Persistent Stuttering When Using Non-Breeze Window Decorations on Plasma 6 (Wayland)

Help
1

Hi everyone,

I’m experiencing a specific stuttering issue on CachyOS running KDE Plasma 6 (Wayland). The system is generally smooth, but as soon as I switch from the default Breeze window decoration to any third-party theme (like Sweet, Willow, etc.), I get noticeable stutters.

The Issue: Every time I launch an application (even lightweight ones like Dolphin or System Settings), there is a momentary lag/stutter. This happens only when a non-Breeze (Aurorae-based) window decoration is active. If I switch back to the native Breeze decoration, the stuttering disappears completely.

System Information:

  • OS: CachyOS 64bit

  • KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.5

  • Graphics Platform: Wayland

  • GPU: [NVIDIA RTX 3060]

  • Driver: [Driver Version: 590.48.01 CUDA Version: 13.1 ]

    local/linux-cachyos-nvidia-open 6.18.9-2
    local/linux-firmware-nvidia 1:20260110-1
    local/nvidia-settings 590.48.01-2
    local/nvidia-utils 590.48.01-6
    local/opencl-nvidia 590.48.01-6

journalctl -f

dolphin[5639]: :1:135167: Could not resolve property: #linearGradient8471

like this

The perceived stuttering lasts for approximately 200ms immediately upon window mapping.

  1. During this stutter, even the mouse cursor freezes, suggesting that KWin or the XWayland/Wayland bridge is being blocked.

  2. While the total CPU consumption in systemd logs is similar between themes (~1s), the input lag and frame drops are exclusive to Aurorae/SVG-based decorations like Sweet or Willow.

2

I can confirm the issue as well. I have RTX 5080, tested on CachyOS and Bazzite. Default Breeze theme works smoothly, but custom themes (Sweet theme in my case) cause lags and animation stutters. I tried locking GPU minimum clock on higher frequency but no effect.

3

You can use libraries like Klassy or SierraBreeze; I’ve learned how to use them and they don’t cause any problems.