Please write about NVidia's 2D performance problems

[lenrek]

Hmm... I decided to give it a try, based on what I read so far in this thread.

Currently, I am running total 26 Gnome-Terminalx in my desktop. 14 of them echoing "fortune -s" string, in every 1 seconds. 2 of them running 'top' command. So far, I have been running them about 18 hours. No slowness of any kind is noticeable. Neither does any of my applications (like firefox or OpenOffice Writer) has any problem.

Before I start doing the experiment, the system has been running for > 4 days (this desktop PC is also a tor router, so most of time, I let it run continuously, even when i am not using). My desktop is Dropline GNOME, but using Compiz-Fusion instead of Metacity. So far, no system freeze of any kind.

System info:
$> uname -simpro
Linux 2.6.25.10 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) D  CPU 2.66GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

$> glxinfo | grep renderer
OpenGL renderer string: GeForce 8500 GT/PCI/SSE2

$> head /var/log/Xorg.0.log

X Window System Version 1.3.0
Release Date: 19 April 2007
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 1.3
Build Operating System: Slackware 12.0 Slackware Linux Project
Current Operating System: Linux orion 2.6.25.10 #1 SMP Sat Jul 5 23:36:01 SGT 2008 i686
Build Date: 09 May 2007

However, IIRC, it did freeze when GL's base screensaver was enabled (that happened a few weeks ago). But, is not something that I would concern much, since I am not that fancy of screensaver. I have not enabled screensaver since then.

Anyway, will let it run for a few more days...

[grigi]

On my 7800GT desktop the 2D graphics gradually slows down. It would take atleast 10 hours of heavy usage before the slowdown becomes noticeable, it only gets worse until I restart X.

The situation does not happen when using KDE3.5's compositing manager, and is worst when using Compiz.

Running X 7.2 with X server 1.3, and 169.something drivers (although this was the case since about the ~90 or ~100 drivers)

To get around the problem I try to restart X every day.

[mlau]

I am using GeForce 8500 GT, no problem here as well.

But, I do like to read more about what others are facing.

8600GT and 8800GT. I have ~12 kde terminals open; after a few hours the
scrolling compiler output gets slower, which I can fix by setting
IPP=2 and GlyphCache=1 with nvidia-settings. Repeat every few hours
(with a cronjob).

I didn't notice any scrolling slowdowns in firefox or any other apps I
use.

[lenrek]

...
My new laptop is Intel-945GM based. With XAA it offers the best 2D experience I have ever seen, while EXA is currently getting better and better...

I know this is out of topic, but I can't help to comment. I never quite get XAA working for my Intel 945GM. In fact, if I only have the config of Driver "intel" in my xorg.conf file (the rest are VendorName, BoardName and BusID, which should not affect its performance), It enable EXA by default.

Since, by default the intel driver using EXA, we should assume EXA is better than XAA? No?

Anyway, if XAA works for you, I guess is fine.

[lenrek]

I have no problems with Palit Sonic+ GF8600GT

I am using GeForce 8500 GT, no problem here as well.

But, I do like to read more about what others are facing.

[sid350]

I have no problems with Palit Sonic+ GF8600GT

[Linuxhippy]

Unsupported

Well, I have 3 PCs with nvidia cards:
GF488Go Laptop
PC - GF5200
PC - GF6600

Because of nvidia's legacy drivers, I don't get any 2D enhancements for the first two cards, and even the 6600 won't be fully supported. (there are statements that some specific options will only be enabled on GF8xxx hardware).
Performance of the GF488Go and the GF5200 were quite ok, as long as I don't touch KDE4 or FireFox3. Maybe its because they are AGP, and thats friendlier to software-fallbacks.
On the 488 I found a bug leading to rendering-errors with all java-programs and was told that they won't fix it in a legacy driver.
The 6600 was never a lot of fun, especially considering how powerful this hardware could have been with proper drivers.

My new laptop is Intel-945GM based. With XAA it offers the best 2D experience I have ever seen, while EXA is currently getting better and better.

Yes, indeed, I would be happy to see some news, or maybe contacts with the development team.

lg Clemens

[chromis]

I have altered my benchmark post, since I think it is wise to give some more detailed information about the system where the benchmark is run on.

For each posted benchmark, If we know the board type, the X window system version, the driver version, kernel version, .config of the kernel (you may get yours from /proc/config.gz if you have enabled that particular feature in your kernel), chipset & cpu and whether you run in 64-bit or 32-bit mode, then we may be able to find an actual cause.

Anyone a suggestion which metric would also be of interest?

That would be very nice, to have some evidence and a cause for this problem.

snaury,

Since your performance does seem indeed magnitudes slower, what is your particular configuration?

[borgus]

Here are my results on Gentoo with the latest NVIDIA drivers at the time of this writing:

NVIDIA Board: 8800 GTS 512MB (G92)
X Window System Version: 7.2 (X.Org V11, R0, Rel. 1.3)
Driver Version: 173.14.09
Kernel: 2.6.25-gentoo-r5
.config.: http://pastebin.com/f4152601c
Chipset, CPU: Intel P35, Intel C2D E6850
Running in 64-bit!

Available XRENDER filters:
nearest
bilinear
convolution
fast
good
best
Setup...
*** ROUND 1 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing non-scaled Over blends
Time: 0.058 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing non-scaled Over blends
Time: 0.089 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing non-scaled Over blends
Time: 0.252 sec.
*** ROUND 2 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing 1/2 scaled Over blends
Time: 0.028 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing 1/2 scaled Over blends
Time: 0.035 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing 1/2 scaled Over blends
Time: 0.090 sec.
*** ROUND 3 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing 2* smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 0.044 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing 2* smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 0.058 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing 2* smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 2.146 sec.
*** ROUND 4 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing 2* nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 0.050 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing 2* nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 0.052 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing 2* nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 0.751 sec.
*** ROUND 6 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing general nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 0.054 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing general nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 0.063 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing general nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 1.822 sec.
*** ROUND 7 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing general smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 0.061 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing general smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 0.063 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing general smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 6.888 sec.

Given chromis' results, that sounds pretty much like where it should be. So it's fast here too, if I'm interpreting it right.

[snaury]

I found render_bench, the benchmark application with the E's. it's located right here: http://www.rasterman.com/files/render_bench.tar.gz ; these are my results:

Looks like it's magnitudes slower for me:

Available XRENDER filters:
nearest
bilinear
convolution
fast
good
best
Setup...
*** ROUND 1 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing non-scaled Over blends
Time: 0.322 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing non-scaled Over blends
Time: 0.567 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing non-scaled Over blends
Time: 0.305 sec.
*** ROUND 2 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing 1/2 scaled Over blends
Time: 0.195 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing 1/2 scaled Over blends
Time: 0.201 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing 1/2 scaled Over blends
Time: 0.114 sec.
*** ROUND 3 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing 2* smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 0.557 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing 2* smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 0.568 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing 2* smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 3.674 sec.
*** ROUND 4 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing 2* nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 0.164 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing 2* nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 0.169 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing 2* nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 1.632 sec.
*** ROUND 6 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing general nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 0.314 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing general nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 0.322 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing general nearest scaled Over blends
Time: 2.801 sec.
*** ROUND 7 ***
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender doing general smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 0.317 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Xrender (offscreen) doing general smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 0.323 sec.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Test: Test Imlib2 doing general smooth scaled Over blends
Time: 12.060 sec.