Vistas Aero GUI og spillytelse

[M4cr0s]

Quoter en post her jeg har gjort på et annet forum og.

 

Hi

 

This isnt spesifically related to SLI, but it can be worth a try IF you got a working SLI setup running with probable benchmark scores and still experience poor ingame performance.

 

The short version:

I've done some extensive testing that shows that the Aero GUI of Windows Vista can/do cause performance hits while playing games. Disable it.

 

The long version:

 

My current system spec's

Vista Ultimate 64bit

2 x 8800 GTS 320mb's

E6600 @ 3.37ghz

4GB Corsair Domniator 6400 RAM

WD Raptor 150GB 10k RPM

Asus Striker Extreme

Corsair 620w PSU

+ Various drives and other accessories.

 

We all (I hope) know that currently graphic performance under Vista compared to same setup under Windows XP is generally worse. That is, lower fps and/or other issues. If you DO doubt that theres a difference in graphic performance in Vista vs XP, I'll show you a couple of quick and dirty benchies I did myself with my own rig. Not saying this is eveident for all of you, but it is certainly the case for me. 

 

3Dmark '06, default settings

Vista (158.45): 13450

XP (158.22):    14500

 

CS:S Stress test in 1600x1200 4xAA and AF, everyting maxed. FPS_MAX 500.

Vista (158.45): 280 FPS

XP (158.22):    330 FPS

 

 

Much of this is probably related to imature drivers and not necessarily the OS' itself, altough many would argue that Vista's überparanoid architecture makes driver development much more difficult than for its predecessor.

Regardless of this I have been experimenting a lot, trying to get my rig running decently under Vista. This includes of course various driver versions, turning on/off all kinds of settings, both in drivers and in the OS, including Vista's new memory management feature, superfetching.

 

Most of this haven't helped the bit, at least not in noticeable or measureable terms. When it comes to drivers the only bright spot for me personally was/is the 158.45s. In combination with Microsofts 4GB-under-Vista-64bit-hotfix KB9229777, I have actually been able to run the system more or less stable in SLI mode with 4GB mem installed. Actually it works flawlessy in Windows, except for a minor networking issue and the fact that Vista don't seem to want to talk to my Windows based smartphone

 

In terms of graphic related issues (at least issues I presume are related to drivers) there are several.

 

- Low FPS in games, or FPS drops in certain situations.

- Alt + TAB'ing in/out of games is Risky (yes the large R is intentional). Especially when the game have been running for a while there's a high chance computer will lock up, requiring a hard reboot.

- Certain games are prone to lock up when exiting, requiring a hard reboot.

 

All of these issues are nonexisting in Windows XP SP2 with the 158.22 drivers. This, combined with considerable stresstesting show that they are not related to faulty hardware, heat, unsufficient power supply, overclocking or similar.

 

So, the partiall fix, or perhaps a part of the problem. The Windows Aero GUI. Flashy, shiny, modern and hot. In fact, so hot that it requires a proper GPU to run and needs considerable amounts of video memory to function.

 

I was plagued with irritating FPS drops in several games/gfx engines. Valve's Source engine and the numerous mods using this engine was the most noticeable (I play several of these games regularly) and then particularly in multiplayer conditions. I experienced FPS drops at certain points or certain situations. By disabling the Aero GUI these issues became much less noticeable.

 

Funny thing is, that in a syntethic test there's virtually no difference between Aero on/off. My 3dmark '06 scores are the same and CS:s stress test yeld the same average framerate, just as a lot of benchmarks and tests on various websites have proven earlier. Yet ingame there is a noticeable difference and the spikes are much rarer and less heavy. I guess this suggest what all the know-how'ers are saying, you shouldn't take synthetic benchies for granted.

 

 

So you want to disable Aero and try it out? Well, there are basically two ways to disable Aero.

 

1. Desktop, right click, personalize, window color and appearance, and "Open Classic appearance properties for more color options". This will show you the old XP/2k style list of Windows Themes and allow you to select "Vista Basic" or whatever theme. Important thing is that they are not Aero.

 

 

2. The one I choose. On any executable, rightclick, properties, compatibility, under "Settings" choose "Disable Desktop Composition". This will, for the spesific .exe, disable Aero when you run it. As soon as you exit the application, Aero will load up again.

 

 

Some, maybe all of you, are running Vista with Aero disabled. For those that don't and are unhappy about your framerates, this could perhaps help a bit. 

 

Please reply to this thread if you find this help or...don't help at all.

 

 

/DFN

 

Som jeg sier, verdt et forsøk. Gi gjerne tilbakemelding om dette har noen effekt, eller ingen effekt for deg.

[TCi]

Personlig så tviler jeg at dette er tilfelle, fordi Aero Glass deaktiveres når en fullskjermapplikasjon kjøres. Grunnen til mindre FPS-drop er mest sannsynlig grunnet at minnet på skjermkortet er mindre brukt dersom Aero Glass er deaktivert fra starten av.

[M4cr0s]

Personlig så tviler jeg at dette er tilfelle, fordi Aero Glass deaktiveres når en fullskjermapplikasjon kjøres. Grunnen til mindre FPS-drop er mest sannsynlig grunnet at minnet på skjermkortet er mindre brukt dersom Aero Glass er deaktivert fra starten av.

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Lov å tvile, dette er tilfelle og konsekvent reproduserbart hos meg. Er fullt klar over at Aero i prinsippet settes i dvale når spill etc kjøres. Dette var ikke ment som en anti-Aero-omfg post ala de en har sett mange av her og der.

 

Jeg må inrømme at det som fikk meg på tanken om å overhodet teste, var at jeg stussa litt over hvorfor i alle dager de har gitt muligheten til å deaktivere Aero ved applikasjonsstart om Aero faktisk ikke har noen innvirkning på ytelsen. Det er nettopp deaktivering ved applikasjonsstart jeg har basert mine tester på og ikke fullstendig deaktivering.

 

/DFN

[TCi]

Joda, var på ingen måte et forsøk på å slå ned på om det fungerer eller ikke. Bare det at jeg har mine tvil om at utslaget er så voldsomt. Mulig kort med mindre enn 256MB minne kan ha en ytelsesforskjell.

 

Ut i fra posten der er det ingen betydelig forskjell som jeg kan lese. Tror heller det ligger mer i drivere. Men sikkert verdt et forsøk om noen plages med slikt.