Savage performance hit on some systems...

[John Peat]

I've create a simple Box2D/Canvas graphical demo/performance test with the latest node-webkit to test it out on a few systems (it also uses AUDIO, WebWorkers and some other stuff).

On newersystems (running XP or W7) the demo runs at close-to-the-same speeds it does on native Chrome on that same system.

On one of my test systems the performance just collapses tho - the different is MASSIVE and I'm wondering where I should start looking for the cause?

In native Chrome the demo runs at between 25 and 45 FPS (and 45 physics steps/sec) reasonably well.  In the packaged node-webkit form it runs well under 1fps/1step/sec - that's a pretty staggering drop in performance!  There are also rendering errors with the Canvas which may just be down to the sheer lack of performance or could relate to other things!?

The test system is an old Centrino Laptop - Dual Core but only 1.2Ghz and a SLOW low-power HDD - it's running XP (32Bit).

To check it wasn't a Chrome/Chromium issue I put the latest Chromium build on that laptop and it runs the demo at 25-45 FPS - same as Chrome (Public) does.

Any ideas why I'm seeing such a massive drop-off in the node-webkit version?

I wondered if it was down to GPU acceleration detection but the only options for Chromium seem to be to DISABLE GPU stuff, not to forcibly enable it (Chrome/Chromium are using the Intel GPU as far as I can tell)

TIA

[Roger WANG]

John Peat <john...@gmail.com> writes:

> I've create a simple Box2D/Canvas graphical demo/performance test with the
> latest node-webkit to test it out on a few systems (it also uses AUDIO,
> WebWorkers and some other stuff).
>
> On newersystems (running XP or W7) the demo runs at close-to-the-same
> speeds it does on native Chrome on that same system.
>
> On one of my test systems the performance just collapses tho - the
> different is MASSIVE and I'm wondering where I should start looking for the
> cause?
>
> In native Chrome the demo runs at between 25 and 45 FPS (and 45 physics
> steps/sec) reasonably well. In the packaged node-webkit form it runs well
> under 1fps/1step/sec - that's a pretty staggering drop in performance!
> There are also rendering errors with the Canvas which may just be down to
> the sheer lack of performance or could relate to other things!?

It seems to be canvas. To narrow it down Devtools might help.

> The test system is an old Centrino Laptop - Dual Core but only 1.2Ghz and a
> SLOW low-power HDD - it's running XP (32Bit).
>
> To check it wasn't a Chrome/Chromium issue I put the latest Chromium build
> on that laptop and it runs the demo at 25-45 FPS - same as Chrome (Public)
> does.
>
> Any ideas why I'm seeing such a massive drop-off in the node-webkit version?
>
> I wondered if it was down to GPU acceleration detection but the only
> options for Chromium seem to be to DISABLE GPU stuff, not to forcibly
> enable it (Chrome/Chromium are using the Intel GPU as far as I can
> tell)

It could be Gfx stuff. node-webkit is based on new versions of Chromium,
close to versions in the Dev channel. Did you try Dev channel Chromium?
And could you please provide the GFX driver version?

Disabling GPU acceleration might help on some hardware, because some
version of driver on some hardware doesn't play well with Chromium when
GPU acceleration is turned on. So the upstream has a GPU blacklist.
--
Roger WANG Intel Open Source Technology Center

[Trevor Linton]

Can you load up chrome://gpu-internals/ on the test machine with problems (within node-webkit) and copy/paste the results?

[John Peat]

This is the output of chrome://gpu-internals as given by the latest public download of Chromium on that system

Graphics Feature Status

Canvas: Software only. Hardware acceleration disabled.

Compositing: Hardware accelerated

3D CSS: Unavailable. Hardware acceleration unavailable

CSS Animation: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable

WebGL: Hardware accelerated

WebGL multisampling: Unavailable. Hardware acceleration unavailable

Flash 3D: Unavailable. Hardware acceleration unavailable

Flash Stage3D: Hardware accelerated

Texture Sharing: Hardware accelerated

Video Decode: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable

Video: Software only, hardware acceleration unavailable

Panel Fitting: Unavailable. Hardware acceleration disabled.

Problems Detected

Drivers older than 2009-01 on Windows are possibly unreliable.: 72979, 89802

Intel drivers older than 14.42.7.5294 on Windows XP are possibly unreliable.: 74212

Disable 3D (but not Stage3D) in Flash on XP: 134885

Enable panel fitting capability on ChromeOS only on IVB and SNB Graphics Controllers.

Hardware video decode is only supported in win7+.: 159458

Accelerated 2D canvas is unavailable: either disabled at the command line or not supported by the current system.

Panel fitting is unavailable, either disabled at the command line or not supported by the current system.

