Using nvidia DKMS open source driver (565) causes lag throughout the KDE desktop in virtually all apps on my RTX 4070 ti Super, the only way to partially fix this issue is to use the Nvidia dkms closed source driver, with the GSP firmware off.
Using the GSP firmware kernel parameter (on closed source dkms) almost fixes this issue, although occasionally there will still be framedrops on animations but not as severe.
Is this the case for anybody else? Is wayland still not ready for KDE on Nvidia?
OS: Arch Linux
Kernel: Linux 6.12.3-arch1-1
Shell: bash 5.2.37
Display (XG27AQDMG): 2560x1440 @ 240 Hz (as 2048x1152) in 27"
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700 (16) @ 5.39 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER [Discrete]
KDE Plasma 6.2.4
I am experiencing the same issue with FPS drops and stuttering when using the closed-source NVIDIA DKMS drivers on my RTX 4070 SUPER. The problem doesn’t seem to occur on X11, but on Wayland, the performance is noticeably worse.
Disabling the GSP firmware and setting KWIN_TRIPLE_BUFFER=0 has helped to mitigate the problem somewhat, but I still experience occasional frame drops, especially during animations.
My understanding is that the Nvidia Linux driver’s implementation of using the GSP firmware is still buggy, so for the time being disabling it seems to be the way to go.
I’m not super, super sensitive to framerate issues and things like that, but I am a little nitpicky, and the times I’ve noticed things get a little jittery on my system are, oddly, whenever Firefox is onscreen. When it’s up, things seems to slow down - when it’s below other windows, minimized or closed, everything is buttery.
Just made an account to chime in. On my RTX4060 using the open drivers and Wayland, what I believe is S3 sleep (in the kernel as “deep” sleep) will cause the GPU to perform significantly worse. Frame times in particular are much worse and the performance is half of what it is before sleep. Restarting the computer fixes the issue until “deep” sleep is invoked again. Manually forcing the system into s2idle instead of deep sleep will prevent this issue. However, my motherboard keeps the fans running in s2idle… so that’s not a solution for me in particular.
Maybe you can use this information to see if it relates to your problems at all?
I’ve been having the exact same issue, and as @johnandmegh noted, Firefox does seem to be a reason for this problem. Disabling Triple Buffering seems to have helped a little too?
Edit :
I also want to add, setting Adaptive Sync to “Always” also seems to mitigate this issue, although it definitely doesn’t stay at 165 FPS on my 165hz device, it at least keeps it > 110 FPS
But depending on the quality of your screen, you may see some brightness flicker due to VRR of course.
Yeah, my totally amateur observation has been that fancy refresh rate controls are great for gaming…and still feel clunky somehow for general desktop usage. The devices I have (both Windows and Linux) that have some sort of dynamic/customized/etc. refresh rate seem more sluggish on the desktop than the ones with monitors that only support a flat refresh rate.
I’m sure I’m missing a lot of the picture (pun intended), though
using those and VRR/Adaptive Sync set to “Always” seems to alleviate most of the issue !! (for me and for now at least) (frame drops can still be noticed sometimes though, and this is not a fix by any means)
In my experience, VRR seems to be handled really well on Windows 11, it all comes down to the quality of the monitor (before, I had a horrible VA panel that had awful scanlines and brightness flickering when LFC was active; but on my new IPS, I just very rarely notice slight brightness flickering from time to time)
Based on my “whatever is on sale at Micro Center” approach to buying computer monitors, I can easily believe that I just haven’t made the right purchase there
It makes sense, I guess, that the more delicate and error-prone the task, the more precision is required from both the software/drivers and the actual physical hardware itself.
I just followed your advice and enabled FreeSync on my monitor, adjusted all the settings you suggested, and damn! The stability has improved significantly—it’s definitely much better than before.
While it’s not perfect yet, the experience is way smoother.
I installed CachyOS (arch before) with KDE Plasma and experienced the same stuttering issues on Wayland. However, when I tried Hyprland, which isn’t officially supported for NVIDIA, it worked flawlessly. Maybe this information could be helpful.
