Trying to get a little more umph out of ATI under linux

the_leander

the_leander

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Check the included screengrab for my solution... Definitely one for the techies out there.
 

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I have an ATI Toshiba laptop running Ubuntu 10.04
I assume you downloaded hardware drivers. when I did that it installed this ATI Catalysts Control Center
 

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cecilia said:
I have an ATI Toshiba laptop running Ubuntu 10.04
I assume you downloaded hardware drivers. when I did that it installed this ATI Catalysts Control Center
Click to expand...

Nope, because the official ATI drivers for the Xpress 200m which is in my laptop ceased being supported after Catalyst 9.30, which meant that you were stuck with the OSS driver, if you wanted to move beyond 8.04, and is pants.

What I did was download some bleeding edge gallium3d drivers, which whilst not quite as effective as the official ones do have some advantages: They work under 10.04 and they're a shit load faster than the stock drivers.

However, as adz discovered this morning, they do have some issues, such as dumping huge URLs into pidgin will cause x to fall over... Also some games just won't work with them.
 
ok...please understand that I have no idea what the heck to do with most of this stuff.....I use a stable version of Ubuntu because i need it Just Work when I turn on the laptop. it does and I'm happy.

I'm a mere artist. Just doin' my stuff

but I'll be more than happy to listen to your ATI adventures because I love learning about things I know nothing about :D
 
cecilia said:
ok...please understand that I have no idea what the heck to do with most of this stuff.....I use a stable version of Ubuntu because i need it Just Work when I turn on the laptop. it does and I'm happy.

I'm a mere artist. Just doin' my stuff
Click to expand...

I do like playing the odd game and tbh the stock driver that came with 10.04 just wasn't up to it. The new driver (with some caveats) can handle a lot more before starting to struggle.

The glGears demo for instance, under Mesa I'd get around 2500 fps, under Gallium3d, 4500...

Not the greatest test in the world I'll grant you. But it is a fair indication of the sort of performance boost the new engine offers.

cecilia said:
but I'll be more than happy to listen to your ATI adventures because I love learning about things I know nothing about :D
Click to expand...

Well I'll do my best to keep updating it. Tbh though I think before this year is out I'll have bought a laptop with an nvidia chip in it and save myself many a headache.
 
Yes, that was quite funny :lol:
 
adz said:
Yes, that was quite funny :lol:
Click to expand...

Ended up having to revert back to the old drivers. Man this thing feels so sluggish after G3d... Perhaps as they mature I'll try them again.
 
I found the best way to improve performance on ATI systems under linux is to remove any proprietary drivers, then any open drivers. Then remove the ATI hardware and replace with a comparable nVidia device and install their drivers.

~25K fps on glxgears on my 275 last time I tried it without vsync ;)

<nVTrollMode>off</nVTrollMode>

Under Windows, you go for the hardware that gives the best bang for buck, but on Linux I've found that driver quality radically alters the amount of "bang" your hardware can deliver. I'm using an ATI HD59 series on this Ubuntu11 box, with catalyst drivers and it's noticeably slower than my much less powerful home nVidia machine.
 
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Karlos said:
I found the best way to improve performance on ATI systems under linux is to remove any proprietary drivers, then any open drivers. Then remove the ATI hardware and replace with a comparable nVidia device and install their drivers.
Click to expand...

Fancy taking a stab at unsoldering an xpress 200m that's embedded in the northbridge and replacing with a pin compatible nvidia chip?
 
the_leander said:
Fancy taking a stab at unsoldering an xpress 200m that's embedded in the northbridge and replacing with a pin compatible nvidia chip?
Click to expand...

Well, I can take it out, but you're on your own with the rest :lol:
 
A shotgun blast should have that ATI chip out in no time ;) Oh hang on, sorry, I wasn't going to give you any hell over this as using anything ATI is hell enough :lol:
 
adz said:
A shotgun blast should have that ATI chip out in no time ;) Oh hang on, sorry, I wasn't going to give you any hell over this as using anything ATI is hell enough :lol:
Click to expand...
:drumroll:badum tish!

Loving the new smilies :D
 
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