#1 2014-06-28 22:08:21

RocketLauncher

Member

Registered: 2014-06-28

Posts: 2

[linux] Desmume slow with bumblebee/primus

I have a computer with a discrete graphics card, so in order to run programs using the GeForce 840M segment I have to prepend "primusrun" to the command that launches it.
Linux Mint 17, cinnamon edition, with the propietary nvidia driver loaded (331.38 in case it matters), launching desmume with "primusrun desmume" gives me an underwhelming speed 15-30 FPS on games that use 3D and 25-50 FPS on games that appear to not use any 3D.

My CPU is i7-4510U, so I doubt that's the problem.

I'm kinda lost here - any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

alvinhochun

Member

Registered: 2014-02-07

Posts: 61

Re: [linux] Desmume slow with bumblebee/primus

Well, DSM doesn't really use any OpenGL 3D operations, by default it uses a software rasterizer which means rendering runs on the CPU and the GPU doesn't matter. It *can* use OpenGL but I wouldn't bother with it.

The thing is, which version are you using and how did you compile it? On my gen 3 i5 I can even get 200fps on MKDS so your result really amuses me.

Update:

Refer to the wiki for compiling with optimization:
http://wiki.desmume.org/index.php?title … e_on_Linux
http://wiki.desmume.org/index.php?title … tion#Linux

You should compile from latest SVN and use the GTK+ frontend. It's probably the best.

Also, you'd probably want the CPU governor to be set at performance mode. I am not sure about Intel gen 4, but that's probably the mode which allows Intel Turbo Boost to reach maximum clock frequency. It should be set automatically, though you may want to make sure about that.

Last edited by alvinhochun (2014-06-29 06:05:34)

RocketLauncher

Member

Registered: 2014-06-28

Posts: 2

Re: [linux] Desmume slow with bumblebee/primus

Unbelievable. Compiling the SVN myself got me 100FPS.

And here I thought it nets around 10 extra FPS.

Yeah, I was using the desmume build available through synaptic.
Thanks a lot for pointing me in the right direction...

Last edited by RocketLauncher (2014-06-29 10:57:17)