Code:

:~$ glxgears
libGL error: failed to open DRM: Operation not permitted
libGL error: reverting to (slow) indirect rendering
774 frames in 5.0 seconds = 154.675 FPS
856 frames in 5.0 seconds = 171.107 FPS
807 frames in 5.0 seconds = 161.332 FPS
629 frames in 5.0 seconds = 125.622 FPS
594 frames in 5.0 seconds = 118.635 FPS
593 frames in 5.0 seconds = 118.600 FPS
580 frames in 5.0 seconds = 115.962 FPS
592 frames in 5.0 seconds = 118.315 FPS
592 frames in 5.0 seconds = 118.202 FPS
592 frames in 5.0 seconds = 118.264 FPS
591 frames in 5.0 seconds = 118.194 FPS
667 frames in 5.0 seconds = 133.355 FPS
593 frames in 5.0 seconds = 118.575 FPS
594 frames in 5.0 seconds = 118.737 FPS

How can I fix this so I can get the full
performance? I'm using slackware 11.0 with
KDE.In other distros with the same driver
I would easily get over 700 FPS with stock
settings.

bioe007 · 03-30-2007, 11:28 PM

1. check your xorg.conf - is it using the correct driver after you installed ATI?

2. dont use glxgears to clock your ATI drivers, its output is worthless once you're using fglrx. ATI supplies another benchmarker - flgrxgears (i think thats the name).

3. using any program like glxgears is IMO not the best barometer.. again, IMO what you really need to worry about is - do you get adequate performance when doing 3D stuff?

also check Xorg.0.log for any errors.

and have you looked at cwwilson's excellent thread? there are some ATI specific parts in there.

Nem · 03-31-2007, 12:57 AM

It looks like it's using the ati driver,
here's a snipet of my xorg file.

Code:

Section "Device"

    #VideoRam    262144
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
        Identifier  "ATI Radeon 9200"
        Driver      "radeon"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]"
        Driver      "fglrx"
        Option      "FSAAEnable" "on"
        Option      "Capabilities" "0x00000800"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen 1"
        Device     "ATI Radeon 9200"
        Monitor    "E173FP"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     8
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     16
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]"
        Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]"
        Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Well I understand that glxgears isn't the best
but at least I can see roughly whats going on.
U can see that something is wrong when u get
100 FPS instead of 700 or more.It seems
like I don't have flgrxgears. I can tell that
my graphics card isn't tuned up because I can't
really play movies... unless I make the movie
screen really small.

H_TeXMeX_H · 03-31-2007, 11:07 AM

Why do you have 2 device sections each running a different driver ?

Code:

Section "Device"

    #VideoRam    262144
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
        Identifier  "ATI Radeon 9200"
        Driver      "radeon"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]"
        Driver      "fglrx"
        Option      "FSAAEnable" "on"
        Option      "Capabilities" "0x00000800"
EndSection

One of those has to go, but several things must be changed. At least delete that part in red, or use 'fglrx'.

Eternal_Newbie · 03-31-2007, 11:26 AM

EDIT: IMPORTANT the ATI proprietary drivers DO NOT work with the Radeon 9200! Use the XOrg radeon driver.

H_TeXMeX_H · 03-31-2007, 12:50 PM

Actually, I think they do ...

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/li...10.html#173867

Quote:

The ATI Proprietary Linux driver is designed to support the following ATI desktop products:
RADEON™ X800 series
RADEON™ 9000 series
RADEON™ X700 series
RADEON™ 9700 series
RADEON™ X600 series
RADEON™ 9550 series
RADEON™ X300 series
RADEON™ 9500 series
RADEON™ 9800 series
RADEON™ 9100 series
RADEON™ 9600 series
RADEON™ 8500 series
RADEON™ 9200 series

or are they lying ?

bioe007 · 03-31-2007, 05:20 PM

hmm... well, this is a bit of a shot in the dark, but do you need the "DRI" permission section in your xorg.conf?

