Poor OpenGL Performance with Newer Drivers, half Clockspeeds with HD 615.

[KBunn]

Drivers newer than 25.20.100.6373(Windows x64) result in poor OpenGL performance and half Clockspeeds. So in 26.20.100.7870 instead of the theoretical max of 898mhz for this system, it's maxing 449mhz in all OpenGL applications i've used. And the in-app performance/framerates does reflect the reduction in clockspeeds.

Problem is, i need the newer drivers as they fix problems with Vulkan.

The newer drivers generally perform worse in everything i've tested with the exception of Vulkan applications.

OpenGL applications are running at half clock speeds, and DirectX applications are getting a noticeable reduction in performance too.

Are there any custom, or middle ground drivers that have the performance of the older drivers, especially in OpenGL, while keeping the vulkan stability and fixes of newer drivers? Or is there a way to pick and choose what i want from different driver packs? For example, i want most of the stuff from 6373's, but i want the vulkan driver support from 7870.

PS, 1 notable change with the 6373's being the better performers, is they were the last non-DCH drivers. At least that i know of.

Edit:

And update, this is apparently a bug with Portrait oriented landscape displays. So an LCD that is portrait by default turned Landscape. And still only found in the newer DCH drivers.

[Gh0stb1t]

Are the OpenGL apps fully updated? Maybe they need to be updated or rebuilt to work with the new DCH drivers and standards, I saw another thread where that was the issue...

As for custom drivers, you should get them from your system manufacturer either laptop or motherboard (Asus, dell, lenovo, MSI, etc...). Intel only offers generic drivers...

[KBunn]

Some of the applications are pretty new and up to date, Emulators. But some are pretty old, retro even, such as some older games. But that doesn't really change the fact that any and all OpenGL programs i throw at it, runs with the gpu at half of the maximum clockspeeds.

OpenGL will cap at 449mhz, where DirectX and Vulkan will go to 898mhz. Though it'll only hit 898mhz for a split second, it usually caps at 848mhz. Still ~twice as fast as what it's getting with the DCH drivers. Older drivers however, OpenGL will go up to the 898mhz max and 848mhz sustained speeds.

This seems to be pretty consistent too with other Intel HD chips with newer drivers. Where the DCH drivers will perform considerably worse in most applications or under specific APIs. It gets brought up in the r/lowendgaming subreddit from time to time, and the usual suggested advice, is to downgrade to older drivers, specifically the 25.20.100.6373. Except for Vulkan related performance issues, since the latest drivers do vulkan pretty well.

As for the system manufacturer releasing such drivers, they're pretty small. Which is why i was asking here.

[KBunn]

And update and reply, this is apparently a bug with Portrait oriented landscape displays. So an LCD that is portrait by default turned Landscape. And still only found in the newer DCH drivers.

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello KBunn

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

In order to check this behavior further, could you please provide the following information?

1- Where are you seeing or monitoring the "clock speeds"? Please provide details and screenshots.

2- Are you using and/or developing your own OpenGL* apps or are they from third-party developers? Could you please provide a list of the affected OpenGL apps?

3- What are the "Intel® HD Chips" that also show this behavior? Could you please provide a list of the Processor models that you have identified?

4- What do you mean by "poor performance" (besides the difference in the clock speed)? How is this affecting? Could you please provide a video showing the behavior?

5- Please provide details of the configuration you have and if possible, please provide some pictures or a diagram, for instance:

• How are the displays connected (type of cables, video ports, adapters, number of displays, clone or extended mode):
• Displays brand and models:
• Additional devices:

6- DxDiag* report from the affected system following these steps:

• In the keyboard, press WinLogo key + R.
• In the Run box please type dxdiag and hit Enter.
• Click on Save All Information.
• Open the report.
• Use the option "save all information" to save the .TXT file.
• Attach the report .TXT file to this thread. 

7- Please provide a Report for Intel® Graphics Drivers following the steps on the below link:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005848/graphics-drivers.html

Note: If using Intel® Graphics Command Center, please launch the application and refer to Support tab at the left side >> System Diagnostic >> click on Generate Report.

To attach a file, you must click the “Attach” option on the bottom left-hand corner of the response box.

Regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[KBunn]

1- Clock speeds are monitored in Intel XTU. They'll spike over the half way point for a split second, but settle at the half way point (449mhz), where if i'm using older drivers, the clock speeds will go to where they normally would(848mhz). In order to provide screenshots i'd just be taking screenshots of framerates and clock speeds on 6373 and 7870 drivers individually. If that's what you really want, i can do so.

2- Third party apps, and games. The scope is quite broad as this affects every user with this device(GPD Win2) using the newer drivers. So It includes modern games like Doom, retro games, Nox- the Android enviroment for windows. I'm hesitant to mention the emulators, since most support staff will use that as an excuse to dismiss the bug as a whole. But i'll do so anyways, It affects emulators such as Citra and Cemu, PPSSPP, and others. Since emulators frequently use OpenGL and can easily show when performance decreases from driver to driver. Not to mention this device, has emulation potential as one of it's major selling points.

