# New graphics card (ATI)

## tomtomp

Hi, I bought new raphics card (ATI HD 6950) I installed it and all went well, but now when I run glx gears I get:

```

34169 frames in 5.0 seconds = 6833.714 FPS

34427 frames in 5.0 seconds = 6885.330 FPS

34324 frames in 5.0 seconds = 6864.661 FPS

```

I was getting about 8000 on my old ati hd 3870... also CPU is being heavily used, shouldnt the GPU process it?

+ fgl_glxgears

```

Using GLX_SGIX_pbuffer

14665 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2933.000 FPS

15379 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3075.800 FPS

```

here is my Xorg:

```

#Section "InputDevice"

#   Identifier  "Mouse0"

#   Driver      "mouse"

#   Option       "Protocol" "auto"

#   Option       "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

#   Option       "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"

#EndSection

#Section "Monitor"

#   Identifier   "Monitor0"

#   VendorName   "SAM"

#   ModelName    "SAMSUNG"

#   HorizSync    26.0 - 76.0

#   VertRefresh  23.0 - 61.0

#EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

   Identifier     "X.org Configured"

   Screen      0  "Screen0" 1920 0

   Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[0]-1" 0 0

   InputDevice    "Evdev Mouse" "CorePointer"

   InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

Section "Files"

   ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/OTF/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"

EndSection

Section "Module"

   Load  "glx"

   Load  "dbe"

   Load  "extmod"

   Load  "record"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier  "Keyboard0"

   Driver      "kbd"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier  "Evdev Mouse"

   Driver      "evdev"

   Option       "Name" "Corsair Corsair Vengeance M90 Mouse"

   Option       "evBits" "+1-2"

   Option       "keyBits" "~272-287"

   Option       "relBits" "~0-2 ~6 ~8"

   Option       "Pass" "3"

   Option       "CorePointer"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"

   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"

   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"

   Option       "DPMS" "true"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-1"

   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"

   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"

   Option       "DPMS" "true"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier   "0-DFP1"

   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"

   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"

   Option       "DPMS" "true"

   Option       "PreferredMode" "1920x1080"

   Option       "TargetRefresh" "60"

   Option       "Position" "0 0"

   Option       "Rotate" "normal"

   Option       "Disable" "false"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier   "0-DFP2"

   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"

   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"

   Option       "DPMS" "true"

   Option       "PreferredMode" "1920x1080"

   Option       "TargetRefresh" "60"

   Option       "Position" "0 0"

   Option       "Rotate" "normal"

   Option       "Disable" "false"

EndSection

Section "Device"

        ### Available Driver options are:-

        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",

        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",

        ### <percent>: "<f>%"

        ### [arg]: arg optional

        #Option     "NoAccel"               # [<bool>]

        #Option     "SWcursor"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "Dac6Bit"               # [<bool>]

        #Option     "Dac8Bit"               # [<bool>]

        #Option     "BusType"               # [<str>]

        #Option     "CPPIOMode"             # [<bool>]

        #Option     "CPusecTimeout"         # <i>

        #Option     "AGPMode"               # <i>

        #Option     "AGPFastWrite"          # [<bool>]

        #Option     "AGPSize"               # <i>

        #Option     "GARTSize"              # <i>

        #Option     "RingSize"              # <i>

        #Option     "BufferSize"            # <i>

        #Option     "EnableDepthMoves"      # [<bool>]

        #Option     "EnablePageFlip"        # [<bool>]

        #Option     "NoBackBuffer"          # [<bool>]

        #Option     "DMAForXv"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "FBTexPercent"          # <i>

        #Option     "DepthBits"             # <i>

        #Option     "PCIAPERSize"           # <i>

        #Option     "AccelDFS"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "IgnoreEDID"            # [<bool>]

        #Option     "CustomEDID"            # [<str>]

        #Option     "DisplayPriority"       # [<str>]

        #Option     "PanelSize"             # [<str>]

        #Option     "ForceMinDotClock"      # <freq>

        #Option     "ColorTiling"           # [<bool>]

        #Option     "VideoKey"              # <i>

        #Option     "RageTheatreCrystal"    # <i>

        #Option     "RageTheatreTunerPort"    # <i>

        #Option     "RageTheatreCompositePort"    # <i>

        #Option     "RageTheatreSVideoPort"    # <i>

        #Option     "TunerType"             # <i>

        #Option     "RageTheatreMicrocPath"    # <str>

        #Option     "RageTheatreMicrocType"    # <str>

        #Option     "ScalerWidth"           # <i>

        #Option     "RenderAccel"           # [<bool>]

        #Option     "SubPixelOrder"         # [<str>]

        #Option     "ClockGating"           # [<bool>]

        #Option     "VGAAccess"             # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ReverseDDC"            # [<bool>]

        #Option     "LVDSProbePLL"          # [<bool>]

        #Option     "AccelMethod"           # <str>

        #Option     "DRI"                   # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ConnectorTable"        # <str>

        #Option     "DefaultConnectorTable"    # [<bool>]

        #Option     "DefaultTMDSPLL"        # [<bool>]

        #Option     "TVDACLoadDetect"       # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ForceTVOut"            # [<bool>]

        #Option     "TVStandard"            # <str>

        #Option     "IgnoreLidStatus"       # [<bool>]

        #Option     "DefaultTVDACAdj"       # [<bool>]

        #Option     "Int10"                 # [<bool>]

        #Option     "EXAVSync"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ATOMTVOut"             # [<bool>]

        #Option     "R4xxATOM"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ForceLowPowerMode"     # [<bool>]

        #Option     "DynamicPM"             # [<bool>]

        #Option     "NewPLL"                # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ZaphodHeads"           # <str>

   Identifier  "Card0"

   Driver      "fglrx"

   Option       "UseFastTLS" "2"

   Option       "Monitor-DFP1" "0-DFP1"

   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"

EndSection

Section "Device"

   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"

   Driver      "fglrx"

   Option       "UseFastTLS" "2"

   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"

EndSection

Section "Device"

   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-1"

   Driver      "fglrx"

   Option       "UseFastTLS" "2"

   Option       "Monitor-DFP2" "0-DFP2"

   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"

   Screen      1

EndSection

Section "Screen"

   Identifier "Screen0"

   Device     "Card0"

   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 "Screen"

   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"

   Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"

   Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"

   DefaultDepth     24

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     24

   EndSubSection

EndSection

Section "Screen"

   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-1"

   Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-1"

   DefaultDepth     24

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     24

   EndSubSection

EndSection

