Performance Regressions within NVIDIA 260.x

MakotoTheKnight · 09-08-10, 02:34 PM

I've noticed a major performance regression when moving from 195.36.24 to the latest beta driver 260.19.04. Attached is a log output, as well as two gtkperf files to outline the regressions.

The most prevalent regression I've noticed is that performance seems to be very poor, even when PowerMizer is using the highest profile available, and even with AA disabled. Opening the main menu in Ubuntu (different than the giant "Menu Bar") doesn't "feel" the same in 260.19.04, and OpenGL applications appear to be running slower than normal.

Card: NVIDIA GT240 512MB
OS: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS 64-bit
Memory: 8GB
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ @2.7GHz

For the time being, I've reverted to 195.36.24, as the newer offerings (even 256.53 stable) seem to be suffering from this issue.

Licaon · 09-08-10, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MakotoTheKnight

I've noticed a major performance regression when moving from 195.36.24 to the latest beta driver 260.19.04. Attached is a log output, as well as two gtkperf files to outline the regressions.

any 3D regressions too? Ungine Tropics/Sanctuary/Heaven ?

MakotoTheKnight · 09-09-10, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Licaon

any 3D regressions too? Ungine Tropics/Sanctuary/Heaven ?

I've not looked at the benchmarks for any of those, but it does feel that OpenGL games have suffered slightly (with 4xAA enabled). I think that, if I get more time over the weekend, I'll look into benchmarking that.

taccoboss · 09-12-10, 06:36 PM

i tested it on an Nvidia Quadro 4600 fx and it really sucks! Congrats!

dk75 · 09-16-10, 03:41 PM

And I tested it on Atom/ION and it seems to be lil bit faster or it is measurement error (4-5% of difference)
http://tinyurl.com/325obkt

Text result

Code:

Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24 vs. nVidia 260.19.06
unigine-sanctuary - 1.5.0This test calculates the average frame-rate within the Sanctuary demo for the Unigine engine. This engine is very demanding on the system's graphics card.


Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24:

	Processor: Intel Atom CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz (Total Cores: 4)
	Motherboard: Unknown
	Chipset: nVidia MCP79
	Memory: 3019MB
	Disk: 500GB Hitachi HDP72505
	Graphics: ION 512MB (450MHz)
	Audio: Realtek ALC662 rev1

	OS: Ubuntu 9.10
	Kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic (x86_64)
	Desktop: GNOME 2.28.1
	Display Server: X.Org Server 1.6.4
	Display Driver: nvidia 195.36.24
	OpenGL: 3.2.0
	Compiler: GCC 4.4.1
	File-System: ext4
	Screen Resolution: 1920x1080



Unigine Sancutary - nVidia 260.19.06:

	Processor: Intel Atom CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz (Total Cores: 4)
	Motherboard: Unknown
	Chipset: nVidia MCP79
	Memory: 3019MB
	Disk: 500GB Hitachi HDP72505
	Graphics: ION 512MB (450/800MHz)
	Audio: Realtek ALC662 rev1

	OS: Ubuntu 9.10
	Kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic (x86_64)
	Desktop: GNOME 2.28.1
	Display Server: X.Org Server 1.6.4
	Display Driver: nvidia 260.19.06
	OpenGL: 3.3.0
	Compiler: GCC 4.4.1
	File-System: ext4
	Screen Resolution: 1920x1080



Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 800 x 600
Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24: 10.14
Unigine Sancutary - nVidia 260.19.06: 10.62

Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 1024 x 768
Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24: 7.56
Unigine Sancutary - nVidia 260.19.06: 7.90

Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 1280 x 960
Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24: 5.56
Unigine Sancutary - nVidia 260.19.06: 5.76

Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 1440 x 900
Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24: 5.35
Unigine Sancutary - nVidia 260.19.06: 5.54

Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 1280 x 1024
Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24: 5.31
Unigine Sancutary - nVidia 260.19.06: 5.46

Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 1400 x 1050
Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24: 4.89
Unigine Sancutary - nVidia 260.19.06: 5.07

Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24: 4.24
Unigine Sancutary - nVidia 260.19.06: 4.38

Unigine Sanctuary 2.3
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Unigine Sanctuary - nVidia 195.36.24: 3.75
Unigine Sancutary - nVidia 260.19.06: 3.86

taccoboss · 09-17-10, 07:31 AM

i tested 260.19.06 driver on Ubuntu 10.04 and it still sucks a lot (Nvidia quadro 4600fx). Linux is a mistery for you! It would be better to do an open source driver.....i bet that Nvidia Tegra 2 driver for Android will be a lot better! eheheh....you like money!