Code:

Section "DRI"
 Mode 0666
EndSection

Something like that? Not sure if the proprietary ATI drivers rely on that or not.

Not shown in your xorg.conf is server layout section. Are you pointing to the aticonfig-xxxx[0] device and screen?

Eternal_Newbie and H_TexMex_H have found seemingly conflicting evidence about the ATI drivers and your card...

I too have an (older?) ati mobile and use the radeon driver. I get ~ 1500fps after reading 'man radeon' and playing with settings. ( I once tried the ATI drivers only to get terrible performance before switching back to radeon )

Nem · 03-31-2007, 06:58 PM

Hey H_TeXMeX_H,
I monifyed the part

Code:

Driver      "radeon"

to

Code:

Driver      "fglrx"

and things got a little better.

Code:

~$ glxgears
libGL error: failed to open DRM: Operation not permitted
libGL error: reverting to (slow) indirect rendering
586 frames in 5.0 seconds = 117.093 FPS
620 frames in 5.0 seconds = 123.926 FPS
620 frames in 5.0 seconds = 123.926 FPS
620 frames in 5.0 seconds = 123.994 FPS
619 frames in 5.0 seconds = 123.769 FPS
619 frames in 5.0 seconds = 123.739 FPS
590 frames in 5.0 seconds = 117.948 FPS
773 frames in 5.0 seconds = 154.389 FPS
754 frames in 5.0 seconds = 150.664 FPS
728 frames in 5.0 seconds = 145.280 FPS
501 frames in 5.0 seconds = 100.139 FPS
481 frames in 5.0 seconds = 96.195 FPS
684 frames in 5.0 seconds = 136.668 FPS
678 frames in 5.0 seconds = 135.441 FPS
675 frames in 5.0 seconds = 134.900 FPS
787 frames in 6.7 seconds = 117.033 FPS
670 frames in 5.0 seconds = 133.991 FPS

I tried like you said to remove completely
the line

Driver "radeon"

But my X would crash when I would try to start
it up.
Oh bioe007, how did you get your card to give
you that much performance? If you can give
a link to how you got your card to work good!
I'll take a look right now at the "DRI" permission section, I just wanted to update on whats going on
with my card.

Nem · 03-31-2007, 07:07 PM

Oh bioe007,
I removed from xorg.conf
the part that loads Section "DRI"

and now I got better FPS.

Code:

~$ glxgears
Xlib:  extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":0.0".
1016 frames in 5.0 seconds = 203.135 FPS
1075 frames in 5.0 seconds = 214.943 FPS
1073 frames in 5.0 seconds = 214.424 FPS
1075 frames in 5.0 seconds = 214.970 FPS
1086 frames in 5.0 seconds = 217.142 FPS
1085 frames in 5.0 seconds = 216.976 FPS
1085 frames in 5.0 seconds = 216.974 FPS
1087 frames in 5.0 seconds = 217.191 FPS
1085 frames in 5.0 seconds = 216.924 FPS
1085 frames in 5.0 seconds = 216.832 FPS
1096 frames in 5.0 seconds = 218.918 FPS

H_TeXMeX_H · 03-31-2007, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bioe007

I too have an (older?) ati mobile and use the radeon driver. I get ~ 1500fps after reading 'man radeon' and playing with settings. ( I once tried the ATI drivers only to get terrible performance before switching back to radeon )

If this is true, then that would be the way to do it. Change back to 'radeon' and read 'man radeon'. (I don't have an ATI card, so I wouldn't know which will give you better performance)

EDIT: In fact, you may want to run 'xorgsetup' as root when Xserver is down, it will autodetect many things which may improve performance.

bioe007 · 03-31-2007, 09:42 PM

my xorg.conf

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "X.org Configured"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
	RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
	ModulePath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

