Poor Minecraft Performance

[shovenose]

So, I built a Linux machine specifically for one purpose: Minecraft.
And quite frankly it's a total fail.

Specs:
-Dell Optiplex 755
-Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz CPU
-4GB DRR2 (4x1GB)
-160GB SATA HDD
-Ati Radeon HD 4350 1GB PCI-express
-Ubuntu 11.10 64-bit
-1280x1024 19" LCD

Now, my problem is that I get piss-poor performance on Minecraft...
it's jumpy and slow even though when I press F3 it says I'm getting 80 FPS...

WHY? Thanks

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

Damn dude, I honestly have no idea why wouldn't run well. It sounds like a pretty prime little Minecraft box. Are you running 64-bit Java?

Even if you weren't though.... there is no reason for it to run like shit.

[shovenose]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

How do I check if I'm running 64-bit Java?
I assume I am as I don't get the "you should use 64-bit Java" message when I set it to Far render distance; I get that message on my other computer which unfortunately is only Windows 32-bit...

FWIW, my other computer, while the FPS number is lower, the game runs a lot smoother, has the following specs:
-AMD Athlon 62 X2 7550 Dual Core CPU (forgot the speed, 2.5GHz maybe?)
-3GB DDR2
-160GB Seagate SATA
-GeForce something-or-other PCI-express graphics card, I think 256MB but I don't remember exactly)
-Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit

Anyway, that computer is annoying because it's a bit laggy and Minecraft crashes at least once ever 30 minutes with an out of memory error which is EXTREMELY annoying...

Basically there are two main reasons I constructed the Dell Minecraft computer
1. So I can play on it when I'm at home to get better FPS
2. When I have a friend over they can play on it. Currently I have people use my Lenovo laptop but it's only got Intel graphics so it struggles a bit on Far render distance... and I hate Normal, Short, and Tiny...


So yeah any other ideas?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

How much swap file?

[shovenose]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

IDK... but it says I'm using 0.0% of the swap file.

[ratdude747]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

J A V A

(nuff said)

[shovenose]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

J A V A

(nuff said)

Um... what exactly is that supposed to mean?
Sure, Java is generally not very efficient, but that's irrelevant.
I can't change the fact that Minecraft is coded in Java and I'm not going to stop playing Minecraft,
so please either help me get my computer running properly or GTFO.
Thanks

[digge]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

Just curious, what kind of graphic driver are you using for that card. And is DMA enabled for your SATA drive?

To check if dma is enabled

hdparm -d /dev/hda

To enable dma

hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda

ofc you have to replace /dev/hda with whatever your drive might be called.

[shadow]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

J A V A

(nuff said)

By the way. Java does not equate to poor performance. It is perfectly possible to create an application which performs pretty well in Java.

[ratdude747]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

My guess may be that linux doesn't run java the best...I know from experience that it can be a big lagging on a bad day.

has the rig been run with windows in the past?

[shovenose]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

My guess may be that linux doesn't run java the best...I know from experience that it can be a big lagging on a bad day.

has the rig been run with windows in the past?

Yup, it's had Windows 7 on it (well, with a different hard drive) and it worked great. I wanted to use Ubuntu because I'm sick of having to avoid Windows Update...(you can infer why yourself).
I'm goign to try enabling DMA later when I have time.

[ratdude747]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

Yup, it's had Windows 7 on it (well, with a different hard drive) and it worked great. I wanted to use Ubuntu because I'm sick of having to avoid Windows Update...(you can infer why yourself).
I'm goign to try enabling DMA later when I have time.

you just answered your question.

just use xp home. xp home COAs are easy to find and ones off old cases will work with sp2 and older discs... I do it all the time...

[toastygoodness]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

enable DMA. if you don't want to use linux you can use xp. otherwise, ubuntu is a bit slow in general. i would make sure you have the updated radeon drivers and that you're using a faster java implementation. sometimes openjdk doesn't implement some stuff well, since oracle's not too kind with specs. you could try installing the oracle JVM and seeing how that works out.

otherwise, i'd take RD's suggestion and just do xp home.

[brethin]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

CPU Core speed will effect Minecraft more than anything (multicores are pointless if you are lowering the clock speed for more cores). FPS in the second machine is slower because the video card is not as good as the one in the first machine. Smoothness is better on the second machine because its Core speed is higher than the first.

[Scenic]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

There are mods for better minecraft performance on low-end PCs, but this sounds more like a graphics problem or something, as you said the game shows 80fps in the status menu, yet the end result you see on the screen lags like crap.

I'd suspect graphics problems (no or buggy GPU acceleration or something?!)

Oh and yeah.. the main mod I've been using to get it to run at 20-30fps on my netbook (instead of ~5-10fps) is OptiFine

[Mad_Professor]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

check to see if vsync is enabled in the ati control panel or in minecraft.

[Agent24]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

ATi video card + Linux = headache

Pretty sure you'll need the fglrx drivers for an HD4000 series card, if there are any open source drivers they'll probably suck, performance-wise.

[ratdude747]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

(non-legacy) ATi video card + Linux = headache

fixed. legacy ones work ootb w/ fast 3d like a charm and are really nice...

[Agent24]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

Tell that to my Radeon 9600XT and Ubuntu.

Stupid thing refuses to enable 3D unless it thinks there's a TV connected to the S-Video port...

[ratdude747]

Re: Poor Minecraft Performance

odd.. never had issues with my x1300...