Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

jacobd79 · 2024-04-04 10:45:21

Hi,

I have been using Arch Linux for about 5 years now. Just recently I decided to try Nixos, didn't like it, and switched back. But, since I reinstalled Arch, I have a very poor performance. Not having experienced this before, I really don't know where to start to find out what the issue is. The performance is really bad when I am having video calls, using Slack or Teams (with Vivaldi, Chromium, Edge, etc). Nixos performed so much better, so I really believe it is a setup thing, something I am missing.
My System:

Laptop: ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9
Linux archlinux 6.8.2-arch2-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu, 28 Mar 2024 17:06:35 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux
CPU: 11th Gen Intel i7-1185G7 (8) @ 4.800GHz
GPU: Intel TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics]

Journalctl / dmesg about video:

Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: enabling device (0006 -> 0007)
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] VT-d active for gfx access
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: deactivate vga console
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Using Transparent Hugepages
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: vgaarb: VGA decodes changed: olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=io+mem:owns=mem
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/tgl_dmc_ver2_12.bin (v2.12)
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: mei_hdcp 0000:00:16.0-b638ab7e-94e2-4ea2-a552-d1c54b627f04: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_hdcp_ops [i915])
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: GuC firmware i915/tgl_guc_70.1.1.bin version 70.1.1
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: HuC firmware i915/tgl_huc_7.9.3.bin version 7.9.3
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: HuC: authenticated for all workloads
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: GUC: submission enabled
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: GUC: SLPC enabled
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] GT0: GUC: RC enabled
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: mei_pxp 0000:00:16.0-fbf6fcf1-96cf-4e2e-a6a6-1bab8cbe36b1: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_pxp_tee_component_ops [i915])
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Protected Xe Path (PXP) protected content support initialized
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 20230929 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 1
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: display version: 12
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: cursor_needs_physical: no
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_cdclk_crawl: no
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_cdclk_squash: no
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_ddi: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_dp_mst: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_dsb: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_fpga_dbg: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_gmch: no
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_hotplug: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_hti: no
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_ipc: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_overlay: no
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_psr: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_psr_hw_tracking: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: overlay_needs_physical: no
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: supports_tv: no
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_hdcp: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_dmc: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 display info: has_dsc: yes
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: fbcon: i915drmfb (fb0) is primary device
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops i915_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
Apr 02 15:56:27 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] fb0: i915drmfb frame buffer device
Apr 02 15:56:35 archlinux kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Selective fetch area calculation failed in pipe A

lspci -nnkv | grep -i VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics] [8086:9a49] (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

Any tips on where to look for, what to try? Anyone able to help me get rid of "why don't you switch to Windows" comments?

Last edited by jacobd79 (2024-04-05 13:43:17)

impossibleveins23 · 2024-04-05 08:26:25

* Chrome, Edge and Electron apps - Did you check that hardware acceleration is on?
This should be a good start to check (using chrome://gpu and intel_gpu_top).

seth · 2024-04-05 12:26:48

Journalctl / dmesg about video:

Please use [code][/code] tags, not "quote" tags. Edit your post in this regard.

Also please post your complete system journal for the boot:

sudo journalctl -b | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

Wild guess: gnome 46?

jacobd79 · 2024-04-05 13:53:29

This is what I have in my browsers:

Chromium GPU

Vivaldi
Vivaldi GPU

Edge GPU

When watching a video, I see this with 'intel-gpu-top:

intel-gpu-top

There are some differences between browsers, Vivaldi now has '* Video Decode: Hardware accelerated', which surprised me, it wan't showing this before. I guess I need to test if there is any change in performance when doing teams calls.

As for electron, I can't find anything specific on changing settings for hardware acceleration on electron?

