Monitor VRR Issue with KDE-Plasma

Monitor is a Asus PG32UCDM.

When playing Youtube videos in full screen using the Brave browser, the monitor’s refresh wildly fluctuates. This behavior is observed through the monitors OSD. This results in occassional black screens and loss of signal with the monitor. After some hours of troubleshooting the issue, the culprit is the KDE-Plasma VRR “adaptive sync” setting being set to “automatic” or “always”. When set to “never”, the display does not experience this issue.

System:
Kernel: 6.11.1-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=ff0ab206-a76f-4c49-8f9f-1edbb4d49076 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet loglevel=3 splash ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.1.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.6.0
wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II v: Rev X.0x
serial: <superuser required> part-nu: SKU uuid: <superuser required>
UEFI: American Megatrends v: 3607 date: 03/22/2024
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 3
level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 2 microcode: 0xA20120E
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 1 cores: 16 threads: 32 tpc: 2
smt: enabled cache: L1: 1024 KiB desc: d-16x32 KiB; i-16x32 KiB L2: 8 MiB
desc: 16x512 KiB L3: 64 MiB desc: 2x32 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1743 min/max: 550/5084 boost: enabled scaling:
driver: amd-pstate-epp governor: performance cores: 1: 1743 2: 1743 3: 1743
4: 1743 5: 1743 6: 1743 7: 1743 8: 1743 9: 1743 10: 1743 11: 1743 12: 1743
13: 1743 14: 1743 15: 1743 16: 1743 17: 1743 18: 1743 19: 1743 20: 1743
21: 1743 22: 1743 23: 1743 24: 1743 25: 1743 26: 1743 27: 1743 28: 1743
29: 1743 30: 1743 31: 1743 32: 1743 bogomips: 217184
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 [GeForce RTX 2080 Rev. A] vendor: PNY driver: nvidia
v: 560.35.03 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 550.xx+ status: current
(as of 2024-09; 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-2 empty: DP-1, DP-3, HDMI-A-1,
Unknown-2 bus-ID: 07:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1e87 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: EMEET HD Webcam C960 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB
rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 5-3:3 chip-ID: 328f:006d
class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.2
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting
alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa gpu: nvidia display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-2 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: nvidia inactive: device-1
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 560.35.03
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: 1.3.295 layers: 14 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 driver: nvidia v: 560.35.03
device-ID: 10de:1e87 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 HD Audio vendor: PNY driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 07:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f8
class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
lanes: 16 bus-ID: 09:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: EMEET HD Webcam C960 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB
rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 5-3:3 chip-ID: 328f:006d
class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
API: ALSA v: k6.11.1-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.5 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: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Foxconn driver: mt7921e v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s
lanes: 1 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:0616 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Intel Ethernet I225-V vendor: ASUSTeK driver: igc v: kernel
pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: N/A bus-ID: 06:00.0
chip-ID: 8086:15f3 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp6s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, systemd-timesyncd
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai Wireless_Device driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-5:2 chip-ID: 0489:e0e2
class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down bt-service: enabled,running
rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2 lmp-v: 11
status: discoverable: no pairing: no
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 28.34 TiB used: 14.8 TiB (52.2%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 990 PRO with
Heatsink 2TB size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B
speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 4B2QJXD7
temp: 39.9 C scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 PRO 1TB
size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 2B6Q scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 840 PRO Series
size: 119.24 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 6B0Q scheme: GPT
ID-4: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Seagate model: ST3000DM001-1ER166
size: 2.73 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: CC25 scheme: GPT
ID-5: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 vendor: Seagate model: ST1000DM003-1ER162
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: CC43 scheme: GPT
ID-6: /dev/sde maj-min: 8:64 vendor: Toshiba model: HDWR11A size: 9.1 TiB
block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD
rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0603 scheme: GPT
ID-7: /dev/sdf maj-min: 8:80 vendor: Seagate model: ST8000DM002-1YW112
size: 7.28 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: DN01 scheme: GPT
ID-8: /dev/sdg maj-min: 8:96 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD60EDAZ-11U78B0 size: 5.46 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
logical: 512 B type: USB rev: 3.1 spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 mode: 3.2 gen-1x1
tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 4009 scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 953.57 GiB size: 953.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 149.52 GiB (15.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 588 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 953.57 GiB size: 953.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 149.52 GiB (15.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 953.57 GiB size: 953.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 149.52 GiB (15.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 953.57 GiB size: 953.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 149.52 GiB (15.7%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 94.2 GiB used: 4.27 GiB (4.5%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 32 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 47.8 C mobo: 36.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 96 GiB note: est. available: 94.2 GiB used: 8.82 GiB (9.4%)
Processes: 593 Power: uptime: 3d 2h 41m states: freeze,mem,disk
suspend: deep avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown,
reboot, suspend, test_resume image: 37.61 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 256 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: 1923 pm: pacman pkgs: 1911 libs: 537 tools: octopi,pamac,paru
pm: flatpak pkgs: 12 Compilers: gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: garuda-inxi default: fish
v: 3.7.1 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.36
Garuda (2.6.26-1):
System install date:     2024-08-29
Last full system update: 2024-10-09 ↻
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot:       Probably (Run as root to verify)
Failed units:            shadow.service```

Most likely related to this confirmed bug:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=487563
(Effects both “always” and “automatic” settings)

It looks familiar but users reported that even disabling it didn’t fix the issue. VRR is still on in my monitor settings and use it with Gamescope. I guess I am fortunate that disabling it fixed it.

EST. every single time.
NVIDIA gpu and linux display/graphics issues.

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