The nv driver from CentOS is very slow, firefox 3 is almost unusable. Xorg spikes the CPU up and the fan is going crazy. The driver from nvidia speed it up significantly. Here is how to install.
1.
sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-96.43.07-pkg1.run
2. add Option "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf to fix the black screen problem, looks like (note the line option "NvAGP "1" enables suspend and hibernate, with agpart it does not wake up correctly)
Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP"
Option "NvAGP" "1"
EndSection
If you get an error like below, you can blacklist agpgart or in newer kernel pass
agp=off in the kernel parameter.
Kernel: NVRM: not using NVAGP, an AGPGART backend is loaded!
$cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status
Status: Disabled
There is a performance difference when NvAGP is enabled (glxgears -info):
Option "NvAGP" "0"
6991 frames in 5.1 seconds = 1382.975 FPS
Option "NvAGP" "1"
9940 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1987.856 FPS
options nvidia NVreg_EnableAGPFW=1 NVreg_EnableAGPSBA=1 in modprobe.conf (breaks suspend to ram)
28095 frames in 5.0 seconds = 5618.965 FPS
Finally, cpu load is much lower, would not spike as before (even idling). The load average was 0.3 even when idling.
$ uptime
09:36:32 up 35 min, 3 users, load average: 0.00, 0.02, 0.07
Also download the driver from
Nvidia and
ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Here is a
FAQ for Inspiron 8200.
Below is the complete working xorg.conf
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder57) Wed Jul 2 12:30:48 PDT 2008
# Xorg configuration created by pyxf86config
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Synaptics" "CorePointer"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
Option "LeftEdge" "120"
Option "RightEdge" "830"
Option "TopEdge" "120"
Option "BottomEdge" "650"
Option "FingerLow" "14"
Option "FingerHigh" "15"
Option "MaxTapMove" "110"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "20"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "20"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.3"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.75"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
HorizSync 30.0 - 110.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 150.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP"
Option "NvAGP" "1"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection