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I have been running my machine without GPU for a while with decent results (no lag for a decent internet use, videos read smoothly and 2D gaming is OK).

But I decided to see what I could get with an actual GPU, and acquired a cheap Radeon 5450 low profile card from a local store, just to try it out.

After installing the open source drivers, I can see absolutely no difference performance-wise. Benchmarking tools showed results in the very low end, and games run with very bad performances, not anything near what such GPU should allow. Overall it all feels like the GPU isn't computing anything. This is a fresh install with no history of other drivers.

Is it something with the card (though I can read here it is supposedly supported https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver) or else ?

Configuration : CPU Intel® Pentium(R) CPU G2020 @ 2.90GHz × 2 RAM : 8Go OS : Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit GPU : Intel Radeon HD5450

OpenGL vendor string: X.Org OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on AMD CEDAR OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.4 OpenGL shading language version string: 1.20

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  • Please give us your full desktop computer configuration such as RAM, CPU, motherboard, chipset etc.
    – Abhijit Navale
    Dec 23, 2013 at 5:09
  • Configuration : CPU Intel® Pentium(R) CPU G2020 @ 2.90GHz × 2 RAM : 8Go OS : Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit GPU : Intel Radeon HD5450 OpenGL vendor string: X.Org OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on AMD CEDAR OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.4 OpenGL shading language version string: 1.20
    – SirNeirda
    Dec 23, 2013 at 5:18

3 Answers 3

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Remove the current drivers and run glxgears in the command-line for testing purposes and remember to write down the FPS info for comparison.

Install the official drivers for Linux (it supports your GPU model). Run glxgears again and compare your results with the previous test. If everything went smooth you should be having higher FPS now.

If this didn't worked, you can check the following thread: Can't install ATI proprietary drivers in 12.10

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  • The point was to make the open source drivers work. glxgears gives a constant output of 60FPS, with or without.
    – SirNeirda
    Dec 25, 2013 at 1:22
  • @SirNeirda the opensource driver will not give you any good performance execpt in desktop usage, the 3D performances will be between the worst and the not that bad.
    – Kiwy
    Dec 27, 2013 at 9:47
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Did you compare your new card with your onboard card to see what the difference in hardware should be?

To my knowledge, the Radeon 5450 isn't a great GPU nowadays. So your onboard graphics may actually be better, depending on the motherboards age.

I see your CPU is a tad old too, so remember the GPU can't do more than the CPU can tell it to do.

Hope this explains some of it.

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  • He never said what graphic card or circuit he had before, that got me suspicious at least. This sounds like the most reasonable solution.
    – Alvar
    Dec 29, 2013 at 12:31
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+50

There are newer versions of the Gallium driver, OpenGL and mesa that you could install.

Latest OpenGL is 3.1 but you are using 2.1. You have mesa 8, but the latest is 10.

These links may help :

http://handytutorial.com/install-gallium3d-drivers-in-ubuntu-12-04-12-10-using-ppa/

https://www.opengl.org/wiki/Getting_started

http://www.mesa3d.org/faq.html

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  • This is what I have done, and now I can see some real improvements. Thank you a lot !
    – SirNeirda
    Dec 30, 2013 at 1:44

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