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

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
	Driver      "kbd"
	Option       "XkbModel"  "pc101"
	Option       "XkbLayout"  "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "auto"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/mouse"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	#DisplaySize	  330   210	# mm
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "SEC"
	ModelName    "3150"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        ### Available Driver options are:-
        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
        ### [arg]: arg optional
        Identifier  "Card0"
	Driver      "ati"
	VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
	BoardName   "Radeon R250 Lf [FireGL 9000]"
	BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
	#Option    "VBERestore"    "true"
        Option     "EnablePageFlip" "true"    	# [<bool>]
 #       Option     "AGPMode" "4"          	# <i>
        Option     "AGPFastWrite"  "true"     	# [<bool>]
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Card0"
	Monitor    "Monitor0"
	DefaultDepth 24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     1
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     4
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     8
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     15
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     16
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Mode 0666
EndSection

from #1 in my sig. has 2.4 GHz P4 + 2GB ram.

like i said, 'man radeon' then tweak until content - thats my method. IIRC the

Code:

"enablepageflip"  "true"

made a big difference. Make sure you're booting into runlevel 3 - cause its easier to fix xorg.conf if you severely screw something up

another thing to start looking into is your kernel options. have you checked lsmod for fglrx or (if you're using X drivers) radeon + drm ?

Nem · 03-31-2007, 11:55 PM

This is weird. I added the options you
had for your card and still the FPS doesn't
go up. this is a snippet my current xorg.config section

Code:

# Module section -- this  section  is used to specify
# which dynamically loadable modules to load.
# **********************************************************************
#
Section "Module"

# This loads the DBE extension module.

    Load        "dbe"  	# Double buffer extension

# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.
    SubSection  "extmod"
      Option    "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA extension
    EndSubSection

# This loads the font modules
    Load        "type1"
#    Load        "speedo"
    Load        "freetype"
#    Load        "xtt"

# This loads the GLX module
    Load       "glx"
# This loads the DRI module
#    Load       "dri"

EndSection

# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present

# Standard VGA Device:

Section "Device"
    Identifier	"Standard VGA"
    VendorName	"Unknown"
    BoardName	"Unknown"

# The chipset line is optional in most cases.  It can be used to override
# the driver's chipset detection, and should not normally be specified.

#    Chipset	"generic"

# The Driver line must be present.  When using run-time loadable driver
# modules, this line instructs the server to load the specified driver
# module.  Even when not using loadable driver modules, this line
# indicates which driver should interpret the information in this section.

    Driver     "vga"
# The BusID line is used to specify which of possibly multiple devices
# this section is intended for.  When this line isn't present, a device
# section can only match up with the primary video device.  For PCI
# devices a line like the following could be used.  This line should not
# normally be included unless there is more than one video device
# intalled.

#    BusID      "PCI:0:10:0"

#    VideoRam	256

#    Clocks	25.2 28.3

EndSection

# Device configured by xorgconfig:

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "ATI Radeon 9200"
    Driver      "radeon"
    #Option    "VBERestore"    "true"
        Option     "EnablePageFlip" "true"    	# [<bool>]
 #       Option     "AGPMode" "4"          	# <i>
        Option     "AGPFastWrite"  "true"     	# [<bool>]
    #VideoRam    262144
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

This is my current FPS after using the options
you used for your card.

Code:

~$ glxgears
Xlib:  extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":0.0".
1063 frames in 5.0 seconds = 212.435 FPS
1092 frames in 5.0 seconds = 218.261 FPS
1089 frames in 5.0 seconds = 217.764 FPS
1090 frames in 5.0 seconds = 217.893 FPS
1091 frames in 5.0 seconds = 218.129 FPS

Here's th output from lsmod.

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
ndiswrapper           168148  0
snd_seq_dummy           2820  0
snd_seq_oss            28928  0
snd_seq_midi_event      5888  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                43984  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          6284  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            38048  0
snd_mixer_oss          15616  1 snd_pcm_oss
ipv6                  223584  12
sg                     26524  0
pcmcia                 30116  0
yenta_socket           23436  0
rsrc_nonstatic         10752  1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core            34192  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
capability              3336  0
commoncap               5376  1 capability
lp                      9800  0
parport_pc             24132  1
parport                30024  2 lp,parport_pc
pcspkr                  2432  0
psmouse                34952  0
shpchp                 33816  0
intel_agp              19612  1
agpgart                28080  1 intel_agp
evdev                   8064  0
snd_intel8x0           28316  0
snd_ac97_codec         86304  1 snd_intel8x0
eepro100               26384  0
snd_ac97_bus            2048  1 snd_ac97_codec
serio_raw               5252  0
mii                     4864  1 eepro100
i2c_i801                7820  0
snd_pcm                73736  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer              19332  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    43364  9 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               7136  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          7560  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm

I just don't know what to try. I looked at man "radeon" and couldn't see anything that could
possibly bring up the performance. If you need
to look at the other parts of my xorg.conf,
just tell me which one to post up! I can watch
movies now, But I want to get the card to work
better so I can get some games like dooom, etc
that need alot of juice! What other benchmarker
tool there is other than glxgears?
Thx again

bioe007 · 04-01-2007, 12:25 AM

where is drm + radeon? or fglrx?

my lsmod:

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
radeon                113824  1 
drm                    74524  2 radeon
snd_seq_dummy           4108  0 
snd_seq_oss            30336  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      7040  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                46320  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          7820  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            39360  0 
snd_mixer_oss          16256  1 snd_pcm_oss
ipv6                  228448  12 
af_packet              20488  2 
pcmcia                 35736  0 
snd_intel8x0           32064  0 
snd_ac97_codec         87460  1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus                2432  1 snd_ac97_codec
bcm43xx               416576  0 
ieee80211softmac       28544  1 bcm43xx
ieee80211              31560  2 bcm43xx,ieee80211softmac
ohci1394               33716  0 
snd_pcm                67984  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
ieee80211_crypt         6144  1 ieee80211
b44                    25232  0 
ieee1394               91868  1 ohci1394
snd_timer              22152  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
usblp                  13316  0 
snd                    48996  9 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_page_alloc          9864  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
serio_raw               7044  0

i am no expert, but I think to get any type of great performance you'll need drm &radeon (if you're using the X11 drivers) or fglrx should show up if the ATI drivers are loaded.

can you quit X, then modprobe drm, radeon and restart to see if that helps?

i'm suspiscious of missing kernel modules. did you compile your own kernel? or using a stock one?

Nem · 04-01-2007, 02:08 AM

Hmm..
I tried to modprobe drm and radeon
but get these errors.

Code:

# modprobe drm
FATAL: Error inserting drm (/lib/modules/2.6.17.13/kernel/drivers/char/drm/drm.ko): Cannot allocate memory

Code:

# modprobe radeon
WARNING: Error inserting drm (/lib/modules/2.6.17.13/kernel/drivers/char/drm/drm.ko): Cannot allocate memory
FATAL: Error inserting radeon (/lib/modules/2.6.17.13/kernel/drivers/char/drm/radeon.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

I'm using the stock 2.6.17.13 kernel that
came with my install dvd.I installed the
right modules for the kernel, headers,etc
so thats strange.Is there some other modules
I should install? This is why I can't get
more FPS out of my card! It's not even loading
the modules for the card!
Thx

bioe007 · 04-01-2007, 03:59 AM

I see two ways to go about this:

1) press on searching for clues to the 2.6.17 kernel that comes with slack11 (i'm sure there are 'README' somewhere, or a .config)

did you install the source for the slack 2.6.17? if so you can vi <path to source>/.config and look and see what was built in, or check a readme to see if drm is built in.

2) compile your own kernel.

i've had no luck with drm built in but maybe someone else has.

ah, i have found something _google is your friend_ someone w/your error

Code:

Section "Extensions"
        Option  "Composite"     "Disable"
EndSection

couldn't hurt to give that one a whirl