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GraphicsCardIssues
From Odwiki
[edit] Introduction
This page is intended to provide help on which graphics cards work well with Houdini. If you have a graphics card/OS that's not listed here, please feel free to add your experiences.
Ratings should be from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates that there are few or no problems with the graphics, while 5 indicates that the card is virtually unusable.
Note: On Linux, to find the card manufacturer and driver number, check /var/log/XFree86.0.log (or Xorg.0.log).
[edit] Improving performance
- Set the environment variable, HOUDINI_OGL_DBL_BUFFER_FIX to 1. This setting will speed up Houdini in some drivers, while slowing down in others. The default for this is 0.
- Don't leave any open windows on top of Houdini. This will slow redrawing of the interface. This goes for various instant messengers.
- From the top menu, choose Settings > Main Preferences. Turn off Draw Lines Smoothly. Most 3D apps have this turned off by default but Houdini has this enabled by default instead. Turning this off gives lower quality lines.
- With your mouse in the 3D viewport, hit 'd' for the display options. Under Optimization > Culling, turn on Remove Backfaces. This will result backfacing geometry that you might see through holes not being drawn. To permanently save this option as oppposed to just in this scene file, click on Save As Default.
- With your mouse in the 3D viewport, hit 'd' for the display options. Under Interactivity, turn on Interactive Mode. This tells Houdini to draw geometry as simple bounding boxes when tumbling takes longer than a certain amount of time. To permanently save this option as oppposed to just in this scene file, click on Save As Default.
[edit] ATI FireGL X1-128
[edit] Windows 2000
| Driver Version | 8.062 |
| OS | Windows 2000 |
| Rating | 2 |
Notes: Glitches can get left on the screen, but the performance seem pretty good, especially when Smooth Lines is off.
[edit] Linux FC2
| Driver Version | 3.12 |
| OS | Linux Fedora Core 2 |
| Rating | 4 |
Notes: I believe that this should work better than it does, but for the life of me, I cannot get better than 2-3 FPS for full screen OpenGL tests.
From Xorg.0.log:
> (II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/linux/libfglrxdrm.a > (II) Module fglrxdrm: vendor="Fire GL - ATI Research GmbH, Germany" > compiled for 4.3.0.1, module version = 3.12.0 > ABI class: XFree86 Server Extension, version 0.2
[edit] ATI Radeon X300
[edit] Windows XP
| Driver Version | 5.5 - 5.9 |
| OS | Windows XP |
| Rating | 4 |
Notes: Big memory leaks when redrawing the interface. Loses about 1 MB per minute with a default Houdini session on continuous playback. Only way to avoid this is by turning off all hardware acceleration.
[edit] NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200
[edit] Linux FC1
| Driver Version | 1.0-6629 |
| OS | Linux Fedora Core 1 |
| Rating | 2 |
Notes: The card runs fairly well. No significant issues. At 1920x1200, the 64MB of video RAM gets used up pretty quickly. This means that if you run more than one houdini at a time, you end up with non-accellerated graphics and it tends to crash houdini.
[edit] NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT PCIX
[edit] Gentoo 64-bit
| Driver Version | 1.0-8776 |
| OS | Gentoo 64-bit |
| Rating | 4 |
Notes: Houdini crashes unless HOUDINI_DISABLE_DISPLAYLIST is set. I believe this is an issue with the 8776 drivers though.
[edit] NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
[edit] Linux FC1
| Driver Version | 1.0.5336 |
| OS | Linux Fedora Core 1 |
| Rating | 1 |
Notes: Excellent card for Houdini. Runs flawlessly under Fedora Core 1 with driver version 5336. Much faster than on the Windows XP side of the identical machine. Except for exceptionally heavy texturing work, it's a good all around card!
[edit] Windows XP
| Driver Version | 6.14.10.5672 |
| OS | Windows XP SP1 |
| Rating | 2 |
Notes: Acceptable for Houdini. Much slower than on the Linux side of the identical machine, but very usable for light to medium complexity work.
