Why FOSS 3d performs so badly, compared to proprietary

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I just read a Phoronix article, which compared the FOSS radeon drivers a 5 years old FGLRX catalyst. As you would expect FGLRX was multiple times faster, even the feature set was not completely implemented.



The big question, not answered in the article, was why? I noticed FGLRX brings its own libGL, does Nvidia do this also? I know hardware registers are not always completely known, and yadda yadda... I still suspect that mesa is not a strong performer.



What needs to be done to reach remotely close to catalyst speed? What projects need collaboration? Which ones need to be completely ditched?










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    up vote
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    down vote

    favorite
    1












    I just read a Phoronix article, which compared the FOSS radeon drivers a 5 years old FGLRX catalyst. As you would expect FGLRX was multiple times faster, even the feature set was not completely implemented.



    The big question, not answered in the article, was why? I noticed FGLRX brings its own libGL, does Nvidia do this also? I know hardware registers are not always completely known, and yadda yadda... I still suspect that mesa is not a strong performer.



    What needs to be done to reach remotely close to catalyst speed? What projects need collaboration? Which ones need to be completely ditched?










    share|improve this question

























      up vote
      1
      down vote

      favorite
      1









      up vote
      1
      down vote

      favorite
      1






      1





      I just read a Phoronix article, which compared the FOSS radeon drivers a 5 years old FGLRX catalyst. As you would expect FGLRX was multiple times faster, even the feature set was not completely implemented.



      The big question, not answered in the article, was why? I noticed FGLRX brings its own libGL, does Nvidia do this also? I know hardware registers are not always completely known, and yadda yadda... I still suspect that mesa is not a strong performer.



      What needs to be done to reach remotely close to catalyst speed? What projects need collaboration? Which ones need to be completely ditched?










      share|improve this question















      I just read a Phoronix article, which compared the FOSS radeon drivers a 5 years old FGLRX catalyst. As you would expect FGLRX was multiple times faster, even the feature set was not completely implemented.



      The big question, not answered in the article, was why? I noticed FGLRX brings its own libGL, does Nvidia do this also? I know hardware registers are not always completely known, and yadda yadda... I still suspect that mesa is not a strong performer.



      What needs to be done to reach remotely close to catalyst speed? What projects need collaboration? Which ones need to be completely ditched?







      hardware performance opengl






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      edited 2 days ago









      Rui F Ribeiro

      38.2k1475123




      38.2k1475123










      asked Feb 4 '12 at 4:15









      J. M. Becker

      3,39111736




      3,39111736




















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          Well, I do not have inside information about either of the open source or proprietary projects but the answer is pretty simple from my point of view. FOSS video drivers are made by people in their free time on their specific hardware. Many times these programmers does not have the motivation, the hardware resources, the time, the knowledge or professionalism required to write so specific and difficult applications.



          I personally admire their effort to make open source video drivers and Nuvou come a long way for NVidia, but regardless of the manufacturer if the development is not directly supported with specifications, knowledge and money by the hardware makers I see no way something open-source can be better than the proprietary driver.



          A very positive and good example is Intel which contributes and supports the open-source drivers for their graphics chips, and it does in a way that proprietary drivers are not even made.






          share|improve this answer




















          • Do you know if the performance is equal, or very close, to the windows drivers?
            – J. M. Becker
            Feb 4 '12 at 21:31






          • 1




            I can speak only for what I have, an NVidia GeForce FX8600GT. The proprietary NVidia drivers have about the same performance both on Windows XP and Linux (Mandriva and Sabayon). The open-source drivers have huge performance difference, especially in 3D. In 2D I can see no noticeable difference, in 3D it's huge, the open source drivers being about half the speed of the proprietary one. In some cases the difference can be even an order of magnitude.
            – Patkos Csaba
            Feb 5 '12 at 11:36










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          1 Answer
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          1 Answer
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          up vote
          2
          down vote



          accepted










          Well, I do not have inside information about either of the open source or proprietary projects but the answer is pretty simple from my point of view. FOSS video drivers are made by people in their free time on their specific hardware. Many times these programmers does not have the motivation, the hardware resources, the time, the knowledge or professionalism required to write so specific and difficult applications.



          I personally admire their effort to make open source video drivers and Nuvou come a long way for NVidia, but regardless of the manufacturer if the development is not directly supported with specifications, knowledge and money by the hardware makers I see no way something open-source can be better than the proprietary driver.



          A very positive and good example is Intel which contributes and supports the open-source drivers for their graphics chips, and it does in a way that proprietary drivers are not even made.






          share|improve this answer




















          • Do you know if the performance is equal, or very close, to the windows drivers?
            – J. M. Becker
            Feb 4 '12 at 21:31






          • 1




            I can speak only for what I have, an NVidia GeForce FX8600GT. The proprietary NVidia drivers have about the same performance both on Windows XP and Linux (Mandriva and Sabayon). The open-source drivers have huge performance difference, especially in 3D. In 2D I can see no noticeable difference, in 3D it's huge, the open source drivers being about half the speed of the proprietary one. In some cases the difference can be even an order of magnitude.
            – Patkos Csaba
            Feb 5 '12 at 11:36














          up vote
          2
          down vote



          accepted










          Well, I do not have inside information about either of the open source or proprietary projects but the answer is pretty simple from my point of view. FOSS video drivers are made by people in their free time on their specific hardware. Many times these programmers does not have the motivation, the hardware resources, the time, the knowledge or professionalism required to write so specific and difficult applications.



