Re: Video Card Q965 + i810-2.0.0 + TVTime: high CPU usage by X

On 18:45 Fri 11 Jan     , Dirk Gassen wrote:
> I currently have a performance problem on a Optiplex
745/755 and the 
> onboard graphics card. We would like to run tvtime as a
TV application. 
> Unfortunately, when tvtime starts X consumes >30%
CPU, which results in a 
> somewhat sluggish system (responses to user actions are
slow, closed 
> captioning looses characters, etc.).
>
> This system did already work well on an Optiplex 620GX
(X CPU usage <15%).
>
> Here's some more info about the systems:

To simplify things, I'm just going to point out what I think
are the 
important facts.

> Optiplex 620GX (works):
>
> 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ
Integrated Graphics 
> Controller (rev 02)
> sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.19
> x11-base/xorg-server-1.3.0.0
> x11-drivers/xf86-video-i810-1.7.4

945G with the 1.x intel driver

> Optiplex 745 (performance issues):
> 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation
82Q963/Q965 Integrated 
> Graphics Controller (rev 02)
> sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.19
> x11-base/xorg-server-1.3.0.0
> x11-drivers/xf86-video-i810-2.0.0 (with 1.7.4 there
were two bars with 
> noise visible on the sides)

965Q with 2.0 intel driver

> Optiplex 755 (also performance issues):
> 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82Q35
Express Integrated 
> Graphics Controller (rev 02)
> sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.23
> x11-base/xorg-server-1.3.0.0
> x11-drivers/xf86-video-i810-2.0.0

Q35 with 2.0 intel driver

You've tested the new hardware with the old driver, and it
didn't work 
for unrelated reasons. Could you test the old hardware with
the new 
driver, to test whether it's the driver version change
creating a 
slowdown? Also, could you try 2.2 instead of 2.0? If that
doesn't work, 
try 2.1.

It's also possible that the driver's just not as good on 965
and Q35 as 
on 945.

> I suspect there's something wrong with the MTRR setup
on the 745/755 (wild 
> guess):
> localhost ~ # cat /proc/mtrr
> reg00: base=0x00000000 (   0MB), size=65536MB:
write-back, count=1
> reg01: base=0x3d600000 ( 982MB), size=   2MB:
uncachable, count=1
> reg02: base=0x3d800000 ( 984MB), size=   8MB:
uncachable, count=1
> reg03: base=0x3e000000 ( 992MB), size=  32MB:
uncachable, count=1
> reg04: base=0x3d500000 ( 981MB), size=   1MB:
uncachable, count=1
> reg05: base=0x40000000 (1024MB), size=1024MB:
uncachable, count=1
> reg06: base=0x80000000 (2048MB), size=2048MB:
uncachable, count=1
>
> ... and X reports in its log:
> (WW) intel(0): Failed to set up write-combining range 
> (0xd0000000,0x10000000)

Yeah, this could cause problems with speed. If it worked in
the old 
versions with otherwise identical software configurations
(e.g. kernel 
features), this could be a driver bug.

Thanks,
Donnie
-- 
gentoo-desktoplists.gentoo.org mailing list

Thanks for your quick reply. Unfortunately, the email
got stuck in a spam filter that's why I reply so late.

--- Donnie Berkholz <dberkholzgentoo.org> wrote:

> On 18:45 Fri 11 Jan     , Dirk Gassen wrote:
> > I currently have a performance problem on a
> > Optiplex 745/755 and the 
> > onboard graphics card. We would like to run
tvtime
> > as a TV application. 
> > Unfortunately, when tvtime starts X consumes
>30%
> > CPU, which results in a 
> > somewhat sluggish system (responses to user
> > actions are slow, closed 
> > captioning looses characters, etc.).
> >
> > This system did already work well on an Optiplex
> > 620GX (X CPU usage <15%).
> >
> > Here's some more info about the systems:
> 
> To simplify things, I'm just going to point out what
> I think are the 
> important facts.
> 
> > Optiplex 620GX (works):
[SNIP]
> 
> 945G with the 1.x intel driver
> 
> > Optiplex 745 (performance issues):
[SNIP]
> 
> 965Q with 2.0 intel driver
> 
> > Optiplex 755 (also performance issues):
[SNIP]
> 
> Q35 with 2.0 intel driver
> 
> You've tested the new hardware with the old driver,
> and it didn't work 
> for unrelated reasons

I'm not sure if the reasons were unrelated but with
the old driver I get two bars with noise, one at the
right side of the screen and one at the bottom (looked
somewhat like uninitialized memory?). I wasn't able to
get rid of by changing tvtime configuration options,
so I thought the best way would be to upgrade the
driver to 2.0, which fixed *that* problem.

> Could you test the old
> hardware with the new 
> driver, to test whether it's the driver version
> change creating a 
> slowdown?

Nope, doesn't seem to be related to the driver change.
>30% X CPU usage with 1.7.4.

> Also, could you try 2.2 instead of 2.0? If
> that doesn't work, 
> try 2.1.

Same thing (I was already looking pretty often if
there's a new driver version and jumped on each new
version)

> It's also possible that the driver's just not as
> good on 965 and Q35 as 
> on 945.

Would that be a hardware restriction or would that be
fixable in the driver (and what would I need to
do/contribute to fix it?)

> > I suspect there's something wrong with the MTRR
> > setup on the 745/755 (wild 
> > guess):
> > localhost ~ # cat /proc/mtrr
> > reg00: base=0x00000000 (   0MB), size=65536MB:
> > write-back, count=1
> > reg01: base=0x3d600000 ( 982MB), size=   2MB:
> > uncachable, count=1
> > reg02: base=0x3d800000 ( 984MB), size=   8MB:
> > uncachable, count=1
> > reg03: base=0x3e000000 ( 992MB), size=  32MB:
> > uncachable, count=1
> > reg04: base=0x3d500000 ( 981MB), size=   1MB:
> > uncachable, count=1
> > reg05: base=0x40000000 (1024MB), size=1024MB:
> > uncachable, count=1
> > reg06: base=0x80000000 (2048MB), size=2048MB:
> > uncachable, count=1
> >
> > ... and X reports in its log:
> > (WW) intel(0): Failed to set up write-combining
> > range 
> > (0xd0000000,0x10000000)
> 
> Yeah, this could cause problems with speed. If it
> worked in the old 
> versions with otherwise identical software
> configurations (e.g. kernel 
> features), this could be a driver bug.

How would I go about setting it up manually? Or does
that need to be fixed in the driver?

Do you think I should contact the driver developers or
file a bug report for the driver?

BTW, to rule out any other interference from other
pieces of software (e.g., OpenBox) I did start only X
and tvtime, still the same problem.

> Thanks,
> Donnie
> -- 
> gentoo-desktoplists.gentoo.org mailing list
> 
> 



     
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