I have compiled a version of pov-ray with gcc 3.1, optimized for pentium 3 
cpus. I have also applied a small patch which potentially increases 
performance. If you want to try it out, you can get it from

http://www.povworld.org/povray/povray.bz2

I have not had time to do too much testing but it should be quite a bit 
faster than the official binary. Please someone test against windows binary.

- Micha

-- 
http://objects.povworld.org - the POV-Ray Objects Collection

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Micha Riser wrote:
> I have compiled a version of pov-ray with gcc 3.1, optimized for pentium 3 
> cpus. I have also applied a small patch which potentially increases 
> performance. If you want to try it out, you can get it from
> 
> http://www.povworld.org/povray/povray.bz2
> 
> I have not had time to do too much testing but it should be quite a bit 
> faster than the official binary. Please someone test against windows binary.
> 
> - Micha
> 

Bless you Micha! This worked like a charm. Comparison rendering times of
the balcony.pov sample scene are as follows:

Windows prebuilt binary = 505s
Linux prebuilt binary = 785s
Micha's p3 optimized binary = 444s

I'll do some more thorough testing with other scenes such as the
benchmark.pov one later today.

I don't have gcc 3.1 yet. Would the small patch you applied help
performance in a gcc 2.96 compiled version?

-Roz

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Roz wrote:
> 
> Windows prebuilt binary = 505s
> Linux prebuilt binary = 785s
> Micha's p3 optimized binary = 444s

Great! What CPU do you have btw?

> 
> I don't have gcc 3.1 yet. Would the small patch you applied help
> performance in a gcc 2.96 compiled version?
> 

Yeah, it is an algorithmic change and therefore compile independant. I'll 
post details later. It's is national holiday here in Switzerland today...

- Micha

-- 
http://objects.povworld.org - the POV-Ray Objects Collection

Post a reply to this message

Micha Riser wrote:

> I have compiled a version of pov-ray with gcc 3.1, optimized for pentium 3
> cpus. I have also applied a small patch which potentially increases
> performance. If you want to try it out, you can get it from

Wow! That's great, Micha!

-- 
light_source{0#macro L(K,H,W)sphere{H.5}sphere{K.5}sphere{W.5}cylinder{
H,K.5}cylinder{H,W.5}#end 3}union{L(0v*-2<2,-2>)L(y*-3z-v*5z*3-y)L(-y*3
0u*3)L(y*-3v*-5-z,z*-3-y)rotate-v*clock pigment{rgb.5}translate<0,2,9>}
// +KFF200 +KF720 +W120 +H90 -F -A -GA -P

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Thanks for it
File : orient.pov
parameters : +w800 +h600 -f +a +dgt +v
Linux Mandrake 8.2 Kernel 2.4.18
Windows 2000 Pro
It is also optimized for my Duron !
AMD Duron 700 Mhz 512 Mo Memory


Official binary :        262 seconds
Optimized version :      121 seconds
Windows version :        121 seconds


But the optimised version does not work with soft.pov
I get an error


Fabien HENON



> I have compiled a version of pov-ray with gcc 3.1, optimized for pentium 3
> cpus. I have also applied a small patch which potentially increases
> performance. If you want to try it out, you can get it from
>
> http://www.povworld.org/povray/povray.bz2
>
> I have not had time to do too much testing but it should be quite a bit
> faster than the official binary. Please someone test against windows binary.
>
> - Micha
>
> --
> http://objects.povworld.org - the POV-Ray Objects Collection

Post a reply to this message

> Thanks for it
> File : orient.pov
> parameters : +w800 +h600 -f +a +dgt +v
> Linux Mandrake 8.2 Kernel 2.4.18
> Windows 2000 Pro
> It is also optimized for my Duron !
> AMD Duron 700 Mhz 512 Mo Memory
> 
> 
> Official binary :        262 seconds
> Optimized version :      121 seconds
> Windows version :        121 seconds
> 
> 
> But the optimised version does not work with soft.pov
> I get an error
> 
> 
> Fabien HENON
> 

> 
> 
>>I have compiled a version of pov-ray with gcc 3.1, optimized for pentium 3
>>cpus. I have also applied a small patch which potentially increases
>>performance. If you want to try it out, you can get it from
>>
>>http://www.povworld.org/povray/povray.bz2
>>
>>I have not had time to do too much testing but it should be quite a bit
>>faster than the official binary. Please someone test against windows binary.
>>
>>- Micha
>>
>>--
>>http://objects.povworld.org - the POV-Ray Objects Collection
> 
>

Post a reply to this message

I'll look into adding easier support for various optimizations to the
build, as well as multiple binaries with different optimizations.
Building from source will probably remain the best way to get better
performance.  For something like POV-Ray (CPU-intensive, fairly low build
time), that's probably reasonable.

-Mark Gordon

On Thu, 01 Aug 2002 12:46:28 -0400, Micha Riser wrote:


> I have compiled a version of pov-ray with gcc 3.1, optimized for pentium
> 3 cpus. I have also applied a small patch which potentially increases
> performance. If you want to try it out, you can get it from
> 
> http://www.povworld.org/povray/povray.bz2
> 
> I have not had time to do too much testing but it should be quite a bit
> faster than the official binary. Please someone test against windows
> binary.
> 
> - Micha

Post a reply to this message

> Thanks for it
> File : orient.pov
> parameters : +w800 +h600 -f +a +dgt +v
> Linux Mandrake 8.2 Kernel 2.4.18
> Windows 2000 Pro
> It is also optimized for my Duron !
> AMD Duron 700 Mhz 512 Mo Memory
> 

Nice to hear.

> 
> But the optimised version does not work with soft.pov
> I get an error
> 

Works fine here with soft.pov. This is probably because amd duron does not 
support 'SSE' instruction what pentium 3 does. (Athlon XP does it). I can 
try to make a version for amd duron as well - though if I don't have such a 
processor I cannot test it..

- Micha

-- 
http://objects.povworld.org - the POV-Ray Objects Collection

Post a reply to this message

Micha Riser wrote:
> Roz wrote:
> 
>>Windows prebuilt binary = 505s
>>Linux prebuilt binary = 785s
>>Micha's p3 optimized binary = 444s
> 
> 
> Great! What CPU do you have btw?
> 

It's an AMD Athlon XP 1900+ with 512meg DDR RAM.

I ran benchmark.pov through its paces and these are the rendering times:

Windows prebuilt binary = 25m 48s (1548s)
Linux prebuilt binary = 55m 40s (3340s)
Micha's p3 optimized binary = 25m 14s (1514s)

Not bad :)

>>I don't have gcc 3.1 yet. Would the small patch you applied help
>>performance in a gcc 2.96 compiled version?
>>
> 
> 
> Yeah, it is an algorithmic change and therefore compile independant. I'll 
> post details later. It's is national holiday here in Switzerland today...
> 
> - Micha
> 

Happy Holiday and thanks for posting the p3 optimized binary :)

-Roz

Post a reply to this message

On Thu, 01 Aug 2002 12:46:28 -0400, Micha Riser wrote:


> I have compiled a version of pov-ray with gcc 3.1

Hmm... I found a gcc 3.2 in rawhide.  Maybe I should give that a whirl...

-Mark Gordon

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