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I am running Ubuntu 12.10 on a Sony VAIO E14 laptop. I have a AMD switchable GPU Radeon HD 7600M / Intel HD 4000 card. The AMD Catalyst 13.4 driver is installed:

On integrated (IGPU):


display: :0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile 
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 9.0.3

On discreet (DGPU):


display: :0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: AMD Radeon HD 7600M Series
OpenGL version string: 4.2.12217 Compatibility Profile Context 9.012

When using graphics heavy applications or games, the IGPU outperforms the Radeon GPU easily. The driver recognizes the card correctly, but somehow it does not deliver the maximal potential of the card.

For example for benchmarking purposes, using default settings in Team Fortress 2, the DGPU has a unbearably low framerate (about 8-14 fps) while the IGPU easily gets double of that, using the same settings. I have reached the extent of my knowledge as to what to try. Anyone experience something similar? Is there a better way to benchmark the GPUs short of installing Windows? Any settings I could give a try?


Running glxgears also shows strange behavior.

IGPU (seems normal):


302 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.328 FPS



13048 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2609.597 FPS

I am fairly certain my card cannot do 2600+ FPS! :)

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1 Answer 1

GLX gears isn't an accurate way of benchmarking. See: http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Glxgears_is_not_a_Benchmark

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