I have a laptop with NVIDIA Geforce MX230 paired with Intel 8th gen / iGPU UHD 620. It runs Zorin 17 that is based on Ubuntu 22.04
I managed to install NVIDIA proprietary driver v550.
I can offload rendering by setting env with __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia
In nvidia-smi i see that the GPU is being used when a program like glxgears or glmark2 is run with this env.
The problem is that the performance is worse with NVIDIA when compared with the iGPU both in light gaming (iconoclasts) or with synthetic benchmark.
Below is the output of glmark2.
luiz@luiz-VivoBook:~$ __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia glmark2
=======================================================
glmark2 2021.02
=======================================================
OpenGL Information
GL_VENDOR: NVIDIA Corporation
GL_RENDERER: NVIDIA GeForce MX230/PCIe/SSE2
GL_VERSION: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 550.120
=======================================================
[build] use-vbo=false: FPS: 455 FrameTime: 2.198 ms
[build] use-vbo=true: FPS: 503 FrameTime: 1.988 ms
[texture] texture-filter=nearest: FPS: 439 FrameTime: 2.278 ms
[texture] texture-filter=linear: FPS: 378 FrameTime: 2.646 ms
[texture] texture-filter=mipmap: FPS: 347 FrameTime: 2.882 ms
[shading] shading=gouraud: FPS: 221 FrameTime: 4.525 ms
[shading] shading=blinn-phong-inf: FPS: 271 FrameTime: 3.690 ms
[shading] shading=phong: FPS: 267 FrameTime: 3.745 ms
[shading] shading=cel: FPS: 274 FrameTime: 3.650 ms
[bump] bump-render=high-poly:^[ FPS: 238 FrameTime: 4.202 ms
=======================================================
glmark2 Score: 339
=======================================================
luiz@luiz-VivoBook:~$ glmark2
=======================================================
glmark2 2021.02
=======================================================
OpenGL Information
GL_VENDOR: Intel
GL_RENDERER: Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (WHL GT2)
GL_VERSION: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 23.2.1-1ubuntu3.1~22.04.3
=======================================================
[build] use-vbo=false: FPS: 819 FrameTime: 1.221 ms
[build] use-vbo=true: FPS: 1270 FrameTime: 0.787 ms
[texture] texture-filter=nearest: FPS: 1098 FrameTime: 0.911 ms
[texture] texture-filter=linear: FPS: 1104 FrameTime: 0.906 ms
[texture] texture-filter=mipmap: FPS: 1077 FrameTime: 0.929 ms
[shading] shading=gouraud: FPS: 1036 FrameTime: 0.965 ms
[shading] shading=blinn-phong-inf: FPS: 1057 FrameTime: 0.946 ms
[shading] shading=phong: FPS: 962 FrameTime: 1.040 ms
[shading] shading=cel: FPS: 983 FrameTime: 1.017 ms
=======================================================
glmark2 Score: 1045
=======================================================
nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (303.9 KB)
nvidia-smi output when running glmark2
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 550.120 Driver Version: 550.120 CUDA Version: 12.4 |
|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU Name Persistence-M | Bus-Id Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan Temp Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap | Memory-Usage | GPU-Util Compute M. |
| | | MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
| 0 NVIDIA GeForce MX230 Off | 00000000:02:00.0 Off | N/A |
| N/A 80C P0 N/A / ERR! | 13MiB / 2048MiB | 48% Default |
| | | N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes: |
| GPU GI CI PID Type Process name GPU Memory |
| ID ID Usage |
|=========================================================================================|
| 0 N/A N/A 1036 G /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg 10MiB |
| 0 N/A N/A 5734 G glmark2 1MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
rs277
3
One possible cause of lower than expected performance, may be thermal throttling.
During your glmark2 run, the GPU is showing 80C, which is close to or at the limit of
many cards, so clocks may be being reduced.
To check, while glmark2 is running, run nvidia-smi -q and check through the results.
1 Like
I ran with the laptop recently powered (case temperature low), although after running the benchmark gets hot fast.
