Comment 0 for bug 195843

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-intel

In the course of Bug #17749 I was experimenting a little bit with the option INTEL_BATCH=1 which makes glxgears significant faster but according to some posts only this one and not higher 3d applications. For getting better results I have installed OpenArena (a game with Quake 3 engine) and used the Benchmark Howto from http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/Benchmarking for OA. The result was amazing. It was 1/3 faster with INTEL_BATCH=1 then without.
According to Bryce Harrington a new wish list report should be created if this option has an effect on real 3d apps which is the case at least for me.
INTEL_BATCH=1 should be enabled per default for Intel hardware if many people experiences the same and there are no regressions.

It would be great if many other with Intel graphic cards could recheck this with the same procedure.
After adding, removing or commenting out INTEL_BATCH=1 from /etc/environment only a logout is needed since GDM is restarted per default since Gutsy and the file environment seems to be reread after X restart. This option seems to also work in Gutsy so there is no need for an upgrade/installation but of course the latest Intel driver is only in Hardy.

My platform is a Sony TX2 Laptop with Intel 915 chipset, 1.5 GB memory and 1.2 GHZ Pentium M ULV processor.
Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)

I am using a fresh Hardy Alpha 5 installation with all current updates. I have changed nothing except adding the line >>Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy" << to xorg.conf device section to fix the EXA bug #17749 which hopefully is activated by default in Hardy in the future and of course adding/removing INTEL_BATCH=1 to /etc/environment. Compiz was activated on every test like in the default configuration. I have ran the command in standard gnome console.

Results without INTEL_BATCH=1 and glxgears:
3543 frames in 5.0 seconds = 708.474 FPS
3588 frames in 5.0 seconds = 717.553 FPS
3556 frames in 5.0 seconds = 711.136 FPS

Results without INTEL_BATCH=1 and OpenArena DRI Benchmark:
840 frames, 27.6 seconds: 30.4 fps
840 frames, 27.5 seconds: 30.6 fps

Results with INTEL_BATCH=1 and glxgears:
4073 frames in 5.0 seconds = 814.452 FPS
4298 frames in 5.0 seconds = 859.514 FPS
4368 frames in 5.0 seconds = 873.452 FPS

Results with INTEL_BATCH=1 and OpenArena DRI Benchmark:
840 frames, 20.3 seconds: 41.5 fps
840 frames, 20.0 seconds: 41.9 fps