[edit] NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600
[edit] Windows XP
| Driver Version | 66.93 |
| OS | Windows XP Pro SP2 |
| Rating | 2 |
Notes: No artifacts, very stable but it could be more powerful.
[edit] NVIDIA Quadro FX 1300
[edit] Windows XP
| Driver Version | 67.20 |
| OS | Windows XP Pro SP1 |
| Rating | 2 |
Notes: Works as good as a GeForce 5600, higher specifications but no noticeable difference in speed under Houdini.
[edit] NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500
[edit] Windows XP
| Driver Version | 169.47 |
| OS | Windows? |
| Rating | 5 |
Notes: Don't use this driver, mplay crashes.
[edit] Graphics Drivers
Just as important as getting the right hardware, getting the right driver version is also key to running smoothly. 'Professional' drivers, such as those for the FireGL or the Quadro, will often be more stable than the consumer drivers (like those for the GEForce and Radeon cards).
When downloading a new driver, you should always be prepared to roll back to the one you are currently using. In addition to fixes and optimizations, bugs can also creep into releases. This is especially true of consumer-level drivers, where optimizations are often made for games or benchmarks that often seem to cut corners. Beware of versions that only say 'improved performance for (just released popular game X)'!
[edit] ATI Catalyst
ATI's driver support in the consumer area has improved considerably. Houdini was plagued with slow redraws, mouse artifacts and black patches in the early driver versions, not to mention system hangs and crashes. ATI's OpenGL support is not quite as good as Nvidia's, though it is improving.
| Version | Windows XP |
| 3.x - 4.5 | Slow, some graphical glitches, stable |
| 4.6 - 4.10 | Not recommended. System hangs, crashes. |
| 4.11 - 5.1 | Stable, better performance, small mplay raster zooming issues. |
| 8.44 | Fixes selection performance issues in the viewport |
[edit] ATI FireGL
The FireGL drivers offer much more performance for Houdini. Fewer issues with crashes.
[edit] NVidia GEForce
The Nvidia consumer drivers are surprisingly good for Houdini. They offer better performance than ATI. The drivers are better on Linux than Windows.
| Version | Linux |
| 53.xx | No major issues. |
| 62.xx | No major issues. |
| 66.xx | No major issues. Problem with raster zooming in mplay; use 'setenv HOUDINI_OGL_RASTER_DISPLAY_FIX 1' to mostly fix this problem. |
| 87.76 | I believe there are problems with display lists for geometry with point colors. Try setting the environment variable HOUDINI_DISABLE_DISPLAYLIST. |
| Version | Windows XP |
| 71.84 | No major issues. |
| 81.67 | Houdini can go to 100% CPU usage even when doing nothing. Avoid this whole series of nVidia drivers. |
| 81.95 | Random crashing on redrawing display lists. Houdini can go to 100% CPU usage even when doing nothing. Avoid this whole series of nVidia drivers. |
[edit] NVidia Quadro
On Linux, these cards provide comparable performance to the consumer cards.
[edit] Debugging
This is a list of tips on debugging your graphics card and problems you might encounter.
[edit] Debugging on Linux
- The X log file is very instructive. When X starts, it creates a log file in /var/log. Dependeing on your version of X, this file will be either Xorg.0.log or XFree86.0.log. If you run the commands (you might need to be root depending on your version of Linux), you may be able to track down problems with your card's support
% grep '(EE)' /var/log/XFree86.0.log % grep '(WW)' /var/log/XFree86.0.log
If you see something like
RADEON(0): Direct rendering not yet supported on Radeon 9500 and...
you aren't getting accelerated rendering and your card is basically useless. You may want to ensure that you have the correct drivers installed.
- By closer examination of the log file, you should be able to determine which video driver is being used. Odds are that you don't want to be using the default XFree86 drivers. Ideally, you should be able to download a driver from your vendor's site.
- The command lspci can be useful to verify that your card is being recognized by your system.
