4.1.99 slow

[Brian J. Tarricone]

Mark Houlder wrote:

> Fredrik Normann wrote:
>
>>
>> I've got the same problem with the same install (gentoo portage) 
>> Everything feels so slow.
>>
>> What kind of graphics adapter do you got? I've got ATI with kernel 
>> drivers
>>
>> -fredrik-normann-
>>
> ditto;
>
> see my own reply re: composite extension in xorg.conf
>
> it's disappointing because my machine is fairly well spec'd (for a 
> laptop), but i'm hoping as xorg matures the composite effects will 
> become more efficient. *fingers crossed*

yep, as you've guessed, it's composite that's causing the slowness.  
frankly, i'm not too pleased that the compositor is enabled by default 
in xfwm4 in the gentoo ebuilds.  then again, composite is disabled by 
default in the x.org config, so if you're enabling it, you should know 
what you're doing (hint, hint ^_~).  the real bottleneck here is 
actually the video drivers' implementation of the X render extension, 
which often isn't all that great.  from what i understand, the nvidia 
binary drivers are the only ones that have a half-decent render 
implementation, and it only really helps on the mid- to upper-range 
geforce cards (at least, it sucks on my ancient tnt2 ultra).

    -brian