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<body> |
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<body> |
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<p> |
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<p> |
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A few options may increase performance by up to 30 percent (or more) over the |
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A few options may increase performance by up to 30 percent (or more) over the |
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default. Set them in <path>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</path>. |
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default. Set them in <path>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</path>. However, you will first |
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need to check that your motherboard and video card support these options. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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First, let's see if your video card can support fast writes. We'll do this by |
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closely inspecting the output from <c>lspci</c>. Specifically, we are looking |
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at the "VGA compatible controller" information. |
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</p> |
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<pre caption="Video card check"> |
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# <i>lspci -vv</i> |
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01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY (prog-if 00 [VGA]) |
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. . . |
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Capabilities: [58] AGP version 2.0 |
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Status: RQ=48 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3- Rate=x1,x2,x4 |
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</pre> |
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<p> |
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While quite a lot of information is produced, we are looking for <b>FW</b> in |
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the "Status" subsection of the AGP "Capabilities" section. If <b>FW+</b> is |
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present in the "Status" line, it means the card supports fast writes. We can |
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now check if the motherboard supports fast writes. |
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</p> |
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<impo> |
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If you do not see <b>FW+</b>, but instead see <b>FW-</b>, you cannot enable |
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fast writes in <path>xorg.conf</path>. Your card does not support fast writes. |
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</impo> |
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<p> |
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Now let's make sure the motherboard supports fast writes as well. This time, |
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look at the "Host bridge" section of your <c>lspci</c> output. |
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</p> |
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<pre caption="Motherboard check"> |
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# <i>lspci -vv</i> |
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00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82830 830 Chipset Host Bridge (rev 02) |
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. . . |
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Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 2.0 |
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Status: RQ=32 Iso- ArqSz=0 Cal=0 SBA+ ITACoh- GART64- HTrans- 64bit- FW+ AGP3- Rate=x1,x2,x4 |
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</pre> |
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<p> |
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Again, examine the "Status" subsection of your AGP "Capabilities" section. Look |
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for <b>FW</b>. If you see <b>FW+</b>, your motherboard supports fast writes. |
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</p> |
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<impo> |
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Remember, both your video card information and your motherboard information |
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must show the same <b>FW</b> capability. If either device shows <b>FW-</b> in |
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"Status", you cannot enable fast writes in <path>xorg.conf</path>. |
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</impo> |
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<p> |
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Assuming that all has gone well and both your motherboard and video card |
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support fast writes, let's enable this option in |
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<path>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</path> and get the best performance out of your |
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hardware. |
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</p> |
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</p> |
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<pre caption="xorg.conf"> |
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<pre caption="xorg.conf"> |
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enable the appropriate option in your BIOS. |
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enable the appropriate option in your BIOS. |
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</note> |
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</note> |
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<!-- |
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** |
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This section needs to be in eventually, but non-nvidia cards don't use |
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/proc/driver at all. We need some way to get users to check and see that SBA |
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and fast-writes are allowed for their hardware; that info is somewhere else in |
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/proc. If you have a non-nvidia card, you can help by emailing |
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nightmorph@gentoo.org with the relevant bits of your /proc so I can get this |
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info into the guide. See below for where things are found on an nvidia card. |
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** |
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<p> |
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A few options may increase performance by up to 30 percent (or more) over the |
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default. Set them in <path>/etc/X11/xorg.conf</path>. However, you will first |
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need to check that your motherboard and video card support these options. |
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</p> |
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<p> |
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First, let's check the supported modes of your video cards, and see if your it |
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supports fast writes. Remember to replace <c>nvidia</c> with the actual name of |
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your device in <path>/proc/driver/nvidia/</path>. |
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</p> |
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<pre caption="Video card check"> |
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$ <i>cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/card</i> |
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</pre> |
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<p> |
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Next, let's check out the capabilities of the motherboard: |
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</p> |
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<pre caption="Motherboard check"> |
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$ <i>cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/host-bridge</i> |
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</pre> |
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<impo> |
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Remember, the modes and capabilities for your video card and motherboard must |
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match for these settings to work! |
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</impo> |
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--> |
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<p> |
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<p> |
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If you want to set even more features, check out the <uri |
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If you want to set even more features, check out the <uri |
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link="http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/FeatureMatrix">feature matrix</uri> on |
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link="http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/FeatureMatrix">feature matrix</uri> on |