```

I am not too good at configuring it, all help welcomed  :Wink:  .

glxinfo | grep rendering:

```

direct rendering: Yes

```

Is theese fps normal? I tried playing Skyrim in wine but on lowest it had realy low fps  :Sad: 

Thanx for any help  :Smile: 

ps: I will try unmerge ad reemerge ati-drivers in the meanwhile  :Very Happy: 

pps: lspci -v -s 01:00.0

```

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Device 6719 (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

   Subsystem: PC Partner Limited Device 186b

   Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 47

   Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]

   Memory at f5000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]

   I/O ports at b000 [size=256]

   [virtual] Expansion ROM at f4000000 [disabled] [size=128K]

   Capabilities: <access denied>

   Kernel driver in use: fglrx_pci

   Kernel modules: fglrx

```

----------

## j_c_p

Hello,

 *Quote:*   

> I bought new raphics card (ATI HD 6950)

 

Sorry, an Nvidia card would have been a better buy.

Have fun with your card (well, sort of   :Laughing:  ).

----------

## tomtomp

Heh... right  :Very Happy: 

I still think ATI is better than NVIDIA , they just supported linux first.

ps: I looked at test of this Graphics card on phoronix and they got better results than me...

pps: I dont think system is fully using GPU because graphical programs (opengl) are using loads of CPU... any ideas?

----------

## Veldrin

please post the output of glxinfo | grep render ; eselect opengl list

V.

----------

## tomtomp

Here:

```

direct rendering: Yes

OpenGL renderer string: AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series

    GL_KTX_buffer_region, GL_NV_blend_square, GL_NV_conditional_render, 

Available OpenGL implementations:

  [1]   ati *

  [2]   xorg-x11

```

----------

## Gusar

 *tomtomp wrote:*   

> I still think ATI is better than NVIDIA

 

Not when it comes to Linux. And especially not with wine.

That said, have you checked the wine appdb if there are maybe some magic incantations to get Skyrim working optimally?

----------

## DaggyStyle

 *j_c_p wrote:*   

> Hello,
> 
>  *Quote:*   I bought new raphics card (ATI HD 6950) 
> 
> Sorry, an Nvidia card would have been a better buy.
> ...

 

brilliant idea! why wouldn't you pay for his new nVidia card then?

frankly, if you don't have anything useful to contribute to a topic, don't.

it is disrespectful.

----------

## Veldrin

Thanks for the reply - I was wonder, whether opengl was properly configured, and it is. 

 *Quote:*   

> Is theese fps normal? I tried playing Skyrim in wine but on lowest it had realy low fps  
> 
> Thanx for any help  

 

Please note, that neither glxgears, nor fglrx_gears are valid benchmarking tools. IMO they give you a reasonable idea if opengl is working, and being accelerated via graphics card.

In addition wine offers only a limited implementation of directx. IIRC Skyrim is a pretty recent game, just I am not sureprised, that is runs slow. 

On a sidenote: I recently tried guildwars on wine, and to play it properly, I had to drop to directx8 and disable any shaders. Otherwise I had some severe graphic issues. (using the latest fglrx/ati-drivers on a HD6870)

@Gusar: From experience NVIDIA using the binary drivers works better and more stable on Linux than ATI with their binary blob. Using the open source drivers it seems the other way around. What are you basing you statement on?

