Ati Driver Problem

Ok when i type glxinfo i get this

OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON 9800 XT
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6473 (8.37.6)


So i know they are installed

but when i first get on my computer after start up and run glxgears i get around 20 fps

If i run a game that uses 3d acceleration (armagetron) it is REALLY slow

So ive found that if i run a game like chromium BSU that uses a little 3d but not much that i can then run glxgears at over 1000 fps and if i do a few games like that i can get it to run at over 2000fps and sometimes much higher

i just dont want to have to pay a bunch of games to build up to armageton or ppracer (when i get it)

i know this must sound very strange, i am new to linux (only a few weeks) so dumb down your answers as much as possible

Thanks ahead of time

ps not sure if this is a good place to post this question

I have ATI Radeon 9600 256MB. I've installed the drivers under opensuse 10.2 and later under 10.3. After installing the driver from repository or from the official ATI site I've run "SaX2 -r" which was written in the drivers' installation guide.
I don't know if this will solve your problem but everything works fine especially in oSUSE 10.2 and these are wine/cedega-to run windows games like Doom3/Dreamfall/Heroes5 etc. with opengl accel., native linux executables that are using opengl like epsxe and pSX as some games that come with the distro. I am a PS1 fan so I can say in epsxe 1.60 for linux with the XGL2 plugin with all of the pretty options enabled the emulated games are 57~60fps most of the time and I mean the ATI driver si fast for me.

the official ATI site I've run "SaX2 -r"
[/b]

I believe that command is for removing the installed driver "-r"; then if you read a little further on, use:
"aticonfig --initial"

At the 1st install it will come back with a recommended command that adds the path to store the output; then after that just use "aticonfig --initial" (at runlevel 3, in a terminal as root; "init 3"; login as root & issue the command. when it's done, type "exit"; login as user; type "startx").

BTW, there are a few 2-D ATI drivers available within the distro"
radeon ------->sax2 -r -m 0=radeon
radeonold ----->sax2 -r -m 0=radeonold
vesa ----------->sax2 -r -m 0=vesa

The radeonold has more utility IMHO; at least it doesn't scramble my 17" laptop display like the radeon driver does & the vesa driver is only worth using to recover from a crash. This statement is true for 10.3 thru rc1.

Have fun...

I believe that command is for removing the installed driver "-r"; then if you read a little further on, use:
"aticonfig --initial"

At the 1st install it will come back with a recommended command that adds the path to store the output; then after that just use "aticonfig --initial" (at runlevel 3, in a terminal as root; "init 3"; login as root & issue the command. when it's done, type "exit"; login as user; type "startx").

BTW, there are a few 2-D ATI drivers available within the distro"
radeon ------->sax2 -r -m 0=radeon
radeonold ----->sax2 -r -m 0=radeonold
vesa ----------->sax2 -r -m 0=vesa

The radeonold has more utility IMHO; at least it doesn't scramble my 17" laptop display like the radeon driver does & the vesa driver is only worth using to recover from a crash. This statement is true for 10.3 thru rc1.

Have fun...
[/b]

Belay that 1st part.

The 1st thing to do prior to starting to configure the ATI driver is backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf. I put mine in /home/jim/backup. Then if you ever get into trouble, just copy it back & overwrite. If you have already been messing with it, it's already overwritten; so, forget the backup.

Then after you have built the driver & go to runlevel 3,
do "aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
then do "sax2 -r" (-r Remove detection database and re-init the hardware database)

Here's the guide: http://en.opensuse.org/ATI#The_Hard_Way

When the ATI 10.3 repro is populated we can use: http://en.opensuse.org/ATI#The_Easy_Way

Have fun...