Performance randomly falls off a cliff

System:
Kernel: 6.3.4-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.1.1
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=e861e891-9685-4340-aac5-791f2b37e93a rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
resume=UUID=bcd58220-4a68-480b-81f3-7fd68a71566f loglevel=3
amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.5 tk: Qt v: 5.15.9 wm: kwin_wayland vt: 2
dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: B550M DS3H serial: <superuser required>
UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: F15 date: 07/29/2022
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 4
level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25)
model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 0 microcode: 0xA201016
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 tpc: 2 threads: 12 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 384 KiB desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 3 MiB desc: 6x512 KiB
L3: 32 MiB desc: 1x32 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 3675 high: 3700 min/max: 2200/4650 boost: enabled
scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: performance cores: 1: 3601 2: 3700
3: 3593 4: 3700 5: 3700 6: 3700 7: 3700 8: 3700 9: 3610 10: 3700 11: 3700
12: 3700 bogomips: 88639
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Navi 23 [Radeon RX 6650 XT / 6700S 6800S] vendor: Gigabyte
driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x process: TSMC n7 (7nm)
built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
active: DP-1,HDMI-A-2 empty: DP-2,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 08:00.0
chip-ID: 1002:73ef class-ID: 0300
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.1
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
gpu: amdgpu d-rect: 3840x1080 display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-1 pos: primary,left res: 1920x1080 size: N/A modes: N/A
Monitor-2: HDMI-A-2 pos: right res: 1920x1080 size: N/A modes: N/A
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.1.0 renderer: AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (navi23
LLVM 15.0.7 DRM 3.52 6.3.4-zen1-1-zen) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Navi 21/23 HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie:
gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 08:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab28
class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 0a:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Medeli heyday Microphone 01
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-2:2 chip-ID: 0a67:0002 class-ID: 0300
serial: <filter>
Device-4: FiiO BTR5 driver: snd-usb-audio type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-6:6 chip-ID: 2972:0047
class-ID: fe01
API: ALSA v: k6.3.4-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 0.3.71 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 Wi-Fi 6 AX210/AX211/AX411 160MHz driver: iwlwifi v: kernel
pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2725
class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp4s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX210 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-7:7 chip-ID: 8087:0032
class-ID: e001
Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 4.57 TiB used: 294.77 GiB (6.3%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: TeamGroup model: TM8FP6001T
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: VC0S036B temp: 55.9 C
scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD1003FZEX-00MK2A0 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: 1A01 scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD20EZAZ-00GGJB0 size: 1.82 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 0A80 scheme: GPT
ID-4: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD10EADS-65M2B1 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s tech: N/A serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0A01
scheme: MBR
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 936.5 GiB size: 936.5 GiB (100.00%)
used: 294.77 GiB (31.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 576 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 936.5 GiB size: 936.5 GiB (100.00%)
used: 294.77 GiB (31.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 936.5 GiB size: 936.5 GiB (100.00%)
used: 294.77 GiB (31.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 936.5 GiB size: 936.5 GiB (100.00%)
used: 294.77 GiB (31.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 15.52 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
dev: /dev/zram0
ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 17.07 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 maj-min: 259:3
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 43.8 C mobo: 36.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 63.0 C
mem: 64.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
Processes: 405 Uptime: 12m wakeups: 0 Memory: available: 15.52 GiB
used: 4.64 GiB (29.9%) Init: systemd v: 253 default: graphical
tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 13.1.1 clang: 15.0.7 Packages: pm: pacman
pkgs: 1920 libs: 550 tools: octopi,paru pm: flatpak pkgs: 0 Shell: fish
v: 3.6.1 default: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.27
Garuda (2.6.16-1):
System install date:     2023-05-04
Last full system update: 2023-05-27
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
Windows dual boot:       No/Undetected
Failed units:

I'm having a really bizarre issue where seemingly at random I get much worse game performance than usual.

As you can see in this clip, I'm getting around 500~ fps in this specific scene.

And here, the issue is occurring. Notice I only have 110~ fps, and the gpu usage is much lower and cpu usage way higher. cpu and gpu clock speeds are identical however.

This affects other 3d games I have tried too, I'm showing gunfire reborn specifically because I can show a single consistent scene.

There doesn't seem to be a single consistent pattern that determines whether I will get good or bad performance, but it seems to "decide" on game startup, so if it runs well it will run well for the entire game session, and same for bad performance.

Obviously I have tried tweaking the cpu governor and the gpu power profile, even if i have the cpu set to performance and gpu set to 3d fullscreen, it doesn't seem to prevent the problem from occurring.

I tried switching to X11 for a bit to see if wayland was causing the issue, but it did not make a difference.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=271286
I have also looked into this post which seems to be describing the same issue, but apparently this person solved it by setting the gpu to 3d fullscreen, which did not help in my case.

I'm really at a loss for what could be going on here.

Edit: another thing I've noticed is that logging out of the desktop session and then logging back in can temporarily fix the issue, but not always.

update: I decided on a whim to update my bios from F15 to F17D on the offchance that it would do anything. I updated the bios and restarted my system, and I've managed to launch gunfire reborn like 10 times in a row now without getting the throttled performance. I don't know if I'm just getting lucky or if I actually fixed it somehow.

3 Likes

alright, so updating the bios on its own did not fix the problem, i seem to be having the issue again after I turned my xmp profile and resizable bar back on, after noticing that my bios settings were set back to default after the update. I somewhat suspect now that the culprit may be resizable bar somehow, as I turned it back off and haven't observed any throttling yet.

3 Likes

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