Nvidia drivers vs the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver

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steveis2
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Nvidia drivers vs the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver

Post by steveis2 »

Hi,
How much better than the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver are the nvidia drivers in terms of graphics performance? What is missing if you use the xserver driver?

Regards Steve
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catweazel
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Re: Nvidia drivers vs the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver

Post by catweazel »

steveis2 wrote: Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:27 pm How much better than the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver are the nvidia drivers in terms of graphics performance?
Far, far better.
steveis2 wrote:What is missing if you use the xserver driver?
Control over the composition pipeline, triple buffering, power scaling... and all the other words you can think of that relate to power and speed.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
steveis2
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Re: Nvidia drivers vs the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver

Post by steveis2 »

Thanks. I can see I should keep trying to get the nvidia driver working.

Regards Steve
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catweazel
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Re: Nvidia drivers vs the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver

Post by catweazel »

steveis2 wrote: Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:05 am Thanks. I can see I should keep trying to get the nvidia driver working.
It might be more helpful to say what's happening. We're here to help and there's nothing to be gained if you don't ask.

Please post the output of this terminal command:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz
Enclose the results between [ⅽode] and [/ⅽode] code markers by selecting </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply. Note that it's a capital F in that command, followed by lower case xz
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
steveis2
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Re: Nvidia drivers vs the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver

Post by steveis2 »

Hi Thanks for your reply,
The problem is that if I use the xserver driver I can obtain lots of resolutions up to1920x1080 but if I use any nvidia driver I can only get up to1360x768 and lower. I had a lot of good suggestions to try thanks to Laurent85 but unfortunately none of them worked. Then i got in touch with nvidia who said that when using the nvidia driver the EDID of my monitor was not being used while it was with the xserver driver. So as they suggested I tried to use a copy of the EDID from when i was using the xserver driver while using the nvidia driver as a 'custom' EDID. Nvidia suggested also editing the xorg.conf file with the following. "CustomEDID" "string" where string is the location of the saved EDID file placed in the Device section of xorg.conf. I ended up with the following in the xorg.conf file.

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Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 660"
Option "CustomEDID" "/Home/snowy/EDID.bin"
EndSection
Unfortunately none of the attempts I made actually worked so I am currently stuck. It may be that the monitor i have and nvidia drivers just don't get on very well, but if you can suggest anything to try it would be appreciated. I have attached the file you requested.

Regards Steve

Code: Select all

snowy@snowy-7200-3025B ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: snowy-7200-3025B Kernel: 4.15.0-29-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.6 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: ZOOSTORM product: 7200-3025B v: 7200-3025B
           Mobo: Gigabyte model: H81M-S2V v: x.x
           Bios: American Megatrends v: F4b date: 03/12/2018
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i5-4460 (-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 25542
           clock speeds: max: 3400 MHz 1: 1152 MHz 2: 1044 MHz 3: 1042 MHz
           4: 1035 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GK106 [GeForce GTX 660] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 driver: nvidia
           Resolution: 1360x768@59.96hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GTX 660/PCIe/SSE2
           GLX Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 384.130 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 NVIDIA GK106 HDMI Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
           Card-3 Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-29-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: NetGear A6100 AC600 DB Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8811AU]
           driver: rtl8812au usb-ID: 003-005
           IF: enxb039566e10f4 state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1500.3GB (1.3% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5000AAKX size: 500.1GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD10EZEX size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 451G used: 12G (3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 8.75GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C gpu: 0.0:35C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 200 Uptime: 8 min Memory: 1099.7/7877.7MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 
snowy@snowy-7200-3025B ~ $ 
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catweazel
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Re: Nvidia drivers vs the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver

Post by catweazel »

steveis2 wrote: Fri Oct 05, 2018 5:01 am ... if you can suggest anything to try it would be appreciated.
Perhaps. Have you tried the graphics drivers PPA?

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sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa && sudo apt update
You might try that then see if the driver manager offers 396. If it does, install it. Or: sudo apt install nvidia-driver-396

One other thing, it may be possible to manually specify the resolutions in xorg.conf so a go-ogle search might help you there.

That really is all I can suggest, I'm sorry.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
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roblm
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Re: Nvidia drivers vs the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver

Post by roblm »

The format of this line is not correct: Option "CustomEDID" "/Home/snowy/EDID.bin"

It should be like this: Option "CustomEDID" "HDMI-0:/home/your-user-name/edid.bin"

HDMI-0 is the name of the connected output on the video card. You can get that from using the command xrandr. The word Home should be home.

After making those changes, if the resolution problem is not corrected, then post this additional info:

1. In detail, how did you create the EDID.bin file?

2. What is the brand and model number of the monitor and how is it connected, including any adapter.

3. Post the output of this command: xrandr --prop
steveis2
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Re: Nvidia drivers vs the xserver-xorg-nouveau driver

Post by steveis2 »

Hi
Thank you for your reply.
It's working now.

Steve
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