So I was trying to get XBMC working and it appeared to get a black screen despite being a fresh install. A quick Google search showed that very few people had the same issue I had. Their cases were quite different as theirs revolved around unsupported hardware which was not my case. I tried re-downloading the installer in case of a corrupted download, searched for any old registry key residue, and did fresh reinstalls with different configurations to no avail.
Then I remembered I had LucidLogix Virtu MVP installed. This software comes with most non-budget motherboards. On the contrary, it came with my budget ASRock z77 Pro3 motherboard. The purpose of Virtu MVP is to intercept API calls and chooses which discrete Graphics Processor to pass these calls to. It takes advantage of the fact that despite most people using a dedicated Graphics Card, most Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors (aswell as the new Haswell processors) have a built in Graphics Processor on the CPU die. On the other hand this software is looked down upon in the benchmarking community since the software causes benchmarking tools to count frames that may not even be completely rendered--as a result measuring an inflated framerate count (subsequently inflated score).
LucidLogix Virtu MVP claims to:
Then I remembered I had LucidLogix Virtu MVP installed. This software comes with most non-budget motherboards. On the contrary, it came with my budget ASRock z77 Pro3 motherboard. The purpose of Virtu MVP is to intercept API calls and chooses which discrete Graphics Processor to pass these calls to. It takes advantage of the fact that despite most people using a dedicated Graphics Card, most Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors (aswell as the new Haswell processors) have a built in Graphics Processor on the CPU die. On the other hand this software is looked down upon in the benchmarking community since the software causes benchmarking tools to count frames that may not even be completely rendered--as a result measuring an inflated framerate count (subsequently inflated score).
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| Oh my did someone say more FPS??? |
LucidLogix Virtu MVP claims to:
- Improve Game Responsiveness up to 70%
- Increase V-Sync maximum frame rate from 60 to 120
- Sharpen Visual quality without tearing
For the most part the software has brought me nothing but headaches causing issues ranging from increased load times for software that utilize the discrete graphics processor (in my case a GTX 670), software not functioning properly (such as XBMC here), strange graphical glitches, and contains memory leaks (?)--recently I disabled MVP and noticed once or twice that its daemon memory usage accumulated to about ~650 megabytes...while it wasn't being used!
The software re-enables itself after restart so after disabling the software, lo-and-behold! XBMC works perfectly. Seriously I think motherboard manufacturers should just drop this LucidLogix stuff until they show some serious results and benefits.
*Edit: I will admit however that I do like LucidLogix Virtu MVP's virtual V-sync that prevents tearing. It definitely worked when I was playing Civilization V.
*Edit: I will admit however that I do like LucidLogix Virtu MVP's virtual V-sync that prevents tearing. It definitely worked when I was playing Civilization V.
