It is not fair to say certain desktop environment is faster than others only based on fgl_glxgears’s output. There are many more factors than, just having some FPS gain in an opengl tool to consider a desktop environment over others. One more fact to consider, a distro which has say e.g. twm as default window manager might have more benefits (ease of use, performance) than running on Ubuntu. Following results reflect the output on my hardware, and might be different on yours even on similar setup.
Few years back, I was even unable to boot without using acpi off. When catalyst drivers started working on this hardware, it started to become better every time. With this new release the performance was even better. I was eager, how each desktop environment take advantage of this, so I wrote this article.
Note: Go to end to know the final list.
Operating System: Ubuntu 12.04.1 Kernel Version: 3.2.0-36 Catalyst Version: 13.1 Architecture: x86_64 Graphics card: Radeon HD 6470M, Intel HD 3000 (though this test is done on Radeon HD) OpenGL Version: 4.2.12002 Compatibility Profile Context 9.012 RAM: 4 GB Desktop Resolution: 1366x768 fgl_glxgears: 600x600 (It is default, no resize or maximize).
Note: On each environment I will list the output of first 5 results. There will be two such results (each 5) with following commands simultaneously.
$ fgl_glxgears Using GLX_SGIX_pbuffer $ fgl_glxgears -fbo Using GL_EXT_framebuffer_object
Cinnamon 3D
3294 frames in 5.0 seconds = 658.800 FPS 3835 frames in 5.0 seconds = 767.000 FPS 3742 frames in 5.0 seconds = 748.400 FPS 3770 frames in 5.0 seconds = 754.000 FPS 3756 frames in 5.0 seconds = 751.200 FPS
Cinnamon 3D (fbo)
3545 frames in 5.0 seconds = 709.000 FPS 4017 frames in 5.0 seconds = 803.400 FPS 4019 frames in 5.0 seconds = 803.800 FPS 4012 frames in 5.0 seconds = 802.400 FPS 4016 frames in 5.0 seconds = 803.200 FPS
Cinnamon 2D
1229 frames in 5.0 seconds = 245.800 FPS 1081 frames in 5.0 seconds = 216.200 FPS 1050 frames in 5.0 seconds = 210.000 FPS 1085 frames in 5.0 seconds = 217.000 FPS 1075 frames in 5.0 seconds = 215.000 FPS
Cinnamon 2D (fbo)
1458 frames in 5.0 seconds = 291.600 FPS 1530 frames in 5.0 seconds = 306.000 FPS 1568 frames in 5.0 seconds = 313.600 FPS 1552 frames in 5.0 seconds = 310.400 FPS 1466 frames in 5.0 seconds = 293.200 FPS
Gnome
3122 frames in 5.0 seconds = 624.400 FPS 4017 frames in 5.0 seconds = 803.400 FPS 3770 frames in 5.0 seconds = 754.000 FPS 3774 frames in 5.0 seconds = 754.800 FPS 3783 frames in 5.0 seconds = 756.600 FPS
Gnome (fbo)
3641 frames in 5.0 seconds = 728.200 FPS 4029 frames in 5.0 seconds = 805.800 FPS 4321 frames in 5.0 seconds = 864.200 FPS 4047 frames in 5.0 seconds = 809.400 FPS 4053 frames in 5.0 seconds = 810.600 FPS
Gnome Classic (with effect)
3578 frames in 5.0 seconds = 715.600 FPS 3948 frames in 5.0 seconds = 789.600 FPS 4002 frames in 5.0 seconds = 800.400 FPS 3961 frames in 5.0 seconds = 792.200 FPS 3919 frames in 5.0 seconds = 783.800 FPS
Gnome Classic (with effect fbo)
4070 frames in 5.0 seconds = 814.000 FPS 4541 frames in 5.0 seconds = 908.200 FPS 4518 frames in 5.0 seconds = 903.600 FPS 4559 frames in 5.0 seconds = 911.800 FPS 4530 frames in 5.0 seconds = 906.000 FPS
Gnome Classic (without effect)
3977 frames in 5.0 seconds = 795.400 FPS 4612 frames in 5.0 seconds = 922.400 FPS 4744 frames in 5.0 seconds = 948.800 FPS 4634 frames in 5.0 seconds = 926.800 FPS 4734 frames in 5.0 seconds = 946.800 FPS
Gnome Classic (without effect fbo)
4790 frames in 5.0 seconds = 958.000 FPS 5606 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1121.200 FPS 5593 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1118.600 FPS 5588 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1117.600 FPS 5596 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1119.200 FPS
KDE Plasma Workspace
3606 frames in 5.0 seconds = 721.200 FPS 3844 frames in 5.0 seconds = 768.800 FPS 3829 frames in 5.0 seconds = 765.800 FPS 3798 frames in 5.0 seconds = 759.600 FPS 3807 frames in 5.0 seconds = 761.400 FPS
KDE Plasma Workspace (fbo)
3413 frames in 5.0 seconds = 682.600 FPS 4413 frames in 5.0 seconds = 882.600 FPS 4515 frames in 5.0 seconds = 903.000 FPS 4445 frames in 5.0 seconds = 889.000 FPS 4377 frames in 5.0 seconds = 875.400 FPS
OpenBox
3793 frames in 5.0 seconds = 758.600 FPS 4682 frames in 5.0 seconds = 936.400 FPS 4666 frames in 5.0 seconds = 933.200 FPS 4630 frames in 5.0 seconds = 926.000 FPS 4772 frames in 5.0 seconds = 954.400 FPS
OpenBox (fbo)