Last edited by jacobd79 (2024-04-05 14:01:50)

jacobd79 · 2024-04-05 14:08:26

My system journal:

System journal

seth · 2024-04-05 14:13:05

Nope, lightdm starts "something"
Please post your Xorg log, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#General and the output of

loginctl session-status

jacobd79 · 2024-04-05 14:16:38

My Xorg log:

Xorg log

loginctl session-status:

2 - jacob (1000)
  Since: Fri 2024-04-05 16:05:37 CEST; 10min ago
  State: active
 Leader: 1869 (lightdm)
   Seat: seat0; vc7
Display: :0
 Remote: no
Service: lightdm
   Type: x11
  Class: user
Desktop: i3
   Idle: no
   Unit: session-2.scope
         ├─ 1869 lightdm --session-child 15 26
         ├─ 1896 i3 -a --restart /run/user/1000/i3/restart-state.1896
         ├─ 1929 /usr/bin/dunst
         ├─ 1930 picom --config /home/jacob/.config/picom/picom.conf
         ├─ 1932 xautolock -time 10 -locker "betterlockscreen -l dim"
         ├─ 1933 unclutter --timeout 2 --jitter 5
         ├─ 1965 polybar --reload eDP-1 -c /home/jacob/.dotfiles/polybar/themes/material/config.ini -l notice
         ├─ 1966 polybar --reload HDMI-1 -c /home/jacob/.dotfiles/polybar/themes/material/config.ini -l notice
         ├─ 2084 /usr/bin/alacritty
         ├─ 2094 /usr/bin/zsh
         ├─ 2098 /usr/bin/zsh
         ├─ 2120 /usr/bin/zsh
         ├─ 2122 /usr/bin/zsh
         ├─ 2123 /home/jacob/.cache/gitstatus/gitstatusd-linux-x86_64 -G v1.5.4 -s -1 -u -1 -d -1 -c -1 -m -1 -v FATAL -t 16
         ├─ 4552 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/arandr
         ├─ 5083 python3 /home/jacob/.dotfiles/polybar/modules/polypomo/polypomo
         ├─ 5501 /usr/lib/chromium/chromium
         ├─ 5503 /usr/lib/chromium/chrome_crashpad_handler --monitor-self --monitor-self-annotation=ptype=crashpad-handler "--database=/home/jacob/.config/chromium/C>
         ├─ 5505 /usr/lib/chromium/chrome_crashpad_handler --no-periodic-tasks --monitor-self-annotation=ptype=crashpad-handler "--database=/home/jacob/.config/chrom>
         ├─ 5509 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=zygote --no-zygote-sandbox --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-o>
         ├─ 5510 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=zygote --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable"
         ├─ 5512 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=zygote --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable"
         ├─ 5529 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=gpu-process --enable-gpu-rasterization --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --disable->
         ├─ 5535 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=utility --utility-sub-type=network.mojom.NetworkService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=none --crashpad-handl>
         ├─ 5544 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=utility --utility-sub-type=storage.mojom.StorageService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=utility --crashpad-ha>
         ├─ 5941 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=utility --utility-sub-type=data_decoder.mojom.DataDecoderService --lang=en-US --service-sandbox-type=service --cr>
         ├─ 5992 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --la>
         ├─ 7857 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --la>
         ├─17472 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --la>
         ├─17510 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --la>
         ├─17583 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --la>
         ├─24885 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --la>
         ├─24953 /usr/bin/alacritty
         ├─24991 /usr/bin/zsh
         ├─24995 /usr/bin/zsh
         ├─25017 /usr/bin/zsh
         ├─25018 /usr/bin/zsh
         ├─25020 /home/jacob/.cache/gitstatus/gitstatusd-linux-x86_64 -G v1.5.4 -s -1 -u -1 -d -1 -c -1 -m -1 -v FATAL -t 16
         ├─29038 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --la>
         ├─29049 "/usr/lib/chromium/chromium --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=5503 --enable-crash-reporter=,Arch Linux --change-stack-guard-on-fork=enable --la>
         ├─31058 loginctl session-status
         └─31059 less

Last edited by jacobd79 (2024-04-05 14:17:38)

seth · 2024-04-05 14:34:17

Modesetting on i915, the obvious contender for the lagginess is picom - what if you kill that?

jacobd79 · 2024-04-05 14:43:43

I will do some tests next week, with meetings in Chromium, while picom is killed. I tried without picom before, but not with the correct hardware decoding in my browser. Thanks to far, appreciate your effort!

Last edited by jacobd79 (2024-04-05 14:43:54)

jacobd79 · 2024-04-10 06:51:13

I have been testing, without picom, for 2 days now. No improvement at all. Still stuttering audio, especially when using teams (with Vivaldi and Chromium, both with Video Acceleration). Anything else I can try?

seth · 2024-04-10 07:14:27

Still stuttering audio, especially when using teams

CPU load? In a specific process?
What does your audio stack look like?

pacman -Qs 'pulse|wire'

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWi … leshooting
Audio related errors in the system journal?
Same behavior w/ the LTS kernel?

impossibleveins23 · 2024-04-10 08:21:30

1. Does the audio stutter happen on all the devices (i.e speakers, Bluetooth...)?
2. Can you stop wireplumber service and:

WIREPLUMBER_DEBUG=3 wireplumber

3. Can you stop pipewire service and:

PIPEWIRE_DEBUG=3 pipewire

jacobd79 · 2024-04-10 08:54:36

1. Does the audio stutter happen on all the devices (i.e speakers, Bluetooth...)?
Good question, I always use headphones (bluetooth). But I guess it doesn't make a difference, as I can see my machine struggling with load.

2. Can you stop wireplumber service and:
Yes, I can

3. Load
Not sure., When in calls, I sometimes see spikes, especially the processes pipewire-pulse, electron (slack), Vivaldi (teams), wireplumber

4. Audio related errors in the system journal?
Not that I can see

5. Same behavior w/ the LTS kernel?
Not tried any other kernel yet.

Output of 'pacman -Qs 'pulse|wire'':

local/iwd 2.17-2
    Internet Wireless Daemon
local/libcanberra 1:0.30+r2+gc0620e4-3
    A small and lightweight implementation of the XDG Sound Theme Specification
local/libpipewire 1:1.0.4-4
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - client library
local/libpulse 17.0-3
    A featureful, general-purpose sound server (client library)
local/libraw1394 2.1.2-3
    Provides an API to the Linux IEEE1394 (FireWire) driver
local/libwireplumber 0.5.1-1
    Session / policy manager implementation for PipeWire - client library
local/linux 6.8.2.arch2-1
    The Linux kernel and modules
local/pavucontrol 1:5.0+r64+geba9ca6-1
    PulseAudio Volume Control
local/pipewire 1:1.0.4-4
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor
local/pipewire-alsa 1:1.0.4-4
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - ALSA configuration
local/pipewire-audio 1:1.0.4-4
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - Audio support
local/pipewire-jack 1:1.0.4-4
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - JACK replacement
local/pipewire-pulse 1:1.0.4-4
    Low-latency audio/video router and processor - PulseAudio replacement
local/pulseaudio-ctl 1.70-1
    Control pulseaudio volume from the shell or mapped to keyboard shortcuts.
local/pulseaudio-jack 17.0-3
    Jack support for PulseAudio
local/wireless_tools 30.pre9-3
    Tools allowing to manipulate the Wireless Extensions
local/wireplumber 0.5.1-1
    Session / policy manager implementation for PipeWire
local/wpa_supplicant 2:2.10-8
    A utility providing key negotiation for WPA wireless networks

jacobd79 · 2024-04-10 09:01:58

WIREPLUMBER_DEBUG=3 wireplumber

Wireplumber log

PIPEWIRE_DEBUG=3 pipewire

Pipewire log

impossibleveins23 · 2024-04-10 09:14:40

1. Forgot to emphasize: Are the logs captured during the stuttering?
2. Try to check if you see same behavior when using the speakers.
3. Is audio stutter only when using the tools mention above or also when playing audio?
4. Is the CPU stays high during playback? Is your p-state set to performance?

Jason_green · 2024-04-10 09:41:52

I had this problem on my AMD laptop and found that the CPU would not reach boost frequency. It was finally solved by modifying this file:

sudo vim /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/boost

Change the contents of the file from 0 to 1

jacobd79 · 2024-04-10 09:44:43

4. Is the CPU stays high during playback? Is your p-state set to performance?

Interesting. I did a reboot, so can't see what it initially was, but it seems like the freq was around 2.8Ghz. I installed the service cpupower, set the governor to performance, and see my curent CPU frequency going over the 3Ghz. Gonna try and see if this does any good during calls, having a few this afternoon.

jacobd79 · 2024-04-10 12:39:00

Unfortunately, just having a Slack call right now, not sharing my own screen, having a terrible performance. Took a picture of my load, this is a snapshot of course, but even while typing this, my system seems like to hang once in a while.

seth · 2024-04-10 13:06:40

lscpu

but the top 7 PIDs will consume 5 cores already - either the electron stuff is so horribly inefficient or your CPU (run in) potatoe (mode)

mpv 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Z1MVKkWl0'

runs fine?

