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Quartz Extreme not working?

AppleMatt

AppleMatt

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 17, 2003
1,787
33
UK
Hi all,

This has been bothering me for a few days, and a comment in another post prompted me to post this and get your thoughts...

I've got a 12" PowerBook, and although extreme check saying the display is accelerated, I don't think quartz extreme is working correctly, the reasons being...

- When I run the mouse over the dock, CPU usage shoots up to 100%
- I cannot use the dock, minimise windows etc without movies/DVD's stuttering.
- iTunes visual stutter when doing anything else, especially when the options dialogue box is up.
- You get the idea.

Any thoughts, people experiencing the same?

AppleMatt
 
That sure doesn't sound normal. I just got a 12" PowerBook a few days ago and it's running really nice, feels similar to my 733 PowerMac. And I'm still using the stock 256mb of RAM. Perhaps your drive is heavily fragmented? Try fixing permissions. If that doesn't work, try a complete defrag by backing up your Home folders and data and then wiping the drive and re-zeroing it. That's about all I can think of.
 
QE isnt Perfect yet. as of now, only some of the things are linked to the graphics card, such as anything with windows. I know for a fact the dock is still CPU bound. Maybe Panther will adress these?
 
Easy way to tell if QE is active

Is there a shadow under your mouse pointer?

This is only present if QE is running. If there is the shadow, then you have some other problem.

Try a complete re-install, and if that don't fix it.. send the baby back.

Dan.
 
Re: Easy way to tell if QE is active

Originally posted by danman
Is there a shadow under your mouse pointer?

This is only present if QE is running. If there is the shadow, then you have some other problem.

Try a complete re-install, and if that don't fix it.. send the baby back.

Dan.
Click to expand...

1.) see above Post
2.) Im sure its not a Defect, Both my Powermac and Powerbook G3 would CPU spike when it hovered over the dock. I hadly think a return would be appropriate.
 
OK So I've completely re-installed, updated and fixed permissions, and exactly the same problem, if it is a real issue.

So does everyone else have exactly the same things then, ie does everyones movies stutter when minimising etc.

Thanks for the help so far,

AppleMatt
 
Originally posted by AppleMatt
OK So I've completely re-installed, updated and fixed permissions, and exactly the same problem, if it is a real issue.

So does everyone else have exactly the same things then, ie does everyones movies stutter when minimising etc.

Thanks for the help so far,

AppleMatt
Click to expand...

Movies studder even on my Great Dual 867. As I said before, It may be coming, its just not here yet, i consulted 2 other friends, they also find the dock CPU bound.
 
yeah this is normal. even my dual 125 sky rockets when i go over the dock. i have found quartz extremem for the most part to be pretty pointless. probably has potentialbut other than that nothing has truly shocked me.

iJon
 
Want to see QE at work?

Open 3 or 4 terminal windows and set each to have a partially transparent background.

Start a Quicktime movie up and then drag all of the terminals on front of it so that you are watching it "through" the terminal windows. The CPU usage with QE should not be any higher than if the movie window was in front. It will be higher with QE turned off since the GPU won't be doing all of the transparency work any more.
 
as to the dock thing - turn off magnification and auto-hide. this should help a bit.

it is still pretty pathetic though that a simple mouse-over zaps the proc like that...
 
Ahh, that's OK then, it's not just me!

Hopefully Apple will stick a "new, improved" QE into Panther for us.

AppleMatt
 
Actually. . .

I've been having some in-between Quartz Extreme problems. DVD's play fine, QuickTime plays perfectly in the dock, holding shift while minimizing has never been more beautiful!

However, DVD's won't play in the dock (the Quartz Extreme feature I was most looking forward to :mad: :( ), iTunes stutters a bit when doing anything else graphics related (although I guess when you minimize something in front of it, that happens to any computer. . .), and the Menu Bar/Dock Menus aren't transparent when over a DVD or iTunes. . . FREAKY!:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
This is just commentary but I was wondering what everyone was thinkign about how they'll market Quartz in Panther considering it gets another major tweak like in Panther. I mean, first there was "Quartz" then "Quartz Extreme" what's next? "Super Quartz"? Seems cheesy. Though I'm sure the same marketing group was what came up with Airport Extreme.
 
Actually the name extreme fits perfect if you think about it. Both Quartz Extreme and the Airport Extreme were industry firsts and very far out compared to anything, they were extreme :eek: .

It will be nice when QE handles everything on the screen your graphics card can take so the UI feels much faster. I wish apple would do something about live resizing... It is really painful right now even on a 1ghz iMac. :(
 
I'm not convinced that all is well with your machine. I just did some (unscientific) tests on my first generation PowerBook G4. It is only 500MHz and has no support for QE. Nevertheless, I am running "top" in a semitransparent terminal window layered above a playing quicktime movie, and I can wiggle my mouse cursor around over the dock, which magnifies smoothly. The total CPU usage is 60-90% while I am moving the mouse, with Window Manager taking most of it, but everything works. The movie doesn't skip, and the dock is smooth. Something is not right with your machine. I wonder if there are cases where QE is actually a liability...
 
New Quartz name

Originally posted by CMillerERAU
This is just commentary but I was wondering what everyone was thinkign about how they'll market Quartz in Panther considering it gets another major tweak like in Panther. I mean, first there was "Quartz" then "Quartz Extreme" what's next?
Click to expand...

My guess is that they'll call it QE2 and allow you to book cruises on it. :D
 
Originally posted by CMillerERAU
This is just commentary but I was wondering what everyone was thinkign about how they'll market Quartz in Panther considering it gets another major tweak like in Panther. I mean, first there was "Quartz" then "Quartz Extreme" what's next? "Super Quartz"? Seems cheesy. Though I'm sure the same marketing group was what came up with Airport Extreme.
Click to expand...

Quartz Extreme II
 
My iMac has the exact same problem. I'm going to try to use "QuartzExtreme.dmg" to try and reset QE to fix it, but I doubt it will work since a reinstal didn't help.
 
The Quartz Extreme app is not meant to be system repair/modification tool. It has been used by Apple as a demo tool, to show the differences in CPU usage with QE on and off.

I really doubt it will "fix" anything.
 
Originally posted by Rower_CPU
The Quartz Extreme app is not meant to be system repair/modification tool. It has been used by Apple as a demo tool, to show the differences in CPU usage with QE on and off.

I really doubt it will "fix" anything.
Click to expand...

Yeah I never thought that it would fix anything. I just wanted to see if turning it off and on would do anything for it.

Just a little hope...

A guy can dream can't he?
 
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