Here are the smi output. The GPU temp is below the slowdown threshold and the glmark score remains poor: 454
==============NVSMI LOG==============
Timestamp : Wed Dec 25 16:33:05 2024
Driver Version : 550.120
CUDA Version : 12.4
Attached GPUs : 1
GPU 00000000:02:00.0
Product Name : NVIDIA GeForce MX230
Product Brand : GeForce
Product Architecture : Pascal
Display Mode : Disabled
Display Active : Disabled
Persistence Mode : Disabled
Addressing Mode : N/A
MIG Mode
Current : N/A
Pending : N/A
Accounting Mode : Disabled
Accounting Mode Buffer Size : 4000
Driver Model
Current : N/A
Pending : N/A
Serial Number : N/A
GPU UUID : GPU-9489ab69-d551-a9f4-3164-7f3bf80d3d81
Minor Number : 0
VBIOS Version : 86.08.2D.00.88
MultiGPU Board : No
Board ID : 0x200
Board Part Number : N/A
GPU Part Number : 1D11-625-A1
FRU Part Number : N/A
Module ID : 1
Inforom Version
Image Version : N/A
OEM Object : N/A
ECC Object : N/A
Power Management Object : N/A
Inforom BBX Object Flush
Latest Timestamp : N/A
Latest Duration : N/A
GPU Operation Mode
Current : N/A
Pending : N/A
GPU C2C Mode : N/A
GPU Virtualization Mode
Virtualization Mode : None
Host VGPU Mode : N/A
vGPU Heterogeneous Mode : N/A
GPU Reset Status
Reset Required : No
Drain and Reset Recommended : N/A
GSP Firmware Version : N/A
IBMNPU
Relaxed Ordering Mode : N/A
PCI
Bus : 0x02
Device : 0x00
Domain : 0x0000
Base Classcode : 0x3
Sub Classcode : 0x2
Device Id : 0x1D1110DE
Bus Id : 00000000:02:00.0
Sub System Id : 0x18511043
GPU Link Info
PCIe Generation
Max : 3
Current : 3
Device Current : 3
Device Max : 3
Host Max : 3
Link Width
Max : 4x
Current : 4x
Bridge Chip
Type : N/A
Firmware : N/A
Replays Since Reset : 0
Replay Number Rollovers : 0
Tx Throughput : 411200 KB/s
Rx Throughput : 1700 KB/s
Atomic Caps Inbound : N/A
Atomic Caps Outbound : N/A
Fan Speed : N/A
Performance State : P0
Clocks Event Reasons
Idle : Not Active
Applications Clocks Setting : Not Active
SW Power Cap : Not Active
HW Slowdown : Not Active
HW Thermal Slowdown : Not Active
HW Power Brake Slowdown : Not Active
Sync Boost : Not Active
SW Thermal Slowdown : Not Active
Display Clock Setting : Not Active
Sparse Operation Mode : N/A
FB Memory Usage
Total : 2048 MiB
Reserved : 54 MiB
Used : 14 MiB
Free : 1981 MiB
BAR1 Memory Usage
Total : 256 MiB
Used : 2 MiB
Free : 254 MiB
Conf Compute Protected Memory Usage
Total : 0 MiB
Used : 0 MiB
Free : 0 MiB
Compute Mode : Default
Utilization
Gpu : 28 %
Memory : 4 %
Encoder : N/A
Decoder : N/A
JPEG : N/A
OFA : N/A
Encoder Stats
Active Sessions : 0
Average FPS : 0
Average Latency : 0
FBC Stats
Active Sessions : 0
Average FPS : 0
Average Latency : 0
ECC Mode
Current : N/A
Pending : N/A
ECC Errors
Volatile
Single Bit
Device Memory : N/A
Register File : N/A
L1 Cache : N/A
L2 Cache : N/A
Texture Memory : N/A
Texture Shared : N/A
CBU : N/A
Total : N/A
Double Bit
Device Memory : N/A
Register File : N/A
L1 Cache : N/A
L2 Cache : N/A
Texture Memory : N/A
Texture Shared : N/A
CBU : N/A
Total : N/A
Aggregate
Single Bit
Device Memory : N/A
Register File : N/A
L1 Cache : N/A
L2 Cache : N/A
Texture Memory : N/A
Texture Shared : N/A
CBU : N/A
Total : N/A
Double Bit
Device Memory : N/A
Register File : N/A
L1 Cache : N/A
L2 Cache : N/A
Texture Memory : N/A
Texture Shared : N/A
CBU : N/A
Total : N/A
Retired Pages
Single Bit ECC : N/A
Double Bit ECC : N/A
Pending Page Blacklist : N/A
Remapped Rows : N/A
Temperature
GPU Current Temp : 70 C
GPU T.Limit Temp : N/A
GPU Shutdown Temp : 101 C
GPU Slowdown Temp : 96 C
GPU Max Operating Temp : N/A
GPU Target Temperature : 93 C
Memory Current Temp : N/A
Memory Max Operating Temp : N/A
GPU Power Readings
Power Draw : N/A
Current Power Limit : Unknown Error
Requested Power Limit : Unknown Error
Default Power Limit : 5001.00 W
Min Power Limit : 0.00 W
Max Power Limit : 5001.00 W
GPU Memory Power Readings
Power Draw : N/A
Module Power Readings
Power Draw : N/A
Current Power Limit : N/A
Requested Power Limit : N/A
Default Power Limit : N/A
Min Power Limit : N/A
Max Power Limit : N/A
Clocks
Graphics : 1746 MHz
SM : 1746 MHz
Memory : 3003 MHz
Video : 1569 MHz
Applications Clocks
Graphics : N/A
Memory : N/A
Default Applications Clocks
Graphics : N/A
Memory : N/A
Deferred Clocks
Memory : N/A
Max Clocks
Graphics : 1911 MHz
SM : 1911 MHz
Memory : 3004 MHz
Video : 1708 MHz
Max Customer Boost Clocks
Graphics : N/A
Clock Policy
Auto Boost : N/A
Auto Boost Default : N/A
Voltage
Graphics : N/A
Fabric
State : N/A
Status : N/A
CliqueId : N/A
ClusterUUID : N/A
Health
Bandwidth : N/A
Processes
GPU instance ID : N/A
Compute instance ID : N/A
Process ID : 1039
Type : G
Name : /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg
Used GPU Memory : 10 MiB
GPU instance ID : N/A
Compute instance ID : N/A
Process ID : 5843
Type : G
Name : glmark2
Used GPU Memory : 2 MiB
rs277
5
All looks OK there. I’m not sure what the answer is.
1 Like
(II) NVIDIA(G0): Validated MetaModes:
[ 9.668] (II) NVIDIA(G0): "NULL"
...
[ 9.840] (II) NVIDIA(G0): Setting mode "NULL"
I’ve found those lines in XOrg log indicating some misconfiguration.
Is there any relationship with the performance issue?