3- Right now, it's the m3-7y30 with the Intel HD 615, and the clock speed drop has been reported to me to be specifically with portrait displays used in landscape mode. so a 720x1280 "phone" or "tablet" display, rotated right into landscape mode to show as "1280x720"

4- It's exactly what it sounds like. Lower framerates using newer drivers. On 6373, a game might get 30 frames per second, and on 7870 it'll get low 20s. So it's not just that clockspeeds are lower, it's that framerates in games and emulators are suffering because of this. Games and software that were previously playable, no longer are.

5- It's a "laptop." 720x1280 60hz portrait display, internally connected. Set to Landscape mode in Windows 10, from 720x1280 to a Standard 16:9 1280x720p

6- You can see in the dx diag how it's a 720x1280 display.

7- I attached the DxDiag, and code snipped the other stuff.

Report Date: Tuesday, 10 March 2020 Report Time [hh:mm:ss]: 06:57:57 PM Operating System: NA Language: en-US Physical Memory: NA Current Resolution: 1280x720   Processor: NA Processor Speed: 1608 MHz MHz GFX Driver Name: Intel(R) HD Graphics 615 Shader Version: 5.1 OpenCL* Version: 2.1 * Microsoft DirectX* * Runtime Version: 12 Hardware-Supported Version: 12 Vulkan* Version: 1.2.131 Vendor ID: 8086 Device ID: 591E Device Revision: 02 GFX Driver Version: 26.20.100.7870 GFX Vulcan: 1.2.131 GFX GOP: 9.0.1067   * Devices connected to the Graphics Accelerator *   Active Displays: 1   * Digital Display 1 *   Display Name: Built-In Display Display Type: Digital Serial Number: - DDC2 Protocol: Supported Gamma: 2.2 Connector Type: Built-In Display   Maximum Image Size Horizontal - 5.12 inches Vertical - 3.15 inches   Supported Modes 720 x 1280 (60p Hz)   Power Management Support -   Raw EDID: 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF 00 32 8D 37 39 F7 45 00 00 0E 1C 01 03 80 0D 08 78 0A 0D C9 A0 57 47 98 27 12 48 4C 00 00 00 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 AC 19 D0 78 20 00 18 50 32 14 84 00 A0 5A 00 00 00 1E 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 56   * Other names and brands are the property of their respective owners.

Additional notes, my device is set to a high TDP, 13 watts in Intel XTU, so it's not power limit throttling, and i have sufficient cooling so it's not thermal throttling.

Vulkan on the 7870 drivers runs great, where it's very crashy and unstable on the 6373 drivers, forcing a lot of people to upgrade to take advantage of programs that use vulkan. But if we want to go back to games or emulators that use OpenGL, we end up having to downgrade. Which can be a 5-15 minute process, depending on if Windows wants to play nice or if it wants to sneak in a driver install after the 7870 uninstall but before 6373 install.

If you really want screenshots, you'd just be getting screenshots of the numbers i'd be giving you, cropped for sensitivity reasons. But i'll do it if you really want.

PS AndrewG_Intel I still need your help. Never mind the unhelpful replies below.

[AlHill]

Well, you can uninstall XTU, because it does not support your processor. XTU only supports X and K processors.

Uninstall it, and reset your bios to defaults.

Doc

[KBunn]

I have no idea where you got that from, but there is so much wrong with what you just said i'm not sure where to start..

So i'll just start with this.. The CPU does support XTU for reporting and power limiting, but not overclocking. The bios supports XTU, for the same reasons.

Having active reporting of our temps, cpu/gpu usage, and clock speeds tells us how demanding a game/app is, and if we can lower the TDP, or if we need to raise it for optimal performance. Since we don't get optimal performance until around 12Watt, but our default is 7watt.

We can undervolt our CPUs and iGPUs to reduce temps as well as lower the TDP to intentionally Power Limit Throttle, thus considerably extending battery life. Some games such as Stardew Valley and other Indie games can run on as low as 3.75w.

As for resetting my bios, you have no clue what kind of hardware i have. I don't use a stock heatsink/fan. Resetting my bios would change the fan curve drastically causing the fan to spin up and down between 0% and 100% as it bounces between 59 and 60c. IE i have a custom fan curve. I have other settings necessary for lower temps on the SSD. Resetting my bios would reset my undervolt, needlessly increasing power consumption and temps.

Before you tell people to just "Uninstall it, and reset your bios to defaults." Maybe stop and consider all the reasons a person might have to use Intel XTU and as for their bios... Just don't. You don't know if a person's bios was tuned/set by an experienced person, or what the default settings would even do to someone's PC. It may even stop their PC from booting if the default bios profile deselects the actual boot drive as one of the actual boot devices.

[AlHill]

"I have no idea where you got that from"

From the XTU download page - you should read it.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24075

Your processor is simply NOT SUPPORTED.

You do not understand that XTU is not supported on your processor - plain and simple. Any settings you have made are questionable and unreliable.

And, stop playing games and provide the manufacturer and model of your laptop.

Clean up your test platform and provide some reliable, supported data.

Doc

[KBunn]

You are 100% right. I'm sorry.

The Manufacturer is GPD and the model is Win2 IGG Edition. It's a GPD Win2.

You are 100% right about Intel XTU not supporting my CPU. I thank you, and i no longer need your assistance Al.Hill. Thank you and good bye.

[AlHill]

Glad to help.

Doc