jacobd79 · 2024-04-10 13:21:45

lscpu output:

Architecture:             x86_64
  CPU op-mode(s):         32-bit, 64-bit
  Address sizes:          39 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
  Byte Order:             Little Endian
CPU(s):                   8
  On-line CPU(s) list:    0-7
Vendor ID:                GenuineIntel
  Model name:             11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1185G7 @ 3.00GHz
    CPU family:           6
    Model:                140
    Thread(s) per core:   2
    Core(s) per socket:   4
    Socket(s):            1
    Stepping:             1
    CPU(s) scaling MHz:   62%
    CPU max MHz:          4800.0000
    CPU min MHz:          400.0000
    BogoMIPS:             5992.00
    Flags:                fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb r
                          dtscp lm constant_tsc art arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc cpuid aperfmperf tsc_known_freq pni pclmulqdq dtes64 mon
                          itor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 sdbg fma cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes xsave avx f16c rdran
                          d lahf_lm abm 3dnowprefetch cpuid_fault epb cat_l2 cdp_l2 ssbd ibrs ibpb stibp ibrs_enhanced tpr_shadow flexpriority ept vpid ept_ad fsgsbas
                          e tsc_adjust bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 erms invpcid rdt_a avx512f avx512dq rdseed adx smap avx512ifma clflushopt clwb intel_pt avx512cd sha_ni avx
                          512bw avx512vl xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves split_lock_detect user_shstk dtherm ida arat pln pts hwp hwp_notify hwp_act_window hwp_epp hwp
                          _pkg_req vnmi avx512vbmi umip pku ospke avx512_vbmi2 gfni vaes vpclmulqdq avx512_vnni avx512_bitalg tme avx512_vpopcntdq rdpid movdiri movdi
                          r64b fsrm avx512_vp2intersect md_clear ibt flush_l1d arch_capabilities
Virtualization features:
  Virtualization:         VT-x
Caches (sum of all):
  L1d:                    192 KiB (4 instances)
  L1i:                    128 KiB (4 instances)
  L2:                     5 MiB (4 instances)
  L3:                     12 MiB (1 instance)
NUMA:
  NUMA node(s):           1
  NUMA node0 CPU(s):      0-7
Vulnerabilities:
  Gather data sampling:   Mitigation; Microcode
  Itlb multihit:          Not affected
  L1tf:                   Not affected
  Mds:                    Not affected
  Meltdown:               Not affected
  Mmio stale data:        Not affected
  Reg file data sampling: Not affected
  Retbleed:               Not affected
  Spec rstack overflow:   Not affected
  Spec store bypass:      Mitigation; Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Spectre v1:             Mitigation; usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Spectre v2:             Mitigation; Enhanced / Automatic IBRS, IBPB conditional, RSB filling, PBRSB-eIBRS SW sequence
  Srbds:                  Not affected
  Tsx async abort:        Not affected

> mpv 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Z1MVKkWl0'
Seems to work perfectly, even while on a slack video call.

seth · 2024-04-10 14:05:52

You've 8 cores, even if 6 are taken out there'd be padding.
W/

Seems to work perfectly, even while on a slack video call.

Wasn't that irritating to the other call members?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWi … er_suspend - but that would have affected mpv, too?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWi … _distorted - sample rate?

Is slack from the AUR or some flatpak?

Arch Linux

#1 2024-04-04 10:45:21

Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#2 2024-04-05 08:26:25

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#3 2024-04-05 12:26:48

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#4 2024-04-05 13:53:29

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#5 2024-04-05 14:08:26

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#6 2024-04-05 14:13:05

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#7 2024-04-05 14:16:38

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#8 2024-04-05 14:34:17

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#9 2024-04-05 14:43:43

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#10 2024-04-10 06:51:13

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#11 2024-04-10 07:14:27

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#12 2024-04-10 08:21:30

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#13 2024-04-10 08:54:36

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#14 2024-04-10 09:01:58

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#15 2024-04-10 09:14:40

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#16 2024-04-10 09:41:52

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#17 2024-04-10 09:44:43

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#18 2024-04-10 12:39:00

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#19 2024-04-10 13:06:40

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#20 2024-04-10 13:21:45

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

#21 2024-04-10 14:05:52

Re: Lagging and stuttering: bad desktop performance

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