2D Graphics Performance

2D Graphics Performance

[David H. Vree]

Hello -- I am trying to optimize 2D video graphics performance for a 32 
bit Winxp guest running on Ubuntu 9.04.   I have done some preliminary 
benchmarking and have found that vga "std" outperforms "cirrus" on most 
tests by about 20%-40%.   However the std option is still (depending on 
the test) about 3 to 20 times slower than native 2D performance I get 
using low-end on-board Intel graphics.  I haven't run the benchmark in 
VMWare workstation yet, but I can tell by looking that KVM is much 
slower -- which has surprised me because it has performed very well in 
my cpu and disk i/o tests.

I have attempted to try the "vmware" option by installing the vmware 
SVGA II driver in the Winxp guest, but all I ever get with this option 
is a blank screen.  In reading an earlier thread in this mailing list, 
somebody said that the "-vga vmware" option was only for Linux/Unix 
based guests.  Can anyone confirm this?

My machine has 2 quad-core 2.7Ghz AMD opterons, 16 GB RAM, and an nVidia 
285 GLX card.  Here is the command line I am using:

kvm -hda kvm2dperf.qcow2 -m 2G -smp 2 -k en-us -name "KVM 2D Perf" -vga 
std -net nic -net user -soundhw all -cpu qemu64

Is there any other command line options or approaches for amping up 
graphics performance?  I am open to any/all ideas!


Thanks,
Dave

Re: 2D Graphics Performance

[Pantelis Koukousoulas]

> I have attempted to try the "vmware" option by installing the vmware SVGA II
> driver in the Winxp guest, but all I ever get with this option is a blank
> screen.  In reading an earlier thread in this mailing list, somebody said
> that the "-vga vmware" option was only for Linux/Unix based guests.  Can
> anyone confirm this?

No, it works on windows too, it is just (quite) a bit of a pain to
find and setup the
correct driver. But once that is done, it should work. No idea how much faster
it would be though.

Pantelis

Re: 2D Graphics Performance

[David H. Vree]

Pantelis Koukousoulas wrote:
> No, it works on windows too, it is just (quite) a bit of a pain to
> find and setup the
> correct driver. But once that is done, it should work. No idea how much faster
> it would be though.
I have version 11.06.00.0013 installed.  I snatched it from the
c:\program files\vmware\drivers folder before I uninstalled vmware tools
and converted the drive image to qcow2.   Nonetheless, whether it is
installed or not, all I get when booting is the Windows boot screen for
a few seconds then everything goes blank/black.  This happens even if I
boot in safe mode.

Do you have any tips/techniques for getting it to work?

Re: 2D Graphics Performance

[FinnTux]

> No, it works on windows too, it is just (quite) a bit of a pain to
> find and setup the
> correct driver.

Any pointers where to look for them?


SR