Frame Rate Drop with the KDE SVN version

[cartrite]

I've been thinking about the future of modeling Mars, one of my pet projects. It seems to coming to a halt. I've compared the frame rate I get with the model 3dMars I make publicly available at my web sites with 1.5.1 and the latest SVN r4309. Running 1.5.1 with the Linux KDE version I get about 50 to 55 fps using the model 3DMars ver6. Running r4309 using the same configuration I get 18 to 22 fps. My experimental models have dropped below 10 fps.
If this is the sign of things to come, I'll have to come up with a different way of doing things or give it up altogether. I'm not sure what extra resources are being used that causes this frame rate drop but it doesn't look good.

I wonder what frame rates others are getting using the svn version with 7xxx or 6xxx cards?
I can start Celestia 1.5.1 and looking at Earth my fps is reported to be 250 +. Using SVN 4309 looking at the same earth I get about 45 fps.
I originally posted this in the Development Forum but after investigating this futher I found that it seems to only affect the KDE version. The QT4 and GTK versions had similar frame rates as 1.5.1 KDE.
cartrite

[cartrite]

I think this has something to do with settings getting saved at exit. The KDE version is getting normal fps rates now. I'm not sure what I changed though?