HOWTO: ATI FGLRX 3D Acceleration

[HungSquirrel]

why would anyone bother...

Half-Life 2 comes out Tuesday. If it can run on Cedega, me =

[mattyh]

me, unless someone wants to buy my all in wonder

[simmer]

So this is version 3.12.0 of the ATi Radeon drivers? Let's say I wanted to install the latest once in order to play Doom3. How would one go about then?

Just out of curiosity: Which fps do you guys get with fgl_glxgears? I own a 9800 Pro and get the following:

2127 frames in 5.0 seconds = 425.400 FPS
2555 frames in 5.0 seconds = 511.000 FPS
2566 frames in 5.0 seconds = 513.200 FPS
2396 frames in 5.0 seconds = 479.200 FPS
2601 frames in 5.0 seconds = 520.200 FPS

-simmer

[ohbahsan]

followed this howto and got my 8500 LE running with dual monitor setup. thanks a lot!

[wallijonn]

Simmer,

glxgears is a funny thing - I get about 900fps (9800Pro 128/256) but I've read that some others are getting >2000. It should be the only thing running (no other apps). Just let it run for 2 minutes without moving the mouse.

[humina]

I ran this howto and when I run tuxracer I notice that it runs faster than before, but there are a bunch of random polygons everywhere. I get the same problem with tuxkart. How do I fix that?

Output of various commands:

lsmod | grep fglrx
----------------------------------
fglrx 215044 7

dmesg | grep fglrx
----------------------------------
fglrx: module license 'Proprietary. (C) 2002 - ATI Technologies, Starnberg, GERMANY' taints kernel.
[fglrx] Maximum main memory to use for locked dma buffers: 432 MBytes.
[fglrx] module loaded - fglrx 3.12.0 [Jul 16 2004] on minor 0
[fglrx] Maximum main memory to use for locked dma buffers: 432 MBytes.
[fglrx] AGP detected, AgpState = 0x1f00421b (hardware caps of chipset)
[fglrx] AGP enabled, AgpCommand = 0x1f004312 (selected caps)
[fglrx] free AGP = 54800384
[fglrx] max AGP = 54800384
[fglrx] free LFB = 116391936
[fglrx] max LFB = 116391936
[fglrx] free Inv = 0
[fglrx] max Inv = 0
[fglrx] total Inv = 0
[fglrx] total TIM = 0
[fglrx] total FB = 0
[fglrx] total AGP = 16384

fglrxinfo
---------------
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON 9800 Pro Generic
OpenGL version string: 1.3.4510 (X4.3.0-3.12.0)

My fgl_glxgears command works fine and I get over 500 FPS

[IchaBOB]

Ok, this HOWTO is more of a grouping together of the information found here on the forums, along with a little bit from my own experiences. In seeing how many different posts there are related to pretty much the same issues with the ATI drivers, I thought it would be helpful to stick all the information right here, in what seems to be the logical spot. Thanks to all the people who have posted on the various ATI threads, I really don't know who I got what from, so I thought I'd thank all of you.

Well, each time I can go thru fglrxconfig, i specify my custom H and V settings and pick the resolutions I want.... Saves fine...

When I login thru GUI, it is clearly over 1000 (default was set to 1152), but when it loads up the desktop, it changes the resolution to 832x624... I cannot change the resolution thru GUI b/c the settings are (in the listed order):
1024x768
832x624
800x600
640x480
1024x768 <--- listed twice

I did specify in the config the following order:
1152, 1024, 800, 640

Any ideas why I can't get this to work correctly?
Thx
ps - I've followed all the directions for ATI drivers and kernel etc successfully up to this point.

[uliketu]

Hey Icha, try removing all resolutions that you do not intend to use, ie. Just use the resolution you want and scrap the rest. Just make sure your monitor supports it....
and back up your config file.

Simmer, those fps are terrible for the card you have. I have radeon 9000 pro
and these are my stats when using glxgears. This is with other apps running...

9129 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1825.800 FPS
9323 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1864.600 FPS
9317 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1863.400 FPS
9269 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1853.800 FPS

It may be a driver issue, I'm not sure. But if I were you, I would
back up your config file and start tweaking...But, that's just me.

good luck

[mattyh]

Simmer, those fps are terrible for the card you have. I have radeon 9000 pro
and these are my stats when using glxgears. This is with other apps running...

9129 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1825.800 FPS
9323 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1864.600 FPS
9317 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1863.400 FPS
9269 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1853.800 FPS

It may be a driver issue, I'm not sure. But if I were you, I would
back up your config file and start tweaking...But, that's just me.

good luck

You're confusing fgl_glxgears and glxgears. They give different framerates. I've also been hearing around that glxgears isn't a good benchmarking tool at all. Anyways, it seems quite logical that fgl_glxgears would give much lower FPS.

[IchaBOB]

Hey Icha, try removing all resolutions that you do not intend to use, ie. Just use the resolution you want and scrap the rest. Just make sure your monitor supports it....
and back up your config file.

Simmer, those fps are terrible for the card you have. I have radeon 9000 pro
and these are my stats when using glxgears. This is with other apps running...

9129 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1825.800 FPS
9323 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1864.600 FPS
9317 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1863.400 FPS
9269 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1853.800 FPS

It may be a driver issue, I'm not sure. But if I were you, I would
back up your config file and start tweaking...But, that's just me.

good luck

Ok, well

I went into XF86Config and removed all the modes except for 1178......
When I rebooted, the login screen came in @ 1178, then desktop defaulted back to 832....

Went to change the res (GUI) and after removing them and a reboot ......
Now it lists:
1152x864
1152x768
1024x768
832x624
800x600
640x480

but hell, it Works!! I set 1152x846 as the default so hopefully it will reload it back to it