Desktop Lagging even with high resources

[ThatGuy225]

Hello friends,

I have recently installed Garuda Linux Dragonized KDE version on my desktop computer with the intention of playing games using proton on steam.

I am still fairly fresh out of the original install.

The issue.

The UI on the desktop seems to lag or stutter ever so slightly.

What do I mean by lagging?

Example, When I open discord, there is a slight ghosting effect while I type which causes the cursor to stutter and letters to ghost in while typing. Another example is that while I play a game, my other monitors start to flicker sometimes (just the desktop, not the monitor connection itself.) If I have a few programs open and I begin to watch Youtube, the video will also stutter, almost as if the refresh rate were messing up.

Context

System:

• CPU: AMD R9 3900X
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080
• Ram: 32 gigs
• Setup: 3 2k monitors.
• Drivers: Proprietary Nvidia Drivers.
• OS Storage Drive: nvme

Any ideas on what could be causing the stutter to happen? I notice it more often when hardware acceleration is enabled, but disabling it in some programs did not resolve the issue.

This is also much more severe when playing games even though my resources are not being pegged.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Kayo]

Can’t be exactly sure without the output of garuda-inxi … but it sounds like selecting an X11 session from the login screen (SDDM) would probably the first thing to be sure of considering your graphical hardware (Apart from making sure you rebooted after your initial update). To change the session type, just click where it mentions what session on the login screen and then select an X11 session.

Since our KDE offerings are still starting from KDE 5 (new ISOs are currently in testing), you might want to check additional information here if you haven’t already Dr460nized Plasma 6 migration | Garuda Linux wiki

[ThatGuy225]

Hey! thanks for the input! I will definitely give that a try and report back. I apologize if I missed any documented information before my initial post.

so far:

• I have rebooted multiple times while playing with the performance settings in garuda assistant and settings.
• I disabled desktop effects that I saw
• I left cookies out for the Garuda Linux team at night.

“Can’t be exactly sure without the output of garuda-inxi”

System:
Kernel: 6.8.1-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=f5b13e10-8f2f-4d97-aec3-91dfe6789474 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.0.2 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.0.0
wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: Pro WS X570-ACE v: Rev X.0x
serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU uuid: <superuser required>
UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1104 date: 10/29/2019
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 2 gen: 3
level: v3 note: check built: 2020-22 process: TSMC n7 (7nm)
family: 0x17 (23) model-id: 0x71 (113) stepping: 0 microcode: 0x8701013
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 12 tpc: 2 threads: 24 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 768 KiB desc: d-12x32 KiB; i-12x32 KiB L2: 6 MiB desc: 12x512 KiB
L3: 64 MiB desc: 4x16 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 2576 high: 3800 min/max: 2200/4672 boost: enabled
scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 2200 2: 3800
3: 3683 4: 2200 5: 2200 6: 2200 7: 3263 8: 3800 9: 2200 10: 2200 11: 2144
12: 2140 13: 2026 14: 2200 15: 2200 16: 2200 17: 2200 18: 2196 19: 3800
20: 2200 21: 3791 22: 2673 23: 2200 24: 2119 bogomips: 182061
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 [GeForce RTX 2080 Rev. A] vendor: Micro-Star MSI
driver: nvidia v: 550.54.14 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 545.xx+
status: current (as of 2024-02; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Turing code: TUxxx
process: TSMC 12nm FF built: 2018-2022 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s
lanes: 16 ports: active: none off: DP-1,DP-2,DP-3
empty: HDMI-A-1,Unknown-2 bus-ID: 0a:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1e87
class-ID: 0300
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.4
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting
alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa gpu: nvidia d-rect: 7680x1440
display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-1 pos: primary,left res: 2560x1440 size: N/A modes: N/A
Monitor-2: DP-2 pos: center res: 2560x1440 size: N/A modes: N/A
Monitor-3: DP-3 pos: right res: 2560x1440 size: N/A modes: N/A
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2
drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland: drv: nvidia
x11: drv: zink inactive: device-1
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 550.54.14
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080/PCIe/SSE2
memory: 7.81 GiB display-ID: :1.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 11 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 driver: nvidia v: 550.54.14
device-ID: 10de:1e87 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0a:00.1
chip-ID: 10de:10f8 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 0c:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: DSEA A/S EPOS GSA 70 driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 4-6:6
chip-ID: 1395:0300 class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>
API: ALSA v: k6.8.1-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.4 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Intel I211 Gigabit Network vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igb v: kernel
pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 05:00.0
chip-ID: 8086:1539 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: ASUSTeK RTL8111/8168/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d800 bus-ID: 06:00.1 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
class-ID: 0200
IF: enp6s0f1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager,systemd-timesyncd
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 1.41 TiB used: 20.84 GiB (1.4%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Intel model: SSDPEKNU010TZ
size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 002C temp: 35.9 C scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:5 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO 500GB
size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 2B2QEXE7 temp: 42.9 C
scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: SanDisk model: Cruzer Glide
size: 29.25 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: USB
rev: 2.0 spd: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 tech: N/A serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 1.00 scheme: MBR
SMART Message: Unknown USB bridge. Flash drive/Unsupported enclosure?
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 244.23 GiB size: 244.23 GiB (100.00%)
used: 20.81 GiB (8.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme1n1p5 maj-min: 259:10
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 100 MiB size: 96 MiB (96.00%)
used: 27.6 MiB (28.8%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme1n1p1 maj-min: 259:6
ID-3: /home raw-size: 244.23 GiB size: 244.23 GiB (100.00%)
used: 20.81 GiB (8.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme1n1p5 maj-min: 259:10
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 244.23 GiB size: 244.23 GiB (100.00%)
used: 20.81 GiB (8.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme1n1p5 maj-min: 259:10
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 244.23 GiB size: 244.23 GiB (100.00%)
used: 20.81 GiB (8.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme1n1p5 maj-min: 259:10
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 31.25 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 24 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0 C mobo: 38.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.25 GiB used: 4.48 GiB (14.3%)
Processes: 472 Power: uptime: 14m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 12.46 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 255 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: pm: pacman pkgs: 2029 libs: 570 tools: octopi,pamac,paru
Compilers: clang: 17.0.6 gcc: 13.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: fish
v: 3.7.0 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.33
Garuda (2.6.23-1):
System install date:     2024-03-19
Last full system update: 2024-03-19
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot:       Probably (Run as root to verify)
Failed units:

[Kayo]

@ThatGuy225

kwin_wayland

@ThatGuy225

GeForce RTX 2080

You’ll want to try an X11 session as I’ve mentioned in my previous post. While Wayland on Nvidia cards may be a bit better than what they used to be a year ago, a lot of people still mention issues like you are having.

You can change the session type on the login screen by clicking the current session type and changing it.
If you are automatically logging in and do not normally see a login screen, you can change this in KDE’s System Settings instead. Search for “SDDM” , click on “Login Screen (SDDM)”, click on the “Behavior…” button up top. You’ll see session options there for your account that you automatically log in with.

[BluishHumility]

@ThatGuy225

I left cookies out for the Garuda Linux team at night.

...Cookies?

[ThatGuy225]

Thank you so much for the help!

I gave it a shot and switched over. Everything seems to run buttery smooth so far now! Even discord which was giving me a ton of lag issues previously. I will report back if anything goes wrong, but so far everything is running slick.

queue up switch to garuda linux as daily driver celebration music!