Spotify high GPU usage

[Framaris]

Hi,

I’m a bit of a Linux noob, currently running Garuda Mokka (fully updated) with Spotify version 1:1.2.63.394-1.

I’ve noticed that Spotify is using around 60% of my GPU just to play music. From what I understand, the hardware acceleration is only for the interface, yet in Windows Spotify only uses about 3% of GPU. On Garuda it idles at about 2% when paused, but jumps to 60% while playing.

There doesn’t seem to be a hardware acceleration setting on Linux. I tried launching it with --disable-gpu from the terminal, but it didn’t change anything. I also tried reinstalling via Octopi, Pacman, and even the Flatpak version—which actually used more power.

• GPU idle: ~35W

• Playing music: ~80W

• Flatpak version: ~114W

That makes Spotify a very expensive music player—and it adds a lot of unwanted heat in my office (especially in summer).

At first, I thought it might be because I was using DisplayPort audio (sound through the GPU), but switching to the motherboard sound card made no difference.

The only thing that helped a little was uninstalling some X11 packages I had left over after testing it against Wayland:

• kwin-x11 6.4.4-1 -24.97

• plasma-x11-session 6.4.4-1

This dropped usage from about 60% to 45% while playing music—still pretty high though.

During my Windows → Linux transition I had other priorities, so I just used my tablet to play music. But now that everything else works the way I like, I’d really like to fix this annoyance.

So, my questions:

• Has anyone else noticed the same behavior?

• Does this look like a graphics driver issue that might need a reinstall/change?

• Or should I consider switching back to X11 (though I finally got everything working smoothly on Wayland, and I’d hate to lose that)?

PS: Don’t take me too seriously—I really don’t know what I’m talking about. Maybe I shouldn’t complain and just use a better alternative I don’t know about?

System:
Kernel: 6.16.1-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 15.2.1
clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=07150b9e-e8c3-4944-83d1-74d106f69fa1 rw rootflags=subvol=@
vt.default_red=30,243,166,249,137,245,148,186,88,243,166,249,137,245,148,166
vt.default_grn=30,139,227,226,180,194,226,194,91,139,227,226,180,194,226,173
vt.default_blu=46,168,161,175,250,231,213,222,112,168,161,175,250,231,213,200
ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.4.4 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_wayland dm: SDDM
Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: ASUS product: N/A v: N/A serial: N/A
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME B760-PLUS v: Rev 1.xx serial: <filter>
part-nu: SKU uuid: 4aaaf9c9-0e96-504f-9d80-cc28aa0e5a4a
UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1810 date: 12/02/2024
Battery:
Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech G603 Wireless Gaming Mouse
serial: <filter> charge: 100% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
status: discharging
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i5-14600K socket: LGA1700 bits: 64 type: MST AMCP
arch: Raptor Lake gen: core 14 level: v3 note: check built: 2022+
process: Intel 7 (10nm) family: 6 model-id: 0xB7 (183) stepping: 1
microcode: 0x12F
Topology: cpus: 1x dies: 1 clusters: 8 cores: 14 threads: 20 mt: 6 tpc: 2
st: 8 smt: enabled cache: L1: 1.2 MiB desc: d-8x32 KiB, 6x48 KiB; i-6x32
KiB, 8x64 KiB L2: 20 MiB desc: 6x2 MiB, 2x4 MiB L3: 24 MiB desc: 1x24 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/3500:2600 base/boost: 3465/5300
scaling: driver: intel_pstate governor: performance volts: 1.2 V
ext-clock: 100 MHz cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800
8: 800 9: 800 10: 800 11: 800 12: 800 13: 800 14: 800 15: 800 16: 800
17: 800 18: 800 19: 800 20: 800 bogomips: 139776
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600
XT / 5700/5700 XT] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-1
code: Navi-1x process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2019-20 pcie: gen: 4
speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-3 off: HDMI-A-1
empty: DP-1,DP-2 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:731f class-ID: 0300
Display: unspecified server: X.Org v: 24.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.8
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3440x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 910x381mm (35.83x15.00")
s-diag: 987mm (38.84")
Monitor-1: DP-3 res: mode: 3440x1440 hz: 180 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 110
size: 797x334mm (31.38x13.15") diag: 864mm (34.02") modes: N/A
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: radeonsi surfaceless: drv: radeonsi x11:
drv: radeonsi inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 25.1.7-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 5700 (radeonsi navi10
LLVM 20.1.8 DRM 3.64 6.16.1-zen1-1-zen) device-ID: 1002:731f
memory: 7.81 GiB unified: no
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.321 layers: 5 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
Radeon RX 5700 (RADV NAVI10) driver: mesa radv v: 25.1.7-arch1.1
device-ID: 1002:731f surfaces: N/A device: 1 type: cpu name: llvmpipe
(LLVM 20.1.8 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 25.1.7-arch1.1 (LLVM
20.1.8) device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: N/A
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info
x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake High Definition Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_avs,snd_sof_pci_intel_tgl
bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:7a50 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 HDMI Audio
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab38 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.16.1-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.4.7 status: n/a (root, process) 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: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel
pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 4000 bus-ID: 07:00.0
chip-ID: 10ec:8125 class-ID: 0200
IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
IF-ID-1: nordtun state: unknown speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full mac: N/A
IF-ID-2: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, smbd, systemd-timesyncd
Bluetooth:
Device-1: ASUSTek Broadcom BCM20702A0 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8
type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-9.2.3:8
chip-ID: 0b05:17cb class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter>
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: N/A
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 5 TiB used: 2.45 TiB (49.0%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Crucial model: CT1000T500SSD8
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s
lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: P8CR004 temp: 37.9 C
scheme: GPT
SMART: yes health: PASSED on: 73d 2h cycles: 1,117
read-units: 10,939,538 [5.60 TB] written-units: 8,966,085 [4.59 TB]
ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital
model: WD10EZEX-08M2NA0 family: Blue (CMR) size: 931.51 GiB block-size:
physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B sata: 3.1 speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD
rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: 1A01 temp: 35 C scheme: MBR
SMART: yes state: enabled health: PASSED on: 2y 87d 18h cycles: 6311
ID-3: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Toshiba model: HDWD130
family: P300 (CMR) size: 2.73 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B
logical: 512 B sata: 3.0 speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 7200
serial: <filter> fw-rev: ACF0 temp: 39 C scheme: GPT
SMART: yes state: enabled health: PASSED on: 1y 92d 2h cycles: 4617
ID-4: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Crucial model: CT500MX500SSD1
family: Micron Client SSDs size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B sata: 3.3 speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 023 temp: 41 C scheme: GPT
SMART: yes state: enabled health: PASSED on: 50d 22h cycles: 2033
written: 7.07 TiB
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 150.15 GiB size: 150.15 GiB (100.00%)
used: 23.2 GiB (15.5%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 512 MiB size: 511 MiB (99.80%)
used: 624 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat block-size: 512 B dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33
ID-3: /home raw-size: 465.26 GiB size: 465.26 GiB (100.00%)
used: 323.14 GiB (69.5%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/sdc2
maj-min: 8:34
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 150.15 GiB size: 150.15 GiB (100.00%)
used: 23.2 GiB (15.5%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 150.15 GiB size: 150.15 GiB (100.00%)
used: 23.2 GiB (15.5%) fs: btrfs block-size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
maj-min: 259:5
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 30.59 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
comp: zstd avail: lzo-rle,lzo,lz4,lz4hc,deflate,842 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 41.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 49.0 C
mem: 60.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 958
Info:
Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.59 GiB used: 2.49 GiB (8.1%)
Processes: 453 Power: uptime: 0m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 12.21 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,upowerd
Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical tool: systemctl
Packages: 1815 pm: pacman pkgs: 1804 libs: 504
tools: octopi,pacseek,paru,yay pm: flatpak pkgs: 11 Compilers: gcc: 15.2.1
Shell: Bash (sudo) v: 5.3.3 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.38
Garuda (2.7.5-1):
System install date:     2025-07-26
Last full system update: 2025-08-19
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut
Windows dual boot:       Yes
Failed units:
--- System Health Check Report ---
21/21 checks run in 1.01 seconds ⌛
Powered by garuda-health 🦅