          I personally admire their effort to make open source video drivers and Nuvou come a long way for NVidia, but regardless of the manufacturer if the development is not directly supported with specifications, knowledge and money by the hardware makers I see no way something open-source can be better than the proprietary driver.



          A very positive and good example is Intel which contributes and supports the open-source drivers for their graphics chips, and it does in a way that proprietary drivers are not even made.






          share|improve this answer




















          • Do you know if the performance is equal, or very close, to the windows drivers?
            – J. M. Becker
            Feb 4 '12 at 21:31






          • 1




            I can speak only for what I have, an NVidia GeForce FX8600GT. The proprietary NVidia drivers have about the same performance both on Windows XP and Linux (Mandriva and Sabayon). The open-source drivers have huge performance difference, especially in 3D. In 2D I can see no noticeable difference, in 3D it's huge, the open source drivers being about half the speed of the proprietary one. In some cases the difference can be even an order of magnitude.
            – Patkos Csaba
            Feb 5 '12 at 11:36












          up vote
          2
          down vote



          accepted







          up vote
          2
          down vote



          accepted






          Well, I do not have inside information about either of the open source or proprietary projects but the answer is pretty simple from my point of view. FOSS video drivers are made by people in their free time on their specific hardware. Many times these programmers does not have the motivation, the hardware resources, the time, the knowledge or professionalism required to write so specific and difficult applications.



          I personally admire their effort to make open source video drivers and Nuvou come a long way for NVidia, but regardless of the manufacturer if the development is not directly supported with specifications, knowledge and money by the hardware makers I see no way something open-source can be better than the proprietary driver.



          A very positive and good example is Intel which contributes and supports the open-source drivers for their graphics chips, and it does in a way that proprietary drivers are not even made.






          share|improve this answer












          Well, I do not have inside information about either of the open source or proprietary projects but the answer is pretty simple from my point of view. FOSS video drivers are made by people in their free time on their specific hardware. Many times these programmers does not have the motivation, the hardware resources, the time, the knowledge or professionalism required to write so specific and difficult applications.



          I personally admire their effort to make open source video drivers and Nuvou come a long way for NVidia, but regardless of the manufacturer if the development is not directly supported with specifications, knowledge and money by the hardware makers I see no way something open-source can be better than the proprietary driver.



          A very positive and good example is Intel which contributes and supports the open-source drivers for their graphics chips, and it does in a way that proprietary drivers are not even made.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Feb 4 '12 at 11:12









          Patkos Csaba

          2,03211214




          2,03211214











          • Do you know if the performance is equal, or very close, to the windows drivers?
            – J. M. Becker
            Feb 4 '12 at 21:31






          • 1




            I can speak only for what I have, an NVidia GeForce FX8600GT. The proprietary NVidia drivers have about the same performance both on Windows XP and Linux (Mandriva and Sabayon). The open-source drivers have huge performance difference, especially in 3D. In 2D I can see no noticeable difference, in 3D it's huge, the open source drivers being about half the speed of the proprietary one. In some cases the difference can be even an order of magnitude.
            – Patkos Csaba
            Feb 5 '12 at 11:36
















          • Do you know if the performance is equal, or very close, to the windows drivers?
            – J. M. Becker
            Feb 4 '12 at 21:31






          • 1




            I can speak only for what I have, an NVidia GeForce FX8600GT. The proprietary NVidia drivers have about the same performance both on Windows XP and Linux (Mandriva and Sabayon). The open-source drivers have huge performance difference, especially in 3D. In 2D I can see no noticeable difference, in 3D it's huge, the open source drivers being about half the speed of the proprietary one. In some cases the difference can be even an order of magnitude.
            – Patkos Csaba
            Feb 5 '12 at 11:36















          Do you know if the performance is equal, or very close, to the windows drivers?
          – J. M. Becker
          Feb 4 '12 at 21:31




          Do you know if the performance is equal, or very close, to the windows drivers?
          – J. M. Becker
          Feb 4 '12 at 21:31




          1




          1




          I can speak only for what I have, an NVidia GeForce FX8600GT. The proprietary NVidia drivers have about the same performance both on Windows XP and Linux (Mandriva and Sabayon). The open-source drivers have huge performance difference, especially in 3D. In 2D I can see no noticeable difference, in 3D it's huge, the open source drivers being about half the speed of the proprietary one. In some cases the difference can be even an order of magnitude.
          – Patkos Csaba
          Feb 5 '12 at 11:36




          I can speak only for what I have, an NVidia GeForce FX8600GT. The proprietary NVidia drivers have about the same performance both on Windows XP and Linux (Mandriva and Sabayon). The open-source drivers have huge performance difference, especially in 3D. In 2D I can see no noticeable difference, in 3D it's huge, the open source drivers being about half the speed of the proprietary one. In some cases the difference can be even an order of magnitude.
          – Patkos Csaba
          Feb 5 '12 at 11:36

















           

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