Hey there,
I've been having FPS issues in video games for a while using Garuda (Dragonized KDE). I've looked into, what I believe, is pretty much every possible cause, but haven't found a solution for my problem.
I'll summarize my setup and the findings of various troubleshooting attempts and then go further into what problem I'm experiencing:
i7 8700k
RTX4090
Kernel: 6.4.4-zen1-1-zen
using nvidia-dkms package
lspci says "nvidia" module is loaded
X11 server is using "nvidia"
nvidia-smi is saying I'm using nvidia driver version 535.86.05
I've set my CPU governor to performance using corectrl
KDE compositing is disabled on startup
Two screens plugged into the ports of the GPU
Now, the problem I'm having is that in-game performance is very poor relative to the hardware I'm using. I get about 70-100 fps, even in easy-to-run games. My guess is that some package I'm installing is to blame here. When I install garuda from scratch and only set up the nvidia-dkms driver, I get the performance I would expect.
I don't know how relevant this is, but I remember installing a lot of additional lib32 proton/wine packages shortly before this problem occurs. I had to install these for compatibility with some games, if I recall correctly.
Changing in-game settings barely affects fps: The difference between running "Sons of the Forest" at low preset vs Ultra preset is about 20 fps, still maxing out at about 100 at low settings.
Given the fact that I've seen my system perform properly on garuda (and the same being true when using windows on the same machine), I doubt a CPU bottleneck is to blame here.
I've tried troubleshooting this with ChatGPT, but it also haven't given me much more insight. The points it suggested were: Update your system and drivers - These are up to date Configure NVIDIA Settings - Not sure what exactly I'm supposed to do here, but I did have nvidia-settings write my xorg config Check for CPU bottleneck - Unlikely to be the cause, as I described Check your game settings - Also tested many games and various combinations of settings Disable compositing in your desktop environment - Done that Use GameMode - Tried gamemode explicitly, but should be mostly obsolete due to me running my CPU on performance mode Try Different Proton/Wine versions - Also no difference here
I'm grateful for any pair of eyes showing me something I might be missing.
(Also, obligatory thanks to the garuda team for making using arch a breeze, the vast majority of the time, anyway ;))
I thought as much
Do you know how I can pinpoint the package that might cause this?
If, as I'm guessing, some lib32 vulkan or proton package is to blame here, how do I best find it?
Please post always your terminal in- and output as text like
~~~
garuda-inxi
System:
Kernel: 5.18.15-zen1-2-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.1.1
parameters:
~~~
Firstly, I would update your BIOS to the latest version. (You are missing out on Resizable-BAR and a ton of important security fixes.)
Other than that, I would take a look down through the ProtonDB on the game in question. (Reports vary greatly on the game, probably because its still in early access). Maybe try proton-GE if you haven’t already, as sometimes that can help with frame-rate. https://www.protondb.com/app/1326470
Alright, there doesn't seem to be a problem after all.
I have tested @RodneyCK's suggestion, and also tested various games on various installations of Garuda and Windows and the performance is the same on all systems.
It's most likely an issue with me playing on 3840x1080 and thinking to myself that I'm playing "at 1080p", while aiming for 144fps and the modern gaming industry no longer optimizing their games.
Thanks for everybody's input.
@SGS thanks, will keep that in mind, I tried to do a collapsable spoiler thing with the [o] stuff. @Kayo Good call, will do that, the gigabyte page does make that update seem pretty crucial @Naman Yeah, in the course of testing multiple games I ran the Rise of the Tombraider benchmark which performed the same on all systems.