Licaon · 09-17-10, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taccoboss

i tested 260.19.06 driver on Ubuntu 10.04 and it still sucks a lot (Nvidia quadro 4600fx). Linux is a mistery for you! It would be better to do an open source driver.....i bet that Nvidia Tegra 2 driver for Android will be a lot better! eheheh....you like money!

comparison info between driver versions ?

dk75 · 09-17-10, 02:29 PM

Today is Unigine Tropics - http://tinyurl.com/3ajng5z

Text results (5-6% for 260 series)

Code:

Unigine Tropics - nVidia 195.36.24 vs. nVidia 260.19.06
unigine-tropics - 1.5.0This test calculates the average frame-rate within the Tropics / Islands demo for the Unigine engine. This engine is very demanding on the system's graphics card.


nVidia 195.36.24: 

	Processor: Intel Atom CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz (Total Cores: 4)
	Motherboard: Unknown
	Chipset: nVidia MCP79
	Memory: 3019MB
	Disk: 500GB Hitachi HDP72505
	Graphics: ION 512MB (450MHz)
	Audio: Realtek ALC662 rev1

	OS: Ubuntu 9.10
	Kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic (x86_64)
	Desktop: GNOME 2.28.1
	Display Server: X.Org Server 1.6.4
	Display Driver: nvidia 195.36.24
	OpenGL: 3.2.0
	Compiler: GCC 4.4.1
	File-System: ext4
	Screen Resolution: 1920x1080


nVidia 260.19.06: 

	Processor: Intel Atom CPU 330 @ 1.60GHz (Total Cores: 4)
	Motherboard: Unknown
	Chipset: nVidia MCP79
	Memory: 3019MB
	Disk: 500GB Hitachi HDP72505
	Graphics: ION 512MB (450/800MHz)
	Audio: Realtek ALC662 rev1

	OS: Ubuntu 9.10
	Kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic (x86_64)
	Desktop: GNOME 2.28.1
	Display Server: X.Org Server 1.6.4
	Display Driver: nvidia 260.19.06
	OpenGL: 3.3.0
	Compiler: GCC 4.4.1
	File-System: ext4
	Screen Resolution: 1920x1080



Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 800 x 600
	nVidia 195.36.24: 8.28
	nVidia 260.19.06: 8.81

Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 1024 x 768
	nVidia 195.36.24: 6.67
	nVidia 260.19.06: 7.08

Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 1280 x 960
	nVidia 195.36.24: 5.16
	nVidia 260.19.06: 5.48

Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 1440 x 900
	nVidia 195.36.24: 4.98
	nVidia 260.19.06: 5.29

Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 1280 x 1024
	nVidia 195.36.24: 4.99
	nVidia 260.19.06: 5.25

Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 1400 x 1050
	nVidia 195.36.24: 4.65
	nVidia 260.19.06: 4.94

Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 1680 x 1050
	nVidia 195.36.24: 4.05
	nVidia 260.19.06: 4.30

Unigine Tropics 1.3
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
	nVidia 195.36.24: 3.62
	nVidia 260.19.06: 3.82

PS: I don't know if it matters but there is my xorg.conf

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier		"Layout0"
    Screen	0	"Screen0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier		"Sharp0"
    VendorName		"Sharp"
    ModelName		"SHARP HDMI"
    HorizSync		15.0 - 75.0
    VertRefresh		49.0 - 76.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier		"ION"
    Driver		"nvidia"
    VendorName		"NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option		"Nologo"		"True"
    Option		"Coolbits"		"1"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier		"Screen0"
    Device		"ION"
    Monitor		"Sharp0"
    DefaultDepth	24
    Option		"TripleBuffer"		"True"
    Option		"DPI"			"70 x 70"
    Option		"TwinView"		"0"
    Option		"metamodes"		"1920x1080_60 +0+0; nvidia-auto-select +0+0; 1920x1080 +0+0"
    SubSection "Display"
	Depth		24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

and I added nvidia-settings -l (lowercase letter L) to my profile session autoload settings to load nvidia-settings.rc at every GNOME login.