Version Information

Data exported 1/10/2013 8:26:26 PM

Chrome version 26.0.1379.0 (Developer Build 175838)

Operating system Windows NT 5.1 SP3

Software rendering list version 4.9

ANGLE revision 1641

2D graphics backend Skia

Performance Information

Graphics 0.0

Gaming 0.0

Overall 0.0

Driver Information

Initialization time 1320

Sandboxed false

GPU0 VENDOR = 0x8086, DEVICE= 0x27a2

Optimus false

AMD switchable false

Driver vendor Intel Corporation

Driver version 6.14.10.4926

Driver date 2-15-2008

Pixel shader version 2.0

Vertex shader version 0.0

Machine model

GL version

GL_VENDOR

GL_RENDERER

GL_VERSION

GL_EXTENSIONS

Diagnostics

0

b3DAccelerationEnabled true

b3DAccelerationExists true

bAGPEnabled true

bAGPExistenceValid true

bAGPExists false

bCanRenderWindow true

bDDAccelerationEnabled true

bDriverBeta false

bDriverDebug false

bDriverSigned false

bDriverSignedValid false

bNoHardware false

dwBpp 32

dwDDIVersion 9

dwHeight 800

dwRefreshRate 60

dwWHQLLevel 0

dwWidth 1280

iAdapter 0

lDriverSize 57344

lMiniVddSize 5854752

szAGPStatusEnglish Not Available

szAGPStatusLocalized Not Available

szChipType Intel(R) GMA 950

szD3DStatusEnglish Enabled

szD3DStatusLocalized Enabled

szDACType Internal

szDDIVersionEnglish 9 (or higher)

szDDIVersionLocalized 9 (or higher)

szDDStatusEnglish Enabled

szDDStatusLocalized Enabled

szDXVAModes

szDescription Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family

szDeviceId 0x27A2

szDeviceIdentifier {D7B78E66-64E2-11CF-B260-AB10A2C2CB35}

szDeviceName \\.\DISPLAY1

szDisplayMemoryEnglish 128.0 MB

szDisplayMemoryLocalized 128.0 MB

szDisplayModeEnglish 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)

szDisplayModeLocalized 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)

szDriverAttributes Final Retail

szDriverDateEnglish 2/15/2008 14:12:06

szDriverDateLocalized 15/02/2008 14:12:06

szDriverLanguageEnglish English

szDriverLanguageLocalized English

szDriverName igxprd32.dll

szDriverSignDate

szDriverVersion 6.14.0010.4926

szKeyDeviceID Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27A2&SUBSYS_30A1103C&REV_03

szKeyDeviceKey \REGISTRY\Machine\System\ControlSet001\Services\ialm\Device0

szManufacturer Intel Corporation

szMiniVdd igxpmp32.sys

szMiniVddDateEnglish 2/15/2008 14:12:06

szMiniVddDateLocalized 15/02/2008 14:12:06

szMonitorMaxRes 1600,1200

szMonitorName Plug and Play Monitor

szNotesEnglish No problems found.

 To test DirectDraw functionality, click the "Test DirectDraw" button above.

 To test Direct3D functionality, click the "Test Direct3D" button above.

szNotesLocalized No problems found.

 To test DirectDraw functionality, click the "Test DirectDraw" button above.

 To test Direct3D functionality, click the "Test Direct3D" button above.

szRegHelpText

szRevision

szRevisionId 0x0003

szSubSysId 0x30A1103C

szTestResultD3D7English Not run

szTestResultD3D7Localized Not run

szTestResultD3D8English Not run

szTestResultD3D8Localized Not run

szTestResultD3D9English Not run

szTestResultD3D9Localized Not run

szTestResultDDEnglish Not run

szTestResultDDLocalized Not run

szVdd n/a

szVendorId 0x8086

Log Messages

GpuProcessHostUIShim: GPU process crashed or exited.

That runs the demo at 25-45fps DESPITE claiming that canvas isn't accelerated - so the dropoff in performance with the node-webkit version probably isn't related to that aspect of it???

[John Peat]

From Control Panel/System/Device Manager - the driver version for the Intel GPU is 6.14.10.4926 (dated 15/2/2008)

[John Peat]

By way of an update, I've not gotten far in tracking this problem down.  It seems that when you are making the browser work hard (the main thread drawing canvas and a WebWorker thread running Box2D) the whole process is becoming CPU bound - the browser becomes unresponsive, the dev tools report nothing useful etc. etc.

It's hard to scale-back the demo to a useful degree but I'll keep tinkering.  I've tried node-webkit with some much less demanding stuff and it generally runs at near-the-same-speed as the page running in regular Chromium (even on this slow laptop).

Oh - I also disabled WebWorkers to see if it was a specific issue with the extra thread but that made no difference at all - although if I can make a 'less demanding' demo I'll try that again just in case it's a factor

[Roger]

In a private email you said the devtools is very slow. So I suggested
that you've hit the same issue as
https://github.com/rogerwang/node-webkit/issues/318 .

Does the workaround work on your side?

Roger

[John Peat]

Before I could hack around with the dev-tools, I noticed you'd released 0.4.0 so I downloaded that and ran a few tests.

The big performance is isn't only gone - it's actually now running a bit BETTER than stock/release Chromium!!

I'm guessing this is purely an issue relating to the release of Chromium you've used in each case - probably relating to GPU acceleration or other issues!?

Either way, node-webkit running BETTER than the latest Chromium (release) or even Chrome - is a great thing :)

Thanks for the help!