# Fglrx & radeon 3600

## ssmaxss

Hello! Could you explain why I get only 400 fps in glxgears 

while

```
localhost ~ # glxinfo | grep direct

direct rendering: Yes

localhost ~ # glxinfo | grep -i OpenGL

OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.

OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series

OpenGL version string: 2.1.8087 Release

OpenGL extensions:

localhost ~ # eselect opengl list

Available OpenGL implementations:

  [1]   ati *

  [2]   xorg-x11

```

And 

```
localhost ~ # glxgears

1900 frames in 5.0 seconds = 379.006 FPS

```

I am using Kernel 2.6.27 X.org 7.2 and latest fgrlx from portage

----------

## a.b.

I've experienced the same since upgrading to Catalyst 8.10, everything else doesn't feel slower though.

----------

## energyman76b

no, but please ignore glxgears. Its results or more or less useless. Only under very special circumstances its results are usefull. Checking your cards speed is not. Try stuff like xrenderbench, gtkperf, phoronix test suit or some 3d game.

----------

## ssmaxss

fgl_glxgears provides same poor results....

----------

## energyman76b

 *ssmaxss wrote:*   

> fgl_glxgears provides same poor results....

 

and fgl_glxgears is as useless as glxgears.

----------

## aidanjt

I know the phonorix crowd hate *glxgears and whatnot, but it is useful, and in this case 400fps on glxgears is appallingly low, I'm sure even mesa could match/exceed it (depending on the cpu).

----------

## energyman76b

glxgears is more influenced by the kernel frequency governor than the card.

And not only the phornonix crowd hates glxgears - everybody does. Nvidia guys, X guys, AMD guys, Intel guys, ... everybody.

----------

## ssmaxss

 *Quote:*   

> glxgears is more influenced by the kernel frequency governor than the card. 

 

governor "performance" - 300FPS

governor "ondemand" - 400FPS   :Confused:   :Shocked: 

Strange things....

----------

## energyman76b

are you sure that not some background stuff is fucking around with you? like beagle or kerry or whatever indexing tool is running? or some stupid antivirus? are you using desktop effects?

energyman@energy film2 % glxgears

7056 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1408.320 FPS

8579 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1713.635 FPS

energyman@energy film2 % glxgears

23669 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4733.793 FPS

26007 frames in 5.0 seconds = 5201.291 FPS

first desktop effects enabled, second, desktop effects disabled.

----------

## ssmaxss

I am using KDE 4.1.2 from portage with desktop effects disabled. My xorg.conf if it matters:

```
Section "ServerLayout"

   Identifier     "X.org Configured"

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

   InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

   InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

Section "Files"

   RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"

   ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/corefonts"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/fromwindows"

   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  "dbe"

   Load  "GLcore"

   Load  "glx"

   Load  "dri"

   Load  "record"

   Load  "extmod"

   Load  "xtrap"

   Load  "type1"

   Load  "freetype"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier  "Keyboard0"

   Driver      "kbd"

   Option       "XkbLayout" "us,ru"

   Option       "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle"

EndSection

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   "Monitor Vendor"

   ModelName    "Monitor Model"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"

   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"

   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"

   Option       "DPMS" "true"

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

        #Option     "ShadowFB"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "DefaultRefresh"        # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ModeSetClearScreen"    # [<bool>]

   Identifier  "Card0"

   Driver      "radeonhd"

   VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"

   BoardName   "Unknown Board"

   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"

EndSection

Section "Device"

   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"

   Driver      "fglrx"

   BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"

EndSection

Section "Screen"

   Identifier "Screen0"

   Device     "Card0"

   Monitor    "Monitor0"

   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 "Extensions"

   Option  "Composite"    "Enable"

EndSection

```

----------

## energyman76b

looks good. I would try some real 3d stuff before panicing.

----------

## ssmaxss

Nexuiz works fine at 1280x1024 with normal effects, but it is not blazing fast at ultra effects turned on. Is it ok?

