[clue-tech] How to verify hardware acceleration

[Ken MacFerrin]

David Guntner wrote:
> miguelito grabbed a keyboard and wrote:
>>>  From: David Guntner <davidg at akaMail.net>
>>>  Subject: [clue-tech] How to verify hardware acceleration
>>>  Sent: 14 May '07 19:53
>>>  
>>>  I'm running Mandriva Linux 2007.0, and have a NVIDIA GeForce 7600
>>> GS installed.  I'm using the driver that you download from NVIDIA's
>>>  website, and it's installed properly (that I can verify from the
>>> NVIDIA logo splash page as X starts up).  When I run glxgears, I
>>> only see
>> Once you get the nVidia splash screen, you are done. That screen only
>> comes up from nvidia's proprietary drivers, which have hardware
>> acceleration enabeld by default. You're good to go.
> 
> All righty, then. :-)
> 
>>>  about high 5200's to low 5300's for the FPS rate.  I'm not
>>> convinced that hardware acceleration is taking place with my setup.
>> There's the further proof, if you really need it. Once you get out of
>> the hundreds of fps, you're using acceleration. 5300fps? You've got
>> some pretty damned good acceleration going on.
> 
> Oh, ok.  Sounds good then.  Thanks to you and Collins for the reply and
> information.

Something still seems a little off here.  I'm only running a 256MB
6600GT with dual LCDs under Gentoo and average between 7000-7200 fps on
each screen.  If your card supports it, I'd check to see if Side Band
Addressing and Fast Writes help.  Check your "/etc/modules.d/nvidia" and
look for the following line:
"options nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1 NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1"

Make sure this is uncommented, then run "modules-update" and reboot.

More info here:
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Nvidia_Driver_AGP_FastWrite_and_Side_Band_Addressing

-Ken