Intel Bringing Async Page Flipping To Older Graphics Hardware

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Intel Bringing Async Page Flipping To Older Graphics Hardware

With Linux 5.11 the Intel Linux graphics driver is bringing async page-flipping for Gen9/Skylake and newer. However, patches pending for a future release (potentially 5.12) would extend that performance benefiting feature now all the way back to the Ironlake days...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Intel-Async-Flip-Since-Ironlake

[kneekoo]

Very nice. Hopefully they'll do more for their older iGPUs, considering how badly they've managed this department. I still won't forgive them for throwing the towel on Poulsbo, but I hope for a miracle - which is irrational, but whatever. I just can't hope for much from Intel in the long run. Their last 5 years have been a huge letdown, so I don't even dare to expect much from them in the next 5 years.

[treba]

I'm having some troubles understanding when this actually happens, especially considering system compositors. Does this safe us one blit whenever an app is unredirected (on X11) and/or directly presented via page flip (Wayland compositors)? And does it only work for the primary plane or also for overlay planes?

If it works for common page flips, then it's probably quite a big deal - avoiding a whole blit when watching i.g. a videos on 4k AFAIK translates into lower power consumption, no?

[milkylainen]

Flippin' A! Literally.

[Guest]

Very nice. Hopefully they'll do more for their older iGPUs, considering how badly they've managed this department. I still won't forgive them for throwing the towel on Poulsbo, but I hope for a miracle - which is irrational, but whatever. I just can't hope for much from Intel in the long run. Their last 5 years have been a huge letdown, so I don't even dare to expect much from them in the next 5 years.

Poulsbo has a PowerVR GPU.......Intel has no control over whether they can have open source GPU drivers for that. Go complain to Imagination Tech.

[kneekoo]

I don't know what their contract stipulated about who has what rights and responsibilities (is there public knowledge about such details?), but Intel are at least morally responsible for never making it a decent iGPU although making money off of it under the Atom package/brand.