----------

## energyman76b

 *ssmaxss wrote:*   

> Nexuiz works fine at 1280x1024 with normal effects, but it is not blazing fast at ultra effects turned on. Is it ok?

 

with a 3600? I would say so.

----------

## ssmaxss

Yes with 3600. Ok I won't worry any more and hope radeon or radeonhd will eventually produce 3d acceleration without such strange things.

----------

## energyman76b

back with my nvidia 8600GT ultra details and 'maximum beauty' were too much for it so if you have playable framerates I would say that everything is fine.

And about rhd:

http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13685

scroll down to bridgeman's posting - I'd say the future looks very bright.

----------

## ssmaxss

Thank you for your help and link to very intersting post! Hope we will se working OSS 3d soon. And I have another problem: s2ram doesn't work with my configuration

s2ram -f and s2ram -f -p works but system freezes several minutes after resuming. 

s2ram -f -p -s and s2ram -f -p -m fails with segmentation fault. 

My motherboard is GA-P31-DS3L if it matters.

----------

## energyman76b

I can't help you with that. s2ram and s2disk never worked for me.

----------

## ssmaxss

Hm. Just noticed:

```
localhost ~ # glxinfo

name of display: :0.0

display: :0  screen: 0

direct rendering: Yes 

server glx vendor string:[b] SGI[/b]

server glx version string: 1.2

....

OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.                                   

OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series                             

OpenGL version string: 2.1.8087 Release                                       

```

Is it normal?

----------

## energyman76b

yes  :Wink: 

you can also try fglrxinfo:

fglrxinfo

display: :0.0  screen: 0

OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.

OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 3870

OpenGL version string: 2.1.8087 Release

glxinfo:

glxinfo 

name of display: :0.0        

display: :0  screen: 0       

direct rendering: Yes        

server glx vendor string: SGI

server glx version string: 1.2

server glx extensions:        

    GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap, 

    GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_OML_swap_method,          

    GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group     

client glx vendor string: SGI                                                 

client glx version string: 1.4                                                

client glx extensions:                                                        

    GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,    

    GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_MESA_allocate_memory,     

    GLX_MESA_swap_control, GLX_MESA_swap_frame_usage, GLX_OML_swap_method,    

    GLX_OML_sync_control, GLX_SGI_make_current_read, GLX_SGI_swap_control,    

    GLX_SGI_video_sync, GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig,              

    GLX_SGIX_pbuffer, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group,                           

    GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap                                               

GLX version: 1.2                                                              

GLX extensions:                                                               

    GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_import_context,    

    GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_OML_swap_method,          

    GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig, GLX_SGIX_visual_select_group     

OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.                                   

OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 3870                                    

OpenGL version string: 2.1.8087 Release                                       

OpenGL shading language version string: 1.20                                  

<snip>

----------

## DaggyStyle

anyone using the open radeonhd driver? if yes what card do you have?

----------

## ssmaxss

radeonhd doesn't support 3D and other accelerations yet. AFAIK it supports r5xx and r6xx series of radeon chips.

----------

## energyman76b

there are some very good news regarding radeonhd, but don't hold your breath - it looks like a nice christmas present.

http://emmes.livejournal.com/

----------

## ssmaxss

It seems to me that I have found root of this problem. It is PowerPlay. Flgrx thinks that 100mhz per gpu core is enogh for glxgears and thus produces so poor results. But if I start several glxgears powerplay raises core clock and fps jumps to 1000-1500fps. Now I have a question: how can I disable PowerPlay on fglrx?

----------

## energyman76b

there are powerplay options with aticonfig - the command line tool.

POWERplay Options:

  Following options will not change the config file. 

  These options will be effective immediately. Other options on 

  the same command line will be ignored.                        

  --lsp, --list-powerstates                                     

        Print information about power states and exit.          

  --set-powerstate=NUMBER                                       

        Set a power state listed by --list-powerstates.         

  --auto-powerstates=on|off                                     

        Enable/disable automatic transitions between battery and performance

        modes on AC/DC transitions. This automatic mode is enabled by default,

        and may compete with atieventsd style power management.               

there are a lot more sweet options to play with!

----------

## ssmaxss

The problem is that for me:

```
localhost ~ # aticonfig --lsp

    core/mem      [flags]

-----------------

```

And

```
localhost ~ # aticonfig --auto-powerstates=off

aticonfig: unrecognized option `--auto-powerstates=off'

aticonfig: parsing the command-line failed.

```

I now want to use VMWare 3D acceleration feature and it is very slow. Warcraft 3 even at lowest settings is not usable insdie virtual machine with 3d acceleration enabled.

Update: Just noticed new fglrx in portage. Will try with it.

Update2: someone commited ebuild with new version and same source file.

----------

## energyman76b

hm, the new driver says it works with xorg 7.4/xserver 1.5 - but it doesn't at least not for me and some others. With 7.3/1.4 it works ok.

I am surprised about your aticonfig output. Have you turned on overdrive?  Try --od-enable and then again. Maybe it helps.

----------

## ssmaxss

--od-enable doesn't change anything. 

I am using 7.2/1.3.0 - maybe I shoud upgrade to 7.3/1.4?

----------

## ssmaxss

The problem with ebuild is:

  # Only support xorg-server >=1.1

    BASE_DIR="${S}/x710"

for 1.5 it should be x740: http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showpost.php?p=51792&postcount=16

----------

## energyman76b

 *ssmaxss wrote:*   

> The problem with ebuild is:
> 
>   # Only support xorg-server >=1.1
> 
>     BASE_DIR="${S}/x710"
> ...

 

and if you read the thread: it is broken with 7.4.

edit: so 710 is ok, you have to use xorg 7.3 anyway - and x740 and 7.3 does not work at all.

----------

## ssmaxss

The bigger problem in ebuild:

SRC_URI="${ATI_URL}/ati-driver-installer-8-10-x86.x86_64.run"

and the ebuild claims that it is 8.552

Maybe after this fix it will work with 1.5?  :Smile: 

----------

## energyman76b

 *ssmaxss wrote:*   

> The bigger problem in ebuild:
> 
> SRC_URI="${ATI_URL}/ati-driver-installer-8-10-x86.x86_64.run"

 

go here:

https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=246672

try the ebuild and see X 7.4 break. No composite. AIGLX not working. Please do.

No, don't. Until the mess is sorted out, stay away from 8.11. Really. Wait a couple of days. I have spent HOURS so far on that driver to 

a) work with 7.4

and

b) don't disable composite/aiglx.

It is not fun, ok?

----------

## ssmaxss

Ok. After next emerge --sync it is now hard masked  :Smile:  Will wait until unmask.

----------

## energyman76b

 *ssmaxss wrote:*   

> Ok. After next emerge --sync it is now hard masked  Will wait until unmask.

 

as was written in the bug  :Wink: 

----------

## ssmaxss

I was so lucky that synced to portage with 8.552 added but not masked.

----------

## energyman76b

no, you just got a broken ebuild. Also you can always unmask stuff, if you really have to.

----------

## ssmaxss

Upgraded to 7.4/1.5.2 merged ati-drivers-8.552-r1 from portage and now:

```
localhost ~ # glxgears

37254 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7450.727 FPS

38205 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7640.994 FPS

```

 :Smile: 

Someone need to remove blocking of ati-drivers from xorg-server-1.5.2 if the ebuild for it is in portage even it is hardmasked.

Update: funny, it breakes desktop effects in kde. anywhere I am not willing to use them now. War3 under wine works so much better...

Update2: found that fgl_glxgears is broken. Replaced libdri.so and libglx.so by the ones from ati. fgl_glxgears fixed. AIGLX seems to be fixed too. But glxgears dropped back to 400fps    :Confused:   :Evil or Very Mad: 

Update3   :Wink:  : but war3 working as good as after update to 8.552/7.4/1.5.2.   :Smile:   nice. Even desktop effects works.

----------

