GeForce 8200: compositing + font antialiasing = very slow gtk

[VladimirDidenko]

Hello everyone.

I have computer running under Alt Linux Sisyphus(development branch of Alt Linux) with GeForce 8200. With enabled compositing(tested with compiz and gnome-shell) and font antialiasing I have very poor performance in gtk applications. Opera and QT applications have good performance. Desktop effects also have good performance. I used gtkperf for testing and got follow results:


Test 1. Compiz is enabled, font smoothing is enabled:

GtkPerf 0.40 - Starting testing: Fri May  6 14:08:29 2011

GtkEntry - time:  0,11
GtkComboBox - time:  0,93
GtkComboBoxEntry - time:  0,73
GtkSpinButton - time:  0,11
GtkProgressBar - time:  0,23
GtkToggleButton - time:  0,33
GtkCheckButton - time:  0,15
GtkRadioButton - time:  0,34
GtkTextView - Add text - time:  4,13
GtkTextView - Scroll - time:  6,03
GtkDrawingArea - Lines - time:  1,17
GtkDrawingArea - Circles - time:  1,14
GtkDrawingArea - Text - time: 14,26
GtkDrawingArea - Pixbufs - time:  0,74
 ---
Total time: 30,41

Test 2. Compiz is enabled, font smoothing is disabled:

GtkPerf 0.40 - Starting testing: Fri May  6 14:15:20 2011

GtkEntry - time:  0,03
GtkComboBox - time:  0,66
GtkComboBoxEntry - time:  0,54
GtkSpinButton - time:  0,12
GtkProgressBar - time:  0,07
GtkToggleButton - time:  0,21
GtkCheckButton - time:  0,10
GtkRadioButton - time:  0,17
GtkTextView - Add text - time:  0,32
GtkTextView - Scroll - time:  0,26
GtkDrawingArea - Lines - time:  0,93
GtkDrawingArea - Circles - time:  1,18
GtkDrawingArea - Text - time:  0,26
GtkDrawingArea - Pixbufs - time:  0,11
 ---
Total time:  4,94

Test 3. Compiz is disabled, font smoothing is enabled:

GtkPerf 0.40 - Starting testing: Fri May  6 14:19:06 2011

GtkEntry - time:  0,03
GtkComboBox - time:  0,83
GtkComboBoxEntry - time:  0,56
GtkSpinButton - time:  0,11
GtkProgressBar - time:  0,05
GtkToggleButton - time:  0,18
GtkCheckButton - time:  0,09
GtkRadioButton - time:  0,17
GtkTextView - Add text - time:  0,31
GtkTextView - Scroll - time:  0,25
GtkDrawingArea - Lines - time:  0,42
GtkDrawingArea - Circles - time:  0,57
GtkDrawingArea - Text - time:  0,40
GtkDrawingArea - Pixbufs - time:  0,09
 ---
Total time:  4,05

Regards,
Vladimir.

[brebs]

Nvidia sadly just doesn't play well with composite, so I recommend disabling composite. A couple of examples:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=149904
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=110885

[Ahmad Samir]

A shot in the drak, try a GTK theme that doesn't use gradients (Clearlooks uses gradients, IIRC Nodoka doesn't)...
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=154919

[Deanjo]

Originally Posted by brebs

Nvidia sadly just doesn't play well with composite,

Composite works fine with KDE and Kwin.

[brebs]

Originally Posted by Deanjo

Composite works fine with KDE and Kwin.

Yeah, but but then try an opengl game, or running mplayer with vdpau and perfect vsync (as opposed to the occasional slight stutter). I've also had it messing up the top-area of the screen when playing d2x-rebirth, which is pretty bizarre.

Composite is a problem-causer, with nvidia.

[Deanjo]

Originally Posted by brebs

Yeah, but but then try an opengl game, or running mplayer with vdpau and perfect vsync (as opposed to the occasional slight stutter). I've also had it messing up the top-area of the screen when playing d2x-rebirth, which is pretty bizarre.

Composite is a problem-causer, with nvidia.

Works fine. KDE by default suspends KWin's compositing when fullscreen. (Unless you have over ridden or use some distro that disables it by default).

[VladimirDidenko]

Originally Posted by Ahmad Samir

A shot in the drak, try a GTK theme that doesn't use gradients (Clearlooks uses gradients, IIRC Nodoka doesn't)...
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=154919

Thank your for your advice but unfortunately it has not been helped. I also tried cairo with buggy-gradients patch - no effect.

[VladimirDidenko]

Originally Posted by brebs

Nvidia sadly just doesn't play well with composite, so I recommend disabling composite. A couple of examples:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=149904
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=110885

I have disabled composite and switched to nouveau because with nouveau I have more smooth scrolling in my browser. Also I should note that problem is hardware dependent. On my home machine with GeForce 250 GTS I don't see this regression.

[sandipt]

Originally Posted by VladimirDidenko

I have disabled composite and switched to nouveau because with nouveau I have more smooth scrolling in my browser. Also I should note that problem is hardware dependent. On my home machine with GeForce 250 GTS I don't see this regression.

I haven't observe big difference after testing compiz and smoothing combinations. Can you upgrade X server and other OS packages and check.

[VladimirDidenko]

Originally Posted by sandipt

I haven't observe big difference after testing compiz and smoothing combinations. Can you upgrade X server and other OS packages and check.

No changes, regression is still there(tested with compiz and gnome-shell).

My package versions:

compiz - 0.8.8
gnome-shell - 3.0.2
nvidia driver - 270.41.19
kernel image - 2.6.39
xorg server - 1.10.2

Did you test GeForce 8200? Problem is hardware dependent - I can not reproduce bug with GeForce 250GTS with the same software.

Also I see artifacts in default gnome theme. I have attached follow screenshots:

1. scroll-artifacts.jpg - artifacts in scrollbar
2. tab-artifacts.png - artifacts in gnome-terminal tabs.

[VladimirDidenko]

I don't know if it will be helpfull but my colleague has been reproduced this bug on Ubuntu 10.04 and 195.36.24 drivers. I will attach his nvidia-bug-report log.

[gradinaruvasile]

I couldnt reproduce it on Debian Testing+Xfce+compiz - with compiz the clearlooks theme was even faster than without (2.5-2.8 with compiz, ~3.5 with xfwm).
Nvidia 8200/275.09.04.