# geforce 635M has very poor performance.

## wpkzz

Hi fellow gentoo-users:

I am having a very troublesome installation in a relative new Asus N76VJ laptop. The computer is really powerful, and I want it to behave as best as it can.

What concerns me right now is the graphic card performance, which is really disappointing. 

The card in question is an nVidia GeForce GT 635M 2GB, and under windows 8 it behaves marvelously.  

The problems:

If I try to switch from fluxbox to console, everything becomes black and non-responsive. I cannot switch back to X11. 

If I ask xrandr for the settings gives me a very poor answer:

```

xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default

Screen 0: minimum 1600 x 900, current 1600 x 900, maximum 1600 x 900

default connected 1600x900+0+0 0mm x 0mm

   1600x900        0.0* 

```

 I know this is wrong because in a previous installation it gave me a maximum of 4096 by 4096,

and a wide array of options, a result which I do not remember how I achieved it (mostly try and luck

but it was lost in the upgrade.)

If I try to decrease the backlight I get this

```

karel@monstruona /etc/portage $ xbacklight -dec 10

No outputs have backlight property

```

Which also used to work before. 

glxgears has a fps rate of  914.784 FPS. I think that is ok.

The settings:

This is what I detect with lspci

```

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 0de3 (rev a1)

```

Right now I am using the kernel 3.7.9. 

I have used the nouveau modules both in-kernel or as independent modules, and even switched them off.   

I have disabled the nvidia framebuffer support, as suggested for KMS, although the performance was better

with it enabled (but still not as it should).

I have also tried to use both nouveau and intel support. Not much success. And I am not sure what the

kernel option for "hybrid laptop graphics" is.

The en.gentoo-wiki.com is NOT accesible anymore , and the new wiki.gentoo.org doesn't have much information.

I will post any more information if you explain me how to get it...

Thanks in advance!

wpkzz

----------

## eyoung100

Have you tried the NVidia Binary Drivers:

x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers

I have more trouble with the nouveau and kms drivers and have stuck with x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers and fbsplash using uvesafb.

----------

## Gusar

You machine is very likely Optimus. So forget about the Nvidia card and configure the system for Intel. Once that is working, check out Bumblebee.

----------

## wpkzz

Thank for your quick answers. 

About the nvidia-drivers

I already tried the nvidia private drivers, but it seems that they are not ready for the 3.7.9 kernel, as I get this message

```

 Messages for package x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-304.64:

 * Gentoo supports kernel's which are supported by NVIDIA

 * which are limited to the following kernels:

 * <sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-3.7

 * <sys-kernel/vanilla-sources-3.7

 * 

 * You are on your own

```

I love the last sentence, "you are on your own". I guess I could unmask the 310 version, it seems from other threads that it should be ready for my kernel. I have a slight prejudice against unmasking too much, but it could work.

about bumblebee and optimus.

I must confess that this is the first time I read about both things, the manual of my laptop didn't said anything (or I did not pay attention) of such technology, but a glance to the wikipedia shows me that it could be the case. I will try in that direction and tell you if that comes out successfully.

Thanks to both of you!

----------

## eyoung100

 *notebookshop.com wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Powered by the new nVIDIA GT 635M with 2GB VRAM w/ Optimus™ Technology, and paired with the new and higly anticipated 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3630QM processor, the ASUS N76´s 17.3-inch high definition display with a 16:9 ´golden´ aspect ratio provides a comfortable viewing area for any multimedia files or browsing the Internet. ASUS SonicMaster® Theater brings up the rear with crisp and clear audio reproduction. These features provide users with a truly cinematic entertainment experience that is sure to impress.

 

As such, I would go with Gusar's suggestion   :Wink: 

----------

## wpkzz

Of course, you where right, it is Optimus tecnology the video of this machine.

I did as suggested and set the kernel first to use the intel drivers, which did much better results. Now xrandr points me more possible configurations, ans xbacklight works too!

But bumblebee still doesn't work. I seem to be lacking one important library:

```

karel@monstruona ~ $ optirun glxspheres

[  284.619251] [ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU - error: [XORG] (EE) Failed to load /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so: libdrm_nouveau.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

[  284.619316] [ERROR]Aborting because fallback start is disabled.

```

But I checked and both files are where they are supposed to be:

```

karel@monstruona /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers $ ls

fbdev_drv.so  intel_drv.so  nouveau_drv.so  v4l_drv.so  vesa_drv.so

```

and

```

karel@monstruona /usr/lib64 $ ls libdrm_n* -lah

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  23 Mar  1 10:20 libdrm_nouveau.so -> libdrm_nouveau.so.2.0.0

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  23 Mar  1 10:20 libdrm_nouveau.so.2 -> libdrm_nouveau.so.2.0.0

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27K Mar  1 10:20 libdrm_nouveau.so.2.0.0

```

MMhmm...

----------

## eyoung100

How did you install bumblebee?

Can you please post your /etc/make.conf?

----------

## wpkzz

Hello eyoung100:

My make.conf is as follows

```

CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native"

CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

MAKEOPTS="-j9"

USE="alsa bash-completion bluetooth bindist corefonts djvu fftw

imagemagick jpeg jpeg2k latex mmx offensive png 

sse sse2 svg tiff truetype udev X"

# Ya mas jalado todo

USE="$USE dvd flac gnutls lame mms mp3  mpeg musepack ogg python xv"

USE="$USE -gnome -kde -qt4 "

GRUB_PLATFORMS="efi-64"

LINGUAS="en en_GB es de pt" 

INPUT_DEVICES="evdev keyboard mouse synaptics"

VIDEO_CARDS="fbdev intel nouveau"

PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_2"

```

I suposse the relevant lines are the general use flags (which for a strange notion of order I split in three lines) and the VIDEO_CARDS.

Thank for the interest.

----------

## eyoung100

/usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so does not equal /usr/lib64

Try:

```
karel@monstruona /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers $ ls -al
```

Lets see where or if these links point correctly...   :Question: 

----------

## PaulBredbury

Nvidia supports xrandr poorly; this is better:

```
xrandr --q1
```

Use nvidia 310.32 or 318.whatever.

Edit: Also:

 *Quote:*   

> If I try to switch from fluxbox to console, everything becomes black and non-responsive.

 

See Nvidia thread.

----------

## wpkzz

Hi eyoung100 and all the rest:

Well, it seems that none of the libraries in the said directory are symbolic links, 

```

# cd /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/

# ls -al

total 1224

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root   4096 Feb 28 16:40 .

drwxr-xr-x 6 root root   4096 Feb  6 10:30 ..

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  23384 Feb 18 09:07 fbdev_drv.so

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 965776 Feb 28 16:40 intel_drv.so

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 201072 Feb  6 10:31 nouveau_drv.so

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  18840 Dec 19 11:42 v4l_drv.so

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  27448 Feb 18 09:07 vesa_drv.so

```

----------

