[clue-tech] How to verify hardware acceleration

[Ken MacFerrin]

David Guntner wrote:
> Ken MacFerrin grabbed a keyboard and wrote:
>> 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.
> 
> Hmmm.  I don't seem to have any such file.  The closest thing to that
> which I can find is /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf, which is empty.
> Should I try adding the line there?
> 
> Also, I don't seem to have any modules-update program in my system that
> I can find....  Ideas?
> 
>> More info here:
>> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Nvidia_Driver_AGP_FastWrite_and_Side_Band_Addressing
> 
> I'll look at that, thanks.
> 
>              --Dave

I've never used Mandrake/Mandriva so I'm just guessing here, but you
might try adding the following lines directly to your /etc/modprobe.conf
file:

alias char-major-195 nvidia
options nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1 NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1

Then run "modules-update", reboot and then see if it's working by doing
a "cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status" and looking at the "Fast Writes"
and "SBA" lines.
-Ken