High CPU usage and laggy behaviour with 3D-acceleration in Linux Mint (Virtual Box) but not with software rendering

Questions about virtualization software
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
Noobfire

High CPU usage and laggy behaviour with 3D-acceleration in Linux Mint (Virtual Box) but not with software rendering

Post by Noobfire »

I'm currently trying to get Linux Mint 18.2 to work in Oracle Virtual Box.

What have I done so far:

Installed VBoxAdditions 5.0.40 or 5.1.26 (first one through apt-get, second one through the VirtualBox-Guest-Additions .iso itself). That does not mean that I installed them concurrently, after each try I removed the packages with following method:

Completly removed everything about VirtualBox inbetween with apt-get purge virtualbox* and apt-get purge Virtualbox*. The Synaptic Packetmanager showed a total of 0 installed virtualbox packages after that.

I found several tests that show 3D-Acceleration is enabled:

Code: Select all

$/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p

OpenGL vendor string:   Humper
OpenGL renderer string: Chromium
OpenGL version string:  2.1 Chromium 1.9

Not software rendered:    yes
Not blacklisted:          yes
GLX fbconfig:             yes
GLX texture from pixmap:  yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program:        yes
GL fragment program:      yes
GL vertex buffer object:  yes
GL framebuffer object:    yes
GL version is 1.4+:       yes

Unity 3D supported:       yes
and:

Code: Select all

$inxi -G | grep Renderer      

GLX Renderer: Chromium GLX Version: 2.1 Chromium 1.9
and:

Code: Select all

$glxinfo | grep OpenGL

OpenGL vendor string: Humper
OpenGL renderer string: Chromium
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Chromium 1.9
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.30 - Build 20.19.15.4531
OpenGL extensions:
A quick benchmark showed following result:

Code: Select all

$glxgears

1242 frames in 5.0 seconds = 248.234 FPS
1280 frames in 5.0 seconds = 255.818 FPS
1209 frames in 5.0 seconds = 241.569 FPS
1107 frames in 5.0 seconds = 221.356 FPS
1243 frames in 5.0 seconds = 248.558 FPS
1167 frames in 5.0 seconds = 233.303 FPS
1233 frames in 5.0 seconds = 246.507 FPS
1140 frames in 5.0 seconds = 227.865 FPS
XIO:  fatal IO error 11 (Resource temporarily unavailable) on X server ":0"
      after 71944 requests (71944 known processed) with 0 events remaining
I have to note that the whole system became extremly sluggish and unusable during that benchmark.

In general everthing seems to "work". The usual things associated with Guest-Additions (copy-and-paste, resizing the windows, etc.) seem to work. Browsing with firefox is extremly smooth, even smoother than browsing with Chrome on my Host machine.

But as soon as 3D-accelerated things have to be drawed (it seems like the cinnamon-menu is 3D-accelerated too), my CPU usage on the host machine rises from 0-10% to 40-80% and in general everything becomes extremly laggy. I'm just talking about TYPING single characters in the search bar on the cinnamon start menu. Whenever I type something in firefox or other entering masks, it's extremly smooth. But as soon as I do that in the menu or use other 3D-accelerated things, it seems like the drawing of the 2D-desktop slows down to 5-10 FPS.

That are my settings in VirtualBox:

Code: Select all

3072 MB RAM
2 processor cores
100% CPU ratio
PAE/NX enabled
VT-x enabled
128 MB (max) VRAM
3D-acceleration enabled
It occurs at both of my computers with following hardware:

Code: Select all

i7-4500U
8 GB DDR3 RAM
Intel HD Graphics
and:

Code: Select all

i5-2400 OC to 4,4 GHz
8 GB DDR3 RAM 
GTX 1060
I dont think my hardware is the problem here..

EDIT:

I tried to not use the 3D-acceleration, namely using software-rendering. On a restart, the message that I am currently using software-renering and therefore the UI can seem sluggish appeared.

But quite the contrary. The menu is smoother (NOT smooth. But I would guess something around 15 FPS) and the benchmark (glxgears) showed something around 650 FPS, so about 3x of that we archieved before. So clearly there is something not working correctly with the hardware acceleration.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
pbear
Level 16
Level 16
Posts: 6569
Joined: Wed Jun 21, 2017 12:25 pm
Location: San Francisco

Re: High CPU usage and laggy behaviour with 3D-acceleration in Linux Mint (Virtual Box) but not with software rendering

Post by pbear »

That's a pretty specific issue. If no one here can help, you might try the VirtualBox Forums. For example, I notice a recent thread there with a similar issue, which a mod diagnosed as hardware related. Hopefully your outcome will be different.

Sorry can't be more help. Only started with VBox a couple days ago.
Noobfire

Re: High CPU usage and laggy behaviour with 3D-acceleration in Linux Mint (Virtual Box) but not with software rendering

Post by Noobfire »

Thank you for your reply!

I created a topic right here: https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic ... 19#p399319. Hopefully someone will answer my question there. Thank you for your suggestion!
Locked

Return to “Virtual Machines”