V

----------

## j_c_p

 *DaggyStyle wrote:*   

>  *j_c_p wrote:*   Hello,
> 
>  *Quote:*   I bought new raphics card (ATI HD 6950) 
> 
> Sorry, an Nvidia card would have been a better buy.
> ...

 

With the price of an ATI HD 6950 card, you can buy another card from Nvidia which performs better under Linux (and Wine) ... that's the state of the ATI cards, and, it's not a brilliant idea to choose a better card for the same price, it's the way to process. 

It looks like you are a little bit on the other side of OS : Linux is not Windows, and the best cards aren't the same !

----------

## DaggyStyle

 *j_c_p wrote:*   

>  *DaggyStyle wrote:*    *j_c_p wrote:*   Hello,
> 
>  *Quote:*   I bought new raphics card (ATI HD 6950) 
> 
> Sorry, an Nvidia card would have been a better buy.
> ...

 

where did I wrote that ATI are better than nVidia? you need to read better.

I don't care less he got ATI, you think that he made the wrong choice or pbp ratio, he has a problem, he came here for help, your post didn't helped a bit, it was more of a "Ha Ha!" post, that is disrespectful.

speaking of OS side, "Ha Ha" posts can be seen on daily basis on windows boards written by wannabe kids who think they know it all because they can operate windows better than the average user but they are rarely seen on linux forums.

----------

## j_c_p

 *DaggyStyle wrote:*   

>  *j_c_p wrote:*    *DaggyStyle wrote:*    *j_c_p wrote:*   Hello,
> 
>  *Quote:*   I bought new raphics card (ATI HD 6950) 
> 
> Sorry, an Nvidia card would have been a better buy.
> ...

 

Your post didn't helped a bit  :  yours is certainly better, as I can read, you add nothing except quoting me and say "blabla blabla ...".

I understand better the number of your interventions in the Gentoo forums.

Thanks for all, that's very useful for tomtomp.

 *Quote:*   

> Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the former - Albert Einstein 

 

----------

## tomtomp

Great... flameware  :Very Happy:  , now realy, I think its because the drivers arent optimized yet (I hope  :Very Happy:  )

In the meantime, anyone have some tricks for better performance?

ps: could any forummaster clear it here a bit?  :Very Happy: 

----------

## Gusar

 *Veldrin wrote:*   

> @Gusar: From experience NVIDIA using the binary drivers works better and more stable on Linux than ATI with their binary blob. Using the open source drivers it seems the other way around. What are you basing you statement on?

 

It's well known that for a long time the wine devs were only testing on the nvidia blob. It's because all other drivers were in such a state that the devs couldn't know whether the issue was in the driver or in their wine code. With the nvidia blob though, they could be sure the issue was in wine. This has changed quite a bit over time, but still, for wine the nvidia blob is king and fglrx still has lots of issues. The nvidia blob is also king when it comes to hardware video decoding (VDPAU), the second place being held by Intel (VAAPI), the fglrx situation being, in a word, ugh.

Now when we come to the open drivers... on both sides the open driver is quite a bit slower than the blobs, 3x-5x slower depending on game, sometimes even more. The big issue for nouveau is no reclocking support (switching the card to a higher performance level). It's coming for not-Fermi cards in kernel 3.4, but even with reclocking nouveau will reach at most 60% of the blob's performance. The open ati driver does have some reclocking support (different profiles, including dynamic switching), but you can read around, like say at the Phoronix forums, that it's not really it either - power consumption being high even on the lowest level (and this level being too low for smooth compositing), flickering during dynamic switches and such. So there's a lot of work needed in this area for both drivers.

tl;dr - for wine gaming, go nvidia blob.

----------

## DaggyStyle

 *j_c_p wrote:*   

>  *DaggyStyle wrote:*    *j_c_p wrote:*    *DaggyStyle wrote:*    *j_c_p wrote:*   Hello,
> 
>  *Quote:*   I bought new raphics card (ATI HD 6950) 
> 
> Sorry, an Nvidia card would have been a better buy.
> ...

 

your not even worth it, I contributed enough and will continue, your contribution is still questioned.

btw, the sentence from my sig you've quoted was written to people such as you and the fact that you are unable to comprehend it only strengthen the validity of the sentence.

enjoy the rest of your staying at Gentoo's forums.

tomtomp, there is no flamewar, read the posts.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

tomtomp,

Start off with a simple one display install and optimise that.

When it works, add in the second and then the third.

Unplug the second and third displays and test.  You should not need to change xorg.conf.

When it detects just one display, it should be quite happy.

If one display does not JustWork, post the content of /var/log/Xorg.0.log

That file tells what xorg actually did when it started.  xorg.conf tells what you asked it to do.

----------

