For what reason, do you think, 12.04 performs worse than 11.10? I recently fresh-installed 12.04 and have found that the general screen animations (like swiping between desktops, window fading, etc) are noticeably stickier than 11.10, under the same conditions.

Overall, 12.10 is superior to 11.10, so I'm not complaining. But the generally worse Compiz smoothness is somewhat irritating. It's not unbearable, but it's certainly not smooth at times.

At times. Not always. For example, if I move between desktops, then the first one or two animations are bumpy. After that, it's fine. It's as if the animations need "warming up". Of course, if I don't move between desktops for a while, then it becomes bumpy again.

Could it be because my Nvidia graphics cards (I have two) are running as "adaptive"?