[zflyingbunny]

Well hmm I am having this same issue.

[TNE]

Hello! We are generally unable to fix issues with third party software. Unless you have a reason to believe that your GPU is not working for another reason, I recommend contacting Spotify Support or the packager depending on the circumstances of how you acquired Spotify.

[Framaris]

I don’t have any specific expectations, of course, but since I haven’t encountered this issue on other distros, I figured it was worth bringing up. The only workaround I’ve found so far is the --disable-gpu flag for Spotify, which seems to work on Ubuntu (and is also mentioned on the Arch Wiki).

This issue occurs on both of my Garuda systems. Even when I use the Rust-based alternative, spotify-launcher, the behavior remains the same.

That said, I’m really happy with how the GPU performs on Garuda, faster and smoother than on Windows. No complaints there. The out-of-the-box experience has been fantastic, which is why I’m still using it as my daily driver.

If I did have an expectation, it would simply be that I might’ve overlooked something. That’s why I’m reaching out to the community,maybe someone has run into this before, has a fix tucked away, or can spot something wrong in my setup.

I can’t remember who said this, but someone on the forums once mentioned: “With Windows, you search the internet for a solution; with Linux, you ask the forum.”
I’ve already tried the Windows way, now I’m trying the Linux way.

[elite]

Have you tried making it a web app and then optimizing that profiles config. using a tool like GitHub - cosmic-utils/web-apps: Web applications at your fingertips. or GitHub - linuxmint/webapp-manager I prefer the latter with some tweaks. I do recommend using either with a firefox based browser.

[Apocalypticus]

You could install nvtop. Maybe you can see there which process form Spotify is responsable.

[Framaris]

I am a little confused by the data I am getting, I see the activity of the GPU, but something doesn’t add up when I look per process. Do you see a clue?

[Framaris]

That sounds like a potential plan B!

[Framaris]

I do see that it starts with a --type=gpu-process flag, maybe that’s the clue I need?

Anyway, thx for the help so far!…afk until next session.

[Framaris]

Didn’t find much time to work on this, but I am now pretty sure it is not the application because I get the same symptoms when loading the web player with firedragon or chrome, with or without hardware acceleration. So my guess is that both Spotify and Spotify-launcher are like web app using the web player as interface, and my problem is due to the way my system handles it. Also noticed that minimizing the spotify window or just switching tabs in browser is enough to stop the GPU activity. So for now I just have to remember to minimize it, but I won’t give up!

PS: Thank you for moving this thread in the right section, however I am not so sure that it is a spotify problem as I thought initially.

[Yada]

I did indeed notice this. Seems a spotify app problem on wayland, probably. Lets hope for a good update.