On Wednesday 02 January 2008 11:44:57 Fred Larson wrote: > On Wednesday 02 January 2008 12:46:24 pm Curtis Olson wrote: > > On Jan 2, 2008 12:32 PM, Fred Larson <> wrote: > > > I put this question to the "General Help" forum, and they suggested > > > that I ask > > > the users list. > > > > > > I'm getting frame rates of around 5-8 when flying the default C172P in > > > the default 800x600 window. I've done some experimenting with > > > rendering options, > > > color depth, etc. without much effect. I tried full-screen game mode, > > > which > > > decreased my frame rate. > > > > > > Machine: Dell GX270 > > > CPU: P4 2.8 GHz > > > Memory: 512 Mb > > > Video: Intel 82865G integrated > > > Monitor: Acer 1680x1050 LCD > > > OS: Kubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy) > > > > > > Do you think this hardware is inadequate to get a better frame rate, or > > > do I > > > have a config problem somewhere? Any suggestions? > > > > Let me start out by saying that I am biased towards nvidia graphics > > hardware becuase it generally works very well and is very trouble free > > under linux (your mileage may vary a bit and I'm sure there are counter > > stories, but generally I feel that nvidia is the best performing and best > > supported option right now for linux users.) > > > > I can say fairly confidently that if you installed a $100 nvidia card or > > better, and installed the nvidia linux drivers, you will see about a 10x > > frame rate increase. > > > > Regards, > > > > Curt. > > Thanks, Curt. I'm considering that. There may be a few hurdles to getting > a new card in this box, such as: > 1. getting the budget allocation from the finance committee (i.e., my > wife) 2. if there's enough space in the box (I haven't opened the case on > this thing -- I understand they can be tight) > 3. if the case has enough cooling for a new video card > 4. if the PSU can handle it. > > I can probably finagle #1 if the rest aren't a problem. But I thought I'd > see if someone might be able to help me determine if the i865 is actually > doing all it can, and if not, how I might be able to fix my config.
It looks to me like you are getting about what would be expected from the Intel chip set you are using. The Intel video chip sets are well supported in Linux but are comparable performance wise to the very low end of the Nvidia and AMD/ATI GPU lines (IE. the chips that are designed for motherboard integration). Even a modest Nvidia card like a 6600LE will outperform the Intel and other motherboard video chips by a significant margin (3 to 5 times as fast) and these can be had for significantly under $100. Pricewatch.com has a 6600LE board listed for $29.99 and a 7600GS for $78.99 or an 8600gt for $99.75 including shipping. In addition these GPUs have relatively modest power/heat requirements on the order of 20 to 35 watts peak (5 to 10 watts idle) and should not have power/heat issues even in a system with a low end power supply and cooling. The 6600LE class of GPUs is about as low as I would consider for use with FG and I would be inclined to get the most powerful GPU that would fit my budget and the PSU and cooling limits of my PC. You will probably be very happy with how FG performs with the 7600/8600 classes of cards. I run a 7950GTX with a 3200x1200 display area (two 1600x1200 displays) and with everything set for max display quality I get 35 to 75 FPS (I have Sync to Vblank on so it will never go higher than 75). This card replaced a 6600LE which would do about 10 to 20 FPS at this same resolution IF I used lower quality settings in the driver and in FG. This frame rate is the bare minimum for a usable sim. But at more normal resolutions like 1024x768 or 1280x1024 you would get much higher frame rates. The 6600LE was an upgrade from a 6150 based card which is comparable to or perhaps slightly faster than your video chip set and the best it could do at this resolution was 1 to 5 FPS which is not useable at all. I more or less agree with Curt about the quality of the Nvidia linux drivers. They are currently the best and the quality of the OpenGL support is very good even if there are still some issues in other areas with these drivers. However AMD/ATI have stepped up the quality of their Linux support since AMD acquired ATI. Their drivers have been improving at a significant rate lately and it looks like they are close to closing the gap. In addition AMD is actively supporting, both with previously unavailable documentation and financially, an effort to create open source 3D drivers for their GPUs. So far those who are working on this effort are saying that AMD is exceeding their expectations by a large margin. Nvidia has so far refused to work with any open source effort to create 3D drivers. Perhaps in 6 months to a year the momentum will have shifted to AMD/ATI. But we will have to wait to find out and in the mean time nvidia is probably the best option. Hal ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list Flightgear-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-users
