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Optimal setup for XPRESS cards? (xpress 200m 5955)
This post has been edited to represent progress as of 4-2-08
Hello, I am seeking the advice and guidance of individuals who have experience with the ATI xpress 200m or other relevant xpress cards. My goals are to obtain optimal performance from my card as well as develop this thread into a resource other inexperienced users may use as a reference.
Who am I:
I am a beginner level Linux user. I've been using Linux exclusively for several months now and have just begun venturing out of the safe zone of my automatically configured hardware. Please try to keep this in mind when replying. Even if I do understand what you are saying I'd like to digest the information gathered here into a guide that a day 1 user could not only use but learn from.
System info:
Laptop HP Pavilion dv8000 (dv8309us)
AMD Turion64 ML-34
1024MB 333MHz DDR
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M IGP
17.0” WXGA+ (1440*900)
Fedora Core 8 x64
Kernel: 2.6.24.3-50.fc8
glxgears: ~1770fps
fglrxinfo: OK
lspci -vvnn
xorg.conf
Issues with the current setup:
Strange video corruption on shutdown, the same symptoms occur occasionally when restarting x and switching users.The example resembles fedora theme colors but I have witnessed the same striping in the spanning entire spectrum. Very random, always vertical. No clue as to the cause and wondering if it may be harmful?
Poor or improperly configured use of shared video memory
Color gradients like those seen in the default fc8 wallpaper are not smooth. Defined color “steps” can be seen where smooth transitions should occur. These “steps” can be replicated by creating a gradient in gimp leading me to believe hardware “quality” settings may solve this.
Video playback is very choppy, but this may not be video card related as from hd and from dvd video is poor but testing with a streaming source (yahoo hd trailers) yielded better results. Playback did not suffer from the choppiness that dvd or mp4 did, but overall image quality suffered from a lack of crispness. Using dvd playback in xp as a reference, I'd rate the yahoo hd source 6 out of 10.
Questions Answered:
As of 03-31-08 Thanks to Leigh123
As of 04-01-08 Thanks to many
I have been using glxgears for benchmarking, intuition tells me this tool lacks the scope to get the most out of any video card. What other video performance benchmarking tools are available?
Questions Posed:
Modeline editing (I think thats what it's called... setting options in xorg). I've been trying options I've seen online, restarting X (ctl+alt+bs) and running glxgears looking for improvements.
Is a ctl+alt+bs all that is needed to observe results from all modeline edits or should I reboot each time?
How can I tell if a modeline edit is/was supported? Ive noticed after some changes I get errors in dmesg, and used these observations to determine if the modeline is supported by my card. Is this an acceptable or even logical practice? Note that I'm not just tossing random edits in there, but testing configurations by trial and error.
Has the release of documentation by amd/ati advanced the state of ati drivers for linux yet?
Hello, I am seeking the advice and guidance of individuals who have experience with the ATI xpress 200m or other relevant xpress cards. My goals are to obtain optimal performance from my card as well as develop this thread into a resource other inexperienced users may use as a reference.
Who am I:
I am a beginner level Linux user. I've been using Linux exclusively for several months now and have just begun venturing out of the safe zone of my automatically configured hardware. Please try to keep this in mind when replying. Even if I do understand what you are saying I'd like to digest the information gathered here into a guide that a day 1 user could not only use but learn from.
System info:
Laptop HP Pavilion dv8000 (dv8309us)
AMD Turion64 ML-34
1024MB 333MHz DDR
ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M IGP
17.0” WXGA+ (1440*900)
Fedora Core 8 x64
Kernel: 2.6.24.3-50.fc8
glxgears: ~1770fps
fglrxinfo: OK
lspci -vvnn
Code:
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE) [1002:5955] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Unknown device [103c:309b]
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz+ UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 255 (2000ns min), Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 17
Region 0: Memory at c0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Region 1: I/O ports at 9000 [size=256]
Region 2: Memory at b0100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at b0120000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Kernel driver in use: fglrx_pci
Kernel modules: radeonfb, fglrx
xorg.conf
Code:
Section "Files" ModulePath "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules" EndSection Section "ServerFlags" Option "AIGLX" "on" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Videocard0" Driver "fglrx" Option "VideoOverlay" "off" Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off" Option "TexturedVideo" "on" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Videocard0" DefaultDepth 24 SubSection "Display" Viewport 0 0 Depth 24 EndSubSection EndSection Section "DRI" Mode 0666 EndSection Section "Extensions" Option "Composite" "Enable" EndSection
Issues with the current setup:
Strange video corruption on shutdown, the same symptoms occur occasionally when restarting x and switching users.The example resembles fedora theme colors but I have witnessed the same striping in the spanning entire spectrum. Very random, always vertical. No clue as to the cause and wondering if it may be harmful?
Poor or improperly configured use of shared video memory
Color gradients like those seen in the default fc8 wallpaper are not smooth. Defined color “steps” can be seen where smooth transitions should occur. These “steps” can be replicated by creating a gradient in gimp leading me to believe hardware “quality” settings may solve this.
Video playback is very choppy, but this may not be video card related as from hd and from dvd video is poor but testing with a streaming source (yahoo hd trailers) yielded better results. Playback did not suffer from the choppiness that dvd or mp4 did, but overall image quality suffered from a lack of crispness. Using dvd playback in xp as a reference, I'd rate the yahoo hd source 6 out of 10.
Questions Answered:
As of 03-31-08 Thanks to Leigh123
Is the fglrx driver the “best” driver for this card or am I better off seeking an alternative?
Originally posted by leigh123@linux
As of 04-01-08 Thanks to many
I have been using glxgears for benchmarking, intuition tells me this tool lacks the scope to get the most out of any video card. What other video performance benchmarking tools are available?
fgl_glxgears /// Framegetter from anandtech /// WOOT NEW Phroronix tools!!!
Questions Posed:
Modeline editing (I think thats what it's called... setting options in xorg). I've been trying options I've seen online, restarting X (ctl+alt+bs) and running glxgears looking for improvements.
Is a ctl+alt+bs all that is needed to observe results from all modeline edits or should I reboot each time?
How can I tell if a modeline edit is/was supported? Ive noticed after some changes I get errors in dmesg, and used these observations to determine if the modeline is supported by my card. Is this an acceptable or even logical practice? Note that I'm not just tossing random edits in there, but testing configurations by trial and error.
Has the release of documentation by amd/ati advanced the state of ati drivers for linux yet?
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