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I have an intel 3770 i7 with build in HD 4000 which I intend to use as my primary video card for 3d editing. The problem is that I can't set it up correctly.

  1. First of all I've made a clean install of ubuntu(created bootable usb). But it didn't recognized available resolutions for my display(max was 1024x768) so I had to add them manually (using xrandr command)(It may be caused by using tv as a display instead of actual pc monitor, i don't know)

  2. Then I installed and started using my editing software - Blender (from blender.org). It was rendering my scenes fast and clean, but 3d editing view-port was really sluggish and blender crashed a lot(especially after turning on VBO or GLSL).

  3. Then I noticed that in system info my gpu is "unknown" so I started searching for solution and end up updating kernel to 3.7(i believe) which made my keyboard and mouse unresponsive, so I started all over again

  4. I've installed Windows 7x64 to test blender there (its my brand new pc, so I wasn't sure it was ubuntu's issue)

  5. In windows everything worked as expected, no sluggish unresponsive view-port and relatively fast final rendering

  6. I've installed ubuntu again (this time I used wubi(windows easy install)) and screen resolutions detected automatically (but again, I was using pc monitor this time, so it might not be relevant)

  7. But blender view-port was still sluggish and my system info still showed "unknown" graphics card

  8. I've installed mesa and this time my card was displaying correctly in system info, but problems in Blender view-port remained.

  9. I've reported Blender bug and they told me that I should use native driver, and that mesa is to buggy for my purposes.

  10. I found out that I already have intel driver installed in my software center so I've removed it and installed it again(hoping they will overwrite mesa)

Q: how to remove mesa, how to install native driver for intel HD 4000 and make blender's view-port responsive, and fix crashes

Here's the link to answer form blender developers http://projects.blender.org/tracker/?func=detail&atid=231&aid=33478&group_id=9

I'll be glad to provide any additional info. I'd really like to use ubuntu instead of windows, because it renders my scenes up to 30% faster

Thank you

Asus p8h77-v le, intel 3770, 8gb 1866 ram, intel hd 4000, intel ssd 520 series, Ubuntu 12.10 amd64

3 Answers 3

1

Wow, well the answer I would give is to either use another video card or wait for 13.04 which will come with better support for the Intel 4000 HD series found in the Ivy Bridge CPUs. The support for the HD 4000 is not final yet in 12.10, it only got up to HD 3000 and still there were last minute changes that were needed to be included in the kernel. In kernel versions 3.7 and 3.8, all of this changes will be included, as well as several improvements for Mesa in regards to Intel HD in general.

For each individual point:

  1. Yes. It is because of the TV. Same happened to me. It really depends on the TV and the "real" resolutions it can handle. For example I have a someview 32' that says to support 1920x1080, but if I use that resolution it looks horrible. If I use a lower one like 1680x1050 it looks many times better and smoother.

  2. Related to drivers and support for Intel HD 4000. Intel is working hard on having full support for the HD 4000 Series (And the 3000 since it is missing a couple of things) as well as much MUCH better support in Mesa for OpenGL in Intel HD.

  3. Bad move with the upgrade of the kernel. Typically they are made for a specific version of Ubuntu since it needs a lot of testing to get everything right. Your solution was he right one at the end.

  4. and This is because the drivers for the HD 4000 Series do exists for Windows. Intel is actually working on proper support for Linux.

  5. Same as 4.

  6. Ok ^^.

  7. Same as 2.

  8. Same as 2.

  9. Same as 2

  10. Won't do much. It will have the same performance.

You happen to have a very high end (latest model) of literally everything. I would recommend getting an Nvidia card while you wait for 13.04 or test the pre-alpha version.

For the Blender comments, when they mention "native", they mean for example, the proprietary drivers for Nvidia/Ati, or a fully supported Intel video card. Right now, the latest 2 series, the HD 3000 and 4000 are not yet fully supported but will be in the upcoming 13.04.

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  • There are no guarantees that "full" support will be in 13.04. It may be better than in 12.10, or it might be the same. And I wouldn't recommend an Nvidia card. I installed my Nvidia 9500GT with both Noveau and proprietary drivers in my i7 3770S system, so I could have working dual-head, but it was quite crashy. So I have removed it and am back to the HD4000 internal graphics, with one display. As for blender, I don't really use it, but just opening it right now seems to be ok for me. Not sluggish at all in main interface.
    – dobey
    Dec 12, 2012 at 1:10
  • @dobey - Yes, "full" support may not get in 13.04, but this is still at least 3 months time. Intel has very good support now that even Valve thinks is good for their game support. There are many updates that got send to the 3.7 Kernel and many others that will arrive with the 3.8 which will be used in 13.04 because of big pushes like Valve and much work from Intel. I already tested X with a 3000 and I can see improvement. Don't have a 4000 but the 3000 is much better. For the 9500 GT I also happen to have one and the performance using the 310 is much smoother even using blender ppa. Dec 12, 2012 at 3:29
  • @LuisAlvarado-TheWolverine - thank you for quick and detailed reply. As a newcomer to linux I was confused by all the things people were suggesting to deal with this issue. Now its its clear. Yes, Im thinking about buying a nvidia or ati video card Dec 12, 2012 at 9:49
  • @dobey - thank you, I'll look into forums before buying a new gpu, I thought nvidia was a good choice but now I'll do my homework before buying. As for blender sluggishness - its quick in default basic scene. But if you subdivide a cube 7 times (TAB for edit mode, then W for specials, then subdivide, then exit edit mode with TAB again), and duplicate it 9 times (shift+D to duplicate, and G to grab and move away) - you'll get a scene with ~1m polygons (which is close to scenes I'm working on) - and then you'll notice how slowly it selects objects by pressing (RMB) Dec 12, 2012 at 9:57
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Is blender sluggish on both modes ? Fullscreen and semi ? Please try it and let me know. I assume (but I'm not sure) that something is going on with the global menu integration of Unity and Blender. At my installation Blender is sluggish only at fullscreen mode.

As for the card , I have a suggestion. Try this please => How can I enable the SNA acceleration method for Intel cards, under Ubuntu 12.04 - 12.10? and tell me if you see any difference.

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  • Yes, its sluggish in both modes, windowed and full screen (alt+F11). I've tested on 2.64a. As for enabling SNA, everything goes well, except for when I type 'cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i sna' it shows nothing in terminal output, and in xorg.0.log sna isn't mentioned. And no changes in blender as well Dec 12, 2012 at 10:25
  • So is a problem different of mine. Of course I have not HD 4000 but 3000 instead. If nothing mentioned in xorg.0.log , then probably is not enabled (the SNA I mean). It was a try. OK. I've tested 3 versions of Blender on 2 different versions of Ubuntu and all had the same problem . Sluggish at fullscreen and no problem at windowed. (at my installation).
    – NickTux
    Dec 12, 2012 at 10:53
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You can find the latest Intel Graphics drivers here: https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads

I couldn't try them because my new PC with Intel Core i7 3770 has not arrived.

You can also try the latest Ubuntu 13.04 Daily Build: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/

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