5334 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1066.800 FPS 5609 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1121.800 FPS 5614 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1122.800 FPS 5613 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1122.600 FPS 5611 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1122.200 FPS
TWM
3223 frames in 5.0 seconds = 644.600 FPS 4963 frames in 5.0 seconds = 992.600 FPS 4941 frames in 5.0 seconds = 988.200 FPS 4806 frames in 5.0 seconds = 961.200 FPS 4849 frames in 5.0 seconds = 969.800 FPS
TWM (fbo)
3807 frames in 5.0 seconds = 761.400 FPS 5629 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1125.800 FPS 5623 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1124.600 FPS 5637 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1127.400 FPS 5635 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1127.000 FPS
Ubuntu Unity
3782 frames in 5.0 seconds = 756.400 FPS 3892 frames in 5.0 seconds = 778.400 FPS 3958 frames in 5.0 seconds = 791.600 FPS 4032 frames in 5.0 seconds = 806.400 FPS 4011 frames in 5.0 seconds = 802.200 FPS
Ubuntu Unity (fbo)
4183 frames in 5.0 seconds = 836.600 FPS 4507 frames in 5.0 seconds = 901.400 FPS 4606 frames in 5.0 seconds = 921.200 FPS 4501 frames in 5.0 seconds = 900.200 FPS 4489 frames in 5.0 seconds = 897.800 FPS
Ubuntu (Unity 2D)
1024 frames in 5.0 seconds = 204.800 FPS 1374 frames in 5.0 seconds = 274.800 FPS 1376 frames in 5.0 seconds = 275.200 FPS 1375 frames in 5.0 seconds = 275.000 FPS 1386 frames in 5.0 seconds = 277.200 FPS
Ubuntu (Unity 2D fbo)
907 frames in 5.0 seconds = 181.400 FPS 1086 frames in 5.0 seconds = 217.200 FPS 1102 frames in 5.0 seconds = 220.400 FPS 1120 frames in 5.0 seconds = 224.000 FPS 1071 frames in 5.0 seconds = 214.200 FPS
Here is the total of each section
Cinnamon 3D: 3679.4 Cinnamon 3D (fbo): 3921.8 Cinnamon 2D: 1104 Cinnamon 2D (fbo): 1514.8 Gnome: 3693.2 Gnome (fbo): 4018.2 Gnome Classic (with effect): 3881.6 Gnome Classic (with effect fbo): 4443.6 Gnome Classic (without effect): 4540.2 Gnome Classic (without effect fbo): 5434.6 KDE Plasma Workspace: 3776.8 KDE Plasma Workspace (fbo): 4232.6 OpenBox: 4508.6 OpenBox (fbo): 5556.2 TWM: 4556.4 TWM (fbo): 5266.2 Ubuntu Unity: 3935 Ubuntu Unity (fbo): 4457.2 Ubuntu (Unity 2D): 1307 Ubuntu (Unity 2D fbo): 1057.2
I found openbox on ubuntu to be buggy, because it was trying to load many gnome applications at start, and crashed all of them. Without those gnome packages surely, the bugs would go away. Openbox and TWM does not seem like modern desktop, that everyone could use. Omitting those two results here is the list in terms of most FPS.
Gnome Classic (without effect fbo): 5434.6 Gnome Classic (without effect): 4540.2 Ubuntu Unity (fbo): 4457.2 Gnome Classic (with effect fbo): 4443.6 KDE Plasma Workspace (fbo): 4232.6 Gnome (fbo): 4018.2 Ubuntu Unity: 3935 Cinnamon 3D (fbo): 3921.8 Gnome Classic (with effect): 3881.6 KDE Plasma Workspace: 3776.8 Gnome: 3693.2 Cinnamon 3D: 3679.4 Cinnamon 2D (fbo): 1514.8 Ubuntu (Unity 2D): 1307 Cinnamon 2D: 1104 Ubuntu (Unity 2D fbo): 1057.2
Note: Sorry I could not review KDE (repository in my country is broken), and all tests were done without enabling anything special e.g vsync etc.
Conclusion: As I said earlier, there are many other things determining the efficiency of a desktop system. For the same reason, I had to omit the results of TWM and OpenBox. Graphics card I use is not the newest one either. I expected overall result to be similar, though I think Gnome desktop had to be higher on the list. Since its ubuntu and not fedora, that seems fair too. It would be great to know results of you guys, if the ratio (considering graphics card) changes largely or even the list gets altered in your test.
You didn’t test KDE. What an absolute waste of time that was.
Agreed. It was the one with the highest performance in many tests Phoronix did a while ago, and right now it’s the only full desktop environment where I can run TF2 PROPERLY.
Use a mirror from another country and run the test bro.
Fixed. I had to test different repositories, purge some kde backports. Thanks for the response.
TF2 runs like a champ under E17 for me…
might I ask what the fbo switch does?
I don’t much about fbo (may be frame buffer object). The frame buffer object architecture (FBO) is an extension to OpenGL for doing flexible off-screen rendering, including rendering to a texture – wikipedia
After disabling vsync on kde following was the result without fbo
4004 frames in 5.0 seconds = 800.800 FPS
4821 frames in 5.0 seconds = 964.200 FPS
4747 frames in 5.0 seconds = 949.400 FPS
4785 frames in 5.0 seconds = 957.000 FPS
4802 frames in 5.0 seconds = 960.400 FPS