gpu vs cpu-only rendering performance NT8, after gpu driver updates

[valhallafutures]

Recently upgraded a GPU driver in order to accommodate forced Skype and Win IE upgrades. Running latest NT8 version. Win 7. This Matrox M Series has always been very reliable for 8 monitors, with about 16 charts in single NT8 workspace, each packed with custom indicators. Lightning fast, no mouse stickiness, no delays, no delays in window scaling, and not the slightest delay in global cross hair movements. (useless of course for 3D rendering and games) But the driver upgrade revealed that the previous settings used CPU only rendering, without any use of Win 7 advanced compositor rendering with Direct X graphics acceleration. The upgrade uses this compositor rendering, sharing the rendering load with the GPU. The performance with this sharing grinds to a halt. Whereas, the performance with CPU only is lightning fast. I'm wondering if anyone else out there has noticed this, and perhaps owns a newer technology in GPU that also allows turning off the Direct X render sharing and accelerator altogether, so as to test performance with CPU only. Thanks... Will

[NinjaTrader_PatrickG]

We have not tested your exact hardware/driver/software setup on our end, so we cannot be sure what specific part of your setup may be the root cause, but clearly it has to do with a recent change on your system. NinjaTrader 8 relies heavily on the GPU for chart rendering, so my first suspicion is the graphics card itself, or the recent updates to your drivers. If you updated to a beta version of the drivers, I would suggest instead using the latest non-beta version of the drivers or perhaps reverting to the drivers in use prior to these symptoms appearing.

Also, I would make sure that your PC is not automatically switching to any other graphics adapter you may have in your system. For example, if you have the Matrox M card and also some form of onboard graphics, perhaps the performance issues occur when running off of onboard graphics and not your discrete GPU.

Finally, I encourage any other forums users with relevant information to follow up here as well.

[valhallafutures]

thxs much for your reply, Patrick. My post was designed to focus on the issue of CPU vs GPU rendering, and so would like to continue that investigation a bit, for what might be gleaned from it. So, here's a couple of points regarding your added info.

First, The upgrade driver for the M9148 was not a beta, and for that card, is considered stable. It is NOT their later self-cooled Quad GPU for Win7/Win10. That newer card might indeed offer better results, but this one offers extremely reliable results to all other desktop software I use, including NT7, except for the new, forced Skype8 upgrade.

Second: This card offers two drivers. One driver takes advantage of Win 7 Advanced Compositor and DirectX Graphics. It is that driver that does not seem to offer adequate service for the newer NT8. But what continues to amaze me is the LIGHTNING fast response to all NT8 rendering and indicator calc's provided by the other driver, which does NOT offer access to Win 7 Advanced Compositor for Direct X. That driver only allows use of the GPU memory, and otherwise is a passive port without calls to the GPU for render sharing. It exclusively uses the CPU for all that. And when I say lightning fast, I mean I can load more than 2 dozen charts, each loaded with more than a dozen 3rd party apps each, and not experience any noticeable mouse 'stickiness' or windows adjustment hesitation, such as when adjusting vertical or horizontal zoom, or even with global cross-hairs, none whatsoever.

When discussing this facility with some others I know running NT8, whose better / later GPU technology accommodates GPU sharing, they cannot match these results against the driver I use that does not GPU-share. My conclusion from this rather limited test, is that, although NT8 may be designed to rely on GPU sharing, a decent speed of CPU-only processing seems to be offering a superior result. And if NT8's design INSISTED on GPU sharing, I presume this 2nd driver would NOT be working at all---or be showing the poorer results of the two being compared.

I'm fine with keeping it this way. And have moved the forced Skype8 upgrade to my laptop, as it would not work with the older, CPU-only driver. But by posting this situation, I was hoping to find someone with a newer GPU card that has the ability to disable Advanced Compositor & Direct X, if any out there, and see how their results of CPU-only render processing compared to mine.

[hurleydood]

Is there a configuration setting or command line parameter to disable hardware acceleration? Many apps have this option.

[NinjaTrader_PatrickG]

NinjaTrader does not have any ability to configure how your PC's hardware functions.