Arch Linux

EmilyF

Member

Registered: 2024-06-18

Posts: 2

Games vsyncing to half or third of monitor refresh rate

(System info below)

I am having an issue where, when running games with vsync, they cap their fps at one half or sometimes one third of the monitor's refresh rate (144 hz). Here's a list of games that I tested:

Terraria - 48 fps - native
Terraria - 72 fps - native (with mod to allow rendering beyond 60 fps)
ULTRAKILL - 48 fps - proton
Deep Rock Galactic - 72 fps - proton
Celeste - 48 fps - native
Dome Keeper - 72 fps - native
Minecraft - 72 fps - native
Hollow Knight - 72 fps - native
Outer Wilds - 72 fps - proton

I'm running on a laptop with an integrated 165 hz screen. All games tested were easily able to reach 165 fps with vsync on when they were put on my laptop's monitor. In all games that supported disabling vsync, they ran at framerates exceeding 144 hz, and it was clear through visual inspection that the monitor was rendering 144 fps. The issue then arises when a game does not support disabling vsync (e.g. Terraria, which is what I first noticed and tried to fix).

System info:
Laptop with an Intel i7-14700HX, NVIDIA RTX 4070 Laptop, 32 GB DDR5 RAM
Running Arch Linux with KDE Plasma 6.4.5 on Wayland, kernel version 6.17.2, tested with both nvidia 580.95.05 and nvidia-open 580.95.05
Displays: Integrated laptop display, 165 hz, 1920x1080; External monitor over HDMI, 144 hz, 1920x1080
I just performed a full system update
(if there is any other information that would be helpful for diagnosing this issue I would be happy to provide it)

I tried switching to the Plasma X11 session for testing, but it was so bugged out that I wasn't even able to launch a game. (Only displaying on the integrated monitor, launching programs through any method, including my keyboard shortcut for my terminal, didn't work, windows were of very weird shapes, all windows were unresponsive.) Has anyone any idea why this is happening?

unixman

Member

Registered: 2015-03-12

Posts: 128

Re: Games vsyncing to half or third of monitor refresh rate

enabling vsync itself is causing a (little)bit overhead?
but i am suprised that half/third drop.
play a native resolution video as compositing OFF and fullscreen and  vsync ON.
some players have vsync switch? and framerate onscreen? not remember myself.

seth

Member

From: Don't DM me only for attention

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 69,114

Re: Games vsyncing to half or third of monitor refresh rate

kscreen-doctor
qdbus6 org.kde.KWin /KWin supportInformation

I tried switching to the Plasma X11 session for testing, but it was so bugged out that I wasn't even able to launch a game.

Please post your Xorg log, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#General

You might face either or both of double-syncing (es. assuming "games" means steam because that'll run on X11, in doubt via xwayland) and prime-sync related issues (depending on whether this is a hybrid setup and where the outputs are wired - your xorg experience very much suggest this and a bogus configuration on top)

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