Jerky expose / dock?

[madonionrings]

Im not sure why, but expose and dashboard sometime function as if retarded. Sometimes its silky smooth, other-times it seems like it runs at half the frame rate. The same thing occurs with my dock. I can replicate the problem if I either continually call forth expose or dashboard over and over simply by clicking non-stop (using the mighty mouse, but will work with any method I'm sure). It seems like 30% of the time its slowed down. The problem is more apparent in expose when I display all windows more then the dashboard.

As for the dock, it seems to have the same issue when some other graphical element is occurring in the OS. For example if the graphical status/transfer percentage bar appears while I am transferring files from either my network or simply from one hard drive to another, the dock will become jerky at this time when it hides / unhides. Its as if it is running at half of the frame rate as well, similar jerky motion as the expose issue.

I'm not sure if these are actually problems or simply things which everyone experiences but I simply obsess about. I suppose it doesn't help that I work heavily in print / motion graphics / video. I tend to pick apart everything that is graphical and moves.

I wonder if these two issues are related in any way. Maybe there is a setting I can change? Maybe its just the huge monitor and the hardware can't keep up (find that hard to believe)? I just jumped on the mac boat this year for working and love it. However there lack of blue screens has made me OCD about their aesthetics. PLEASE HELP

2.66 mac pro
4 gig ram
x1900
30 Apple Cinema Display

 

[elmo151]

i don't have any of these problems in iMqc 24

 

[MRU]

Are you pressing SHIFT whilst accessing those features as that is not a bug, it's a feature (albeit one that I can't understand why they need it).

 

[madonionrings]

No, I am simply just activating the animation over and over. I purchased my mac from someone and have since run out of warranty. I know that he put the x1900 in after purchasing the computer, but everything else is the same aside from the hard drives.

I really hope there is some sort of solution and I didn't buy an expensive lemon.

 

[madonionrings]

As it turns out, there is a solution! I forgot to mention before that I am driving dual monitors. One 30 inch from apple and one 19 from lg. After unplugging the 19 inch, everything is constantly silky smooth!

Im not sure what exactly is causing this, but I am glad I found some sort of solution as I rarely use the 19 for more then itunes or watching a movie as I work. I would like to think that this is a software related problem. Ill keep my fingers crossed.

Anyone else running two screens have this experience?

 

[dogbait]

The X1900 sees a massive drop in performance when driving more than 2560x1600 pixels. Add another display and things becomes increasingly jerky as the resolution of the second display increases.

trixter was kind enough to post some benchmarks of the performance of an 8800GT vs the X1900 XT:
http://img73.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bild1zq6.png

As you can see the X1900's performance drops massively as the resolutions go up.

Interestingly enough the Geforce 6800 series had the same problem when it hit 1600x1200. I can't remember the reasons for it, but there was a thorough article into the issue at TheTechReport.