MakotoTheKnight · 09-17-10, 02:43 PM

The regressions likely stem from 2D performance rather than 3D. To my understanding, GTKPerf doesn't make use of anything 3D in its benchmark, and that was my biggest concern.

dk75 · 09-17-10, 04:24 PM

GTKPerf for 195 and 260

Code:

195: GtkPerf 0.40 - Starting testing: Fri Sep 17 22:58:52 2010
260: GtkPerf 0.40 - Starting testing: Fri Sep 17 21:57:50 2010

195: GtkEntry - time:  0,70
260: GtkEntry - time:  0,66

195: GtkComboBox - time:  7,94
260: GtkComboBox - time:  7,34

195: GtkComboBoxEntry - time:  7,01
260: GtkComboBoxEntry - time:  5,87

195: GtkSpinButton - time:  1,02
260: GtkSpinButton - time:  0,69

195: GtkProgressBar - time:  0,68
260: GtkProgressBar - time:  0,69

195: GtkToggleButton - time:  1,09
260: GtkToggleButton - time:  1,04

195: GtkCheckButton - time:  0,43
260: GtkCheckButton - time:  0,45

195: GtkRadioButton - time:  0,51
260: GtkRadioButton - time:  0,51

195: GtkTextView - Add text - time:  2,75
260: GtkTextView - Add text - time:  2,70

195: GtkTextView - Scroll - time:  1,10
260: GtkTextView - Scroll - time:  1,01

195: GtkDrawingArea - Lines - time:  1,80
260: GtkDrawingArea - Lines - time:  1,69

195: GtkDrawingArea - Circles - time:  2,59
260: GtkDrawingArea - Circles - time:  2,52

195: GtkDrawingArea - Text - time:  1,19
260: GtkDrawingArea - Text - time:  1,13

195: GtkDrawingArea - Pixbufs - time:  0,38
260: GtkDrawingArea - Pixbufs - time:  0,31
 --- 
195: Total time: 29,22
260: Total time: 26,64

PS: Unigine Heaven 195 vs. 260 - http://tinyurl.com/332t5um

taccoboss · 09-20-10, 04:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taccoboss

i tested 260.19.06 driver on Ubuntu 10.04 and it still sucks a lot (Nvidia quadro 4600fx). Linux is a mistery for you! It would be better to do an open source driver.....i bet that Nvidia Tegra 2 driver for Android will be a lot better! eheheh....you like money!

ummmmm......i tried 260.19.06 driver with some games and now graphics seem better...i like it.....and i want a stable version!

Guilo19 · 09-20-10, 10:33 AM

For me 260.x gives very bad performance with vdpau. Very slow whereas everything was smooth using 195.X. I have 8400M.

09-12-10, 06:36 PM	#4
taccoboss Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 14	Re: Performance Regressions within NVIDIA 260.x i tested it on an Nvidia Quadro 4600 fx and it really sucks! Congrats!

09-17-10, 07:31 AM	#6
taccoboss Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 14	Re: Performance Regressions within NVIDIA 260.x i tested 260.19.06 driver on Ubuntu 10.04 and it still sucks a lot (Nvidia quadro 4600fx). Linux is a mistery for you! It would be better to do an open source driver.....i bet that Nvidia Tegra 2 driver for Android will be a lot better! eheheh....you like money!

09-17-10, 02:43 PM	#9
MakotoTheKnight Registered User Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 4	Re: Performance Regressions within NVIDIA 260.x The regressions likely stem from 2D performance rather than 3D. To my understanding, GTKPerf doesn't make use of anything 3D in its benchmark, and that was my biggest concern.

09-20-10, 10:33 AM	#12
Guilo19 Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 15	Re: Performance Regressions within NVIDIA 260.x For me 260.x gives very bad performance with vdpau. Very slow whereas everything was smooth using 195.X. I have 8400M.