[edit] Nvidia, Linux & AMD Stability Issues
Older AMD chipsets (such as the AMD 760, which is the chipset for many AthlonXP and MP processors) have stability problems with AGP and Nvidia cards on Linux. This can cause the X server to freeze, or the entire system to go down. MPlay puts the most stress on AGP when playing back, so you will often find that this is the application that breaks the X server's back. Here are some steps that you can take to restore stabiliy to your system (in order of increasing drastic-ness). Most are taken directly from the Nvidia Linux readme.txt file.
1. Upgrade to 81xx series drivers or above.
Nvidia Linux drivers page
2. Disable AGP Fast Writes
This AGP feature may cause severe stability problems. It can be
en/disabled in many system BIOSes. If your BIOS does not offer
this option, you can force support for AGP Fast Writes off with the
NVreg_EnableAGPFW NVdriver module parameter.
If you are inserting the module manually:
insmod NVdriver NVreg_EnableAGPFW=0
If you are using modprobe (/etc/modules.conf):
alias char-major-195 NVdriver
options NVdriver NVreg_EnableAGPFW=0
(This only affects performance; you can't hose your system by
changing this)
3. Decrease AGP Rate
You may want to decrease the AGP rate setting if you are seeing
lockups with the value you are currently using. You can do so
with the NVreg_ReqAGPRate NVdriver module parameter.
If you are inserting the module manually:
insmod NVdriver NVreg_ReqAGPRate=2 # force AGP Rate to 2x
insmod NVdriver NVreg_ReqAGPRate=1 # force AGP Rate to 1x
If you are using modprobe (/etc/modules.conf):
alias char-major-195 NVdriver
options NVdriver NVreg_ReqAGPRate=2 # force AGP Rate to 2x
options NVdriver NVreg_ReqAGPRate=1 # force AGP Rate to 1x
On Athlon motherboards with the VIA KX133 or 694X chip set, such as
the ASUS K7V motherboard, NVIDIA drivers default to AGP 2x mode to
work around insufficient drive strength on one of the signals. You
can force AGP 4x by setting NVreg_EnableVia4x to 1. Note that this
may cause the system to become unstable.
On ALi1541 and ALi1647 chipsets, NVIDIA drivers disable AGP to work
around timing issues and signal integrity issues. You can force AGP
to be enabled on these chipsets by setting NVreg_EnableALiAGP to 1.
Note that this may cause the system to become unstable.
(This only affects performance; you can't make your system more
unstable by changing this unless you increase the rate)
4. Change the AGP drive strength BIOS setting (VIA motherboards)
Many Via based mainboards allow adjusting the AGP drive strength in
the system BIOS. The setting of this option largely affects system
stability, the range between 0xEA and 0xEE seems to work best for
NVIDIA hardware. Setting either nibble to 0xF generally results in
severe stability problems.
If you decide to experiment with this, you need to be aware of
the fact that you are doing so at your own risk and that you may
render your system unbootable with improper settings until you
reset the setting to a working value (w/ a PCI graphics card or
by resetting the BIOS to its default values).
(Try 0xEA, 0xEB, 0xEC, 0xED, or 0xEE. I have no idea what they
mean, other than 0xEA is likely the weakest drive strength of
the bunch, so you might want to start there)
5. Update your System BIOS
Make sure to have the latest system BIOS provided by the board
manufacturer.
(This involves flashing the bios ROM on the motherboard. Do NOT do
this unless you know what you're doing - you can render your
motherboard completely inoperative)
6. Disable support for the processor's Page Size Extension on Athlon Processors
Similar to systems using Windows 2000 based operating systems, your
Linux system may stop responding if you use applications that stress
AGP (such as ViewPerf). This can often be solved by passing the
"mem=nopentium" option to the Linux kernel, which disables support
for the processor's Page Size Extension. This may impact
performance with some applications. For further details, see
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q270715.
(MPlay can definitely stress AGP during playback, and so it sounds
like a plausible cause. Unfortunately, this is a VERY drastic
measure, as I suspect mantra and Houdini would happen to fit in
the category of "some applications". The article is geared at MS
Windows 2000 and doesn't really apply here, but if you're
interested: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q270715/ ]
