Guide to Get the Best Performace from the GMA 500

[PilotPaul]

Compiz working fine here also on my Acer Aspire One 751h. MythTV still unable to display any live tv whatever settings I choose... . Still, one step closer....

Well done guys'n'gals.

Paul

[lucazade]

Having compiz enabled results in the GMA500 doing more graphics related work. This releases some extra potential CPU power for running processes. The positive side effect is that the CPU stays cooler (more evenly) when moving or switching between windows etc. It also saves some power.

This is how it should be, but using top i don't see any differences in cpu utilization with or without compositor.
Enabling compositor affect scrolling in gtk applications, obviously it is not so pronunced but enough. (gtkperf also shows this).

[simplygades]

Hi guys, compiz works fine on my AO751h and I think it really helps in having a more relaxed cpu, although graphics don't perform too well, in terms of speed.
I have a little problem regarding gnome-mplayer:
Sound works with mplayer, gmplayer but not with gnome-mplayer. I only have video and if I try to play a song it doesn't start at all. I've set output to pulse, is that correct? Does anyone else have this problem?

[PilotPaul]

Compiz breaks suspend/resume on my 751h...(then again I think it did this with Karmic also)

[lucazade]

Hi guys, compiz works fine on my AO751h and I think it really helps in having a more relaxed cpu, although graphics don't perform too well, in terms of speed.

Really? I really don't think so:

metacity plain:
GtkEntry - time: 0,20
GtkComboBox - time: 6,45
GtkComboBoxEntry - time: 3,10
GtkSpinButton - time: 0,82
GtkProgressBar - time: 1,07
GtkToggleButton - time: 1,61
GtkCheckButton - time: 0,68
GtkRadioButton - time: 1,20
GtkTextView - Add text - time: 3,61
GtkTextView - Scroll - time: 1,79
GtkDrawingArea - Lines - time: 3,82
GtkDrawingArea - Circles - time: 8,24
GtkDrawingArea - Text - time: 5,24
GtkDrawingArea - Pixbufs - time: 0,49
---
Total time: 38,34


metacity compositor:
GtkEntry - time: 0,22
GtkComboBox - time: 5,65
GtkComboBoxEntry - time: 3,51
GtkSpinButton - time: 0,89
GtkProgressBar - time: 1,11
GtkToggleButton - time: 1,67
GtkCheckButton - time: 0,77
GtkRadioButton - time: 1,26
GtkTextView - Add text - time: 3,70
GtkTextView - Scroll - time: 1,74
GtkDrawingArea - Lines - time: 5,00
GtkDrawingArea - Circles - time: 8,29
GtkDrawingArea - Text - time: 5,38
GtkDrawingArea - Pixbufs - time: 0,62
---
Total time: 39,86


compiz:
GtkEntry - time: 0,24
GtkComboBox - time: 9,10
GtkComboBoxEntry - time: 6,65
GtkSpinButton - time: 1,61
GtkProgressBar - time: 1,78
GtkToggleButton - time: 1,86
GtkCheckButton - time: 0,96
GtkRadioButton - time: 2,10
GtkTextView - Add text - time: 3,92
GtkTextView - Scroll - time: 3,67
GtkDrawingArea - Lines - time: 7,76
GtkDrawingArea - Circles - time: 10,66
GtkDrawingArea - Text - time: 13,24
GtkDrawingArea - Pixbufs - time: 4,12
---
Total time: 67,68

[simplygades]

@lucazade:

...compiz works fine (update: not that fine anymore as suspend is broken) on my AO751h and I think it really helps in having a more relaxed cpu, although graphics don't perform too well, in terms of speed.
...

I don't know, maybe its something with my English...did I seem to disagree?

[lucazade]

@lucazade:

I don't know, maybe its something with my English...did I seem to disagree?

no no i understand what you said, but if i see cpu utilization is the same with or without a compositor (read bad/high utilization)
No polemics, just a bit of frustation

[simplygades]

Sure. No polemics at all . I ran gtkperf too with similar results, but it just seemed that with compiz enabled the cpu was less stressed when I performed wm-related actions (EDIT: Just watching the system monitor gnome-applet, no real proof). Anyway, even if I was right, my bubble is burst already. Suspend is kind of crucial on a netbook. compiz

[loodjuret]

no no i understand what you said, but if i see cpu utilization is the same with or without a compositor (read bad/high utilization)
No polemics, just a bit of frustation

With compiz disabled, I have a more noisy fan, and 5-6 hours on battery.

With compiz enabled, fan is much more quiet and the CPU graph is flatter (more evenly distributed in system monitor). 6-7 hours on battery.

How cpu utilizaion is measured seems to vary between different tools. Don't know what tool to trust. Perhaps more relevant to look at power consumption (in mA or W)?

I haven't run any detailed tests. However, 'more /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state' display the current power consumption for the computer (in mA). Dividing (mAh(battery power left)/mA(usage) = h (time left)) seems to correspond the time left shown in the battery indicator.

Intel's Powertop (sudo apt-get install powertop) does the same thing but with a watt output and also suggestions what to do to save some power.

With compiz enabled I get ~700 mA (avg: cpu load 20%). Around ~800 mA having it disabled.

I don't know why I end up with this. My theory was that the GPU is using less power than the CPU. Enabling HW acceleration then results in a less power hungry computer, but I don't really know. Not that much of a difference afterall. But I do enjoy some of the compiz features, so I'm happy it is working! Thanks! This hellish chipset behaves much better now than only a week before. I actually have started to like this netbook (the 1101HA), even though it's slow. But hey, I'm not a gamer anyway.

[Udibuntu]

Guys,

Can you please provide an idiot proof walkthrough for enabling Compiz and the Flash workarounds? Like I don't know where to and how to add n /etc/X11/xorg.conf DEVICE section....

Thanks and respect!