# Ensuring video card GPU is being used



## PacketMan (Apr 26, 2015)

Good day everyone.  So in one of the GNOME3 discussions you saw that I could just not get GNOME3 running on the factory integrated video 'card'. So I bought a Zotac (NVIDEA based) GEFORCE GT640 which has on-board GPU.

My question is how do I verify that the video card is actually doing the 'hard work' and not the motherboard CPU? And if its not, how do I make it?

When I watch videos my CPU goes very high (90%), and the video surges. By surging I mean this the video plays fast and then slow, fast and then slow. In one video for example it looks like I am walking then running, when I am not.

My kids are starting to enjoy the things I have been able to do using FreeBSD, and I would say even appreciate its flexabiity.  So of course they want to play a "tank game". An online version works fine but of course it seems to 'surge' a bit and the CPU is around 90%. Eventually I might to find and install a network based tank game, but that's another day, and another item.

I just want to ensure I maximize the utilization of the resources on this machine, including offloading the video work (I think some of you call that rendering) to the video card.

Where would be a good place for me to start reading? And if it matters, for this particular machine it is currently using the m-HDMI connector, but DVI and VGA should be included in any configuration guides.

Thanks again for your support.


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## tetragir (Apr 27, 2015)

Hi,
Assuming it is a desktop, not a notebook, you have to connect the display to the video card's HDMI (or other), instead of the motherboard.
Besides that, a few BIOSes lets you disable or enable the on-board graphical chip.


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## protocelt (Apr 27, 2015)

Install the x11/nvidia-settings port. It will tell you what card you are currently using, GLX information and more.


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## PacketMan (Apr 27, 2015)

protocelt said:


> Install the x11/nvidia-settings port. It will tell you what card you are currently using, GLX information and more.



Sorry I did that but don't see much. System/Details shows me GeForce GT 640/PCIe/SSE2 which it did before.  When I installed the port my only option was debug support which I didn't enable. I don't see any other options or view points to investigate.  I'll keep picking at this but of course all tips are welcomed and appreciated.

I checked my bios settings and 'primary video card' is set to PCI, and not PCI-E.  Might try changing that, but not tonight. My family wants to enjoy this machine I have set up.


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## PacketMan (Apr 28, 2015)

Should I be reading up on VDPAU, and also is there any kind of `top` commands to fetch video card usage info?


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## kpa (Apr 28, 2015)

PacketMan said:


> Sorry I did that but don't see much. System/Details shows me GeForce GT 640/PCIe/SSE2 which it did before.  When I installed the port my only option was debug support which I didn't enable. I don't see any other options or view points to investigate.  I'll keep picking at this but of course all tips are welcomed and appreciated.
> 
> I checked my bios settings and 'primary video card' is set to PCI, and not PCI-E.  Might try changing that, but not tonight. My family wants to enjoy this machine I have set up.



The primary video card selection in the BIOS is only for selecting which card is used for outputting the initial BIOS greeting and other BIOS related output such as the setup menu, it has no bearing on what the OS later decides to use as the primary video card.


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## protocelt (Apr 28, 2015)

I've generally found that true however I'm not sure that is true 100% of the time. I have a 10 year old HP Pavilion Pentium D PC I'm using as a file server now that runs headless(doesn't get much use). No OS I've installed will output a display signal on it unless the correct PCI(e) slot with installed card is selected in the BIOS as primary, even after the OS loads. This holds true even after the OS is configured. It is of course possible that the BIOS is somehow faulty on this machine or the board is non-standard but I wouldn't know.


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## kpa (Apr 28, 2015)

The video driver can query the BIOS and see which card was used for booting and select that as the primary display which is what everyone expects unless there are custom settings in effect.

Edit: That actually contradicts what I wrote above. I meant that the BIOS setting is merely for BIOS itself. The OS can do whatever it wishes but usually does the right thing (tm) by using the BIOS setting as a hint.


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## PacketMan (May 10, 2015)

I am still wondering how do I ensure my video card is doing all the processing it can do, at least when compared to other OSs.  If I am watching a video, or playing a video game (either installed, or via browser), and that video can be processed by the video card, how do I ensure that it is actually being processed by the video card GPU and not the motherboard CPU.

Thanks again,
P.M.


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## Criosphinx (May 10, 2015)

Just like protocelt said nvidia-settings shows GPU and Video Engine use:







Playing a video with mpv you can see if hardware decoding and vdpau are enabled:






The vdpau option is off by default, maybe you need to change that if the videos are not playing right.


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## PacketMan (May 11, 2015)

Righto, thanks. Somehow I had missed that. will review. Thanks again.


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