MP performing better with an unstable system! (1 Viewer)

[blaster200]

TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: 0.2.2.0
MediaPortal Skin: bluetwo
Windows Version: XP pro SP2
CPU Type: AMD Athlon XP, 2000 MHz (15 x 133) 2400+
HDD: Maxtor 120GB
Memory: 512 MB (PC2700 DDR SDRAM)
Motherboard: Asus A7V8X-MX
Motherboard Chipset: VIA VT8378 UniChrome KM400
Motherboard Bios: Award (09/15/03)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 (32 MB)
Video Card Driver: 93.71 forceware
Sound Card: Creative SB Live!
Sound Card AC3: Not used, mixed down to 2.1
Sound Card Driver: LiveDrvUni-Pack(ENG) Latest
1. TV Card: None
1. TV Card Type: None
1. TV Card Driver: None
2. TV Card: None
2. TV Card Type: None
2. TV Card Driver: None
3. TV Card: NoneNone
3. TV Card Type: None
3. TV Card Driver: None
4. TV Card: None
4. TV Card Type: None
4. TV Card Driver: None
MPEG2 Video Codec: Default
MPEG2 Audio Codec: Default
Satelite/CableTV Provider: None
HTPC Case: Standard Tower
Cooling: Standard
Power Supply: 250w and 350w
Remote: MCE Remote 2005
TV: None
TV - HTPC Connection: None


Well this is a strange one. I have a low end card Gefore2 MX which has always run MP UI very well in the past, however since the .net 2.0 requirement builds the UI on MP has just been practically unsuable.

I have a 250w psu and I've added 2 hard drives (total now 3) on a fresh install on the above setup. I usually run BF1942 on the above setup okish, but after adding 2 new hard drives it would not work on a fresh install. Just would'nt run for some odd reason at all. Not even a startup screen.

After A while I installed MP 0.2.2.0 and the UI performance was excellent! and very quick through the navigation. I was delighted with it!

After a few days wondering why the hell BF1942 wouldnt work I decided to put in a 350w PSU on the off chance there wasnt enough power for the GFX card. BF1942 now started working straight away! Obviously it was the psu.

A few hours later I loaded up MP.. And the UI performance was back to practically unusuable standards again all of a sudden... Just as a test I put back the 250w and tried MP again and it was back to being ultra responsive again!

I then put back the 350w and MP was back to being unbelievable slow again.

My conclusion can only be that some kind of 3D accelerated feature is slowing down MP to hell, when in actual fact it's not even required! As I've seen it running faster on a crippled geforce2 MX that was probably only operating in 2D mode.

I'm guessing there are millions of people around with low end cards, either AGP or onboard VGA that are seeing very very slow UI performance.

Is there some setting that can make MP only use 2D acceleration by defualt ? In my case it would seem to improove the performance atleast 400% I'm guessing.

 

[Noelix]

I'm curious, what kind of a speed difference are you seeing? Like, a difference in seconds to perform the same task?

 

[CHli]

That's crazy :-|

If you have time and wish to make further investigation could you please run this tool : http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml with the two PSUs you have and check the value the tool gives.

It could be possible that one of the PSU is causing problem with your motherboard and the way FAN rotation is controlled. I know this is strange but I read somewhere something about that kind of problem.

Do you have to connect the PSU's FAN on the motherboard for one and not for the other ?

 

[blaster200]

The 2 PSU's have the exact same connections, just 1 connector for the motherboard.

I've tried it again today.. with the 250w psu and 3 hard drives + DVD/RW connected I cant run any 3D accelerated games and the PC occasionally shuts itself off without warning.

With the 350w PSU, all my 3D accelerared games work perfect and the PC has'nt shut itself off once.

When running MP with the 250w the UI is very fast through all navigation screens, it responds instantly with the MCE remote, all works fine, every menu screen is quick.

When I drop the 350w in, the navigation on the UI has a 1 second lag on it, doesnt sound like much, but its frustrating pressing up or down on the MCE remote and having to wait a second for every press. It's like its moving in slow motion.

I've just realized that when the 350w is used the default "home" screen and the "plugins" screen are the only 2 menu's that have a fast UI scroll. All the others (my music, video's, picture's, weather etc) are really really slow.

I checked the processor usage on the task manager, on the home screen and plugins screen without doing anything I'm using 5-10% cpu. On every other screen without scrolling up or down its using 100%!! CPU Even if I am doing nothing on MP.

I'm lost.

 

[Noelix]

Sounds like it's time to make some bug reports. Make sure to post your logs and your system specs, as well as the exact steps you take to repeat the issue since it is recurring, and post them in the bug forum.

 

[blaster200]

Appartently this is not a bug, I posted it and was told my geforce2 mx400 (32MB) didn't meet the minimum requierments and the 100% CPU on the UI was perhaps because of this.

Yet, when the GFX card has limited 3D accelrated features, with being under powered from a 250w psu, (This I know because other games stop working) MP works amazingly fast through the navigation screens and at only 5-10% CPU.

Something doesn't add up to me.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

Something doesn't add up to me

With that board installed, the driver is trying to do its best and not initializing 3D accelaration.

Unfortunately a FX5200 (at least) is required for DX9 compliance, which .net 2 uses, and MP is based on.

See if you can pick one up of ebay, have given one of these away in the past when upgrading system, so should not be expensive anyway, and as they are passively cooled, no worrys about having to replace a noisy fan.

 

[gxtracker]

With that board installed, the driver is trying to do its best and not initializing 3D accelaration.

Exactly. When the card is underpowered, it shuts off 3D functionality. Video cards have 2 different modes - 3D mode and 2D mode. You should see in event viewer that the driver cant enable 3D mode because the card is underpowered.

This is why the system becomes so smooth AND uses up so many CPU cycles - becuase now your CPU is taking on the tasks of rendering the GUI - which it shouldnt be doing.

 

[blaster200]

I thought that was what might be happening.

The part I dont understand is when underpowered and froced into 2D mode.. MP actually works perfect! the UI is ultra responsive and hardly using any CPU.

Is there any hack to dissable 3D acceleration and force all aps to use 2D only on the GFX card ? I tried 3d-analyze but that wouldn't do it.

I'll probably upgrade the card one day, but in the meantime MP does work, and very well for me when underpowered and forced into 2D mode.

It all seems like a lot of horsepower for moving a bar up and down.

 

[CHli]

each button, image, text is a texture which can be moved, rotated, etc. each of the texture can be rendered using some transparency. Of course everything could be moved in the space too. Yes it needs some horsepower, but a FX5200 isn't really more than a VW Beetle