intel graphics issues

drishal · 2021-04-10 12:47:52

so I am having some issues. there is some weird lag across my system: ie, animations in gnome and kde seem to stutter a lot, while typing in emacs there seems to be some really small but annoying input lag, picom animations are kinda slow and laggy, while switching tags in dwm and leftwm window managers apps like mpv and firefox begin to stutter during video playback.
This is getting very annoying now
tried the following:
1. i915.enable_psr=0, intel_idle.max_cstate=1, intel_pstate=passive, i915.enable_dc=0, none of them helped, went back to using the default
2. switching between xf86-video-intel and modesetting, no difference
3. the only thing that helped me was setting the pstate to performance, but it had a bad impact on battery life, so went back to powersave
also note that when I was running the 5.4 LTS kernel, the system was a lot more smoother and responsive. Another distro that ran really well was Fedora 32, but 33 and 34 beta has similar stuttering
and I am also not running ANY powersaving tools like tlp
any help please to make my system a little more responsive??

Model: Dell Vostro 3580
CPU: Intel i5-8265U
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620
RAM: 12 GB
Kernel: 5.11.12
OS: Arch Linux

Edit: changed intel in 2. to xf86-video-intel

Last edited by drishal (2021-04-10 13:29:21)

euromatlox · 2021-04-10 12:58:54

Possibly this xf86-video-intel issue ?

drishal · 2021-04-10 13:01:36

I mentioned "switching between intel and modesetting" drivers
but no difference

seth · 2021-04-10 13:16:22

Does it happen w/o the compositor (picom) and is it independent of picom's backend (gl ./. xrender)?

drishal · 2021-04-10 13:25:09

actually no difference still if I am running with or without picom, in fact it is DE/WM independent, ie lags occur in all DEs/WMs
so I think its a kernel level issue or something, as it was working well between kernel 5.4-5.8

seth · 2021-04-10 13:42:12

mitigations=off

drishal · 2021-04-10 13:49:54

Slight improvement, not much

drishal · 2021-04-10 15:55:27

any further ideas I could try?

Lone_Wolf · 2021-04-10 16:00:29

I do remember a thread where linux 5.10+ gaves issues with certain intel integrated gpus, but can't find it.

The 5.4 LTS kernel is now maintained in aur[1] , are the issues gone if you use that ?

[1] https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/linux-lts54 ?

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2021-04-10 16:03:47)

drishal · 2021-04-10 16:03:46

last I tried LTS it worked better, but the other issue was the touchpad does not work correctly with LTS, which is another thing.

Last edited by drishal (2021-04-10 16:03:57)

drishal · 2021-04-10 17:23:00

any other ideas to help please?

Last edited by drishal (2021-04-10 17:23:20)

seth · 2021-04-10 19:21:41

Please stop bumping.

a) how much better is it w/ the TS kernel?
b) did you try 5.4 from the AUR? Does that improve the situation (cause if it doesn't and 5.4 was better before, we might be dealing w/ a userspace situation still)

Because the frequency governor seems to have relevance, also see https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.11/a … state.html

You could try "no_hwp" or fine-tune https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.11/a … e-in-sysfs
If you've access to the older kernel (if you want to install it, be aware of https://archlinux.org/news/moving-to-zs … kinitcpio/ - not sure whether teh AUR package does that) you could compare the settings.

Other than that and cc.: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Microcode

drishal · 2021-04-11 05:19:17

Please stop bumping.

my apologies, will not do that again

a) how much better is it w/ the TS kernel?

I think you mean LTS?
with kernel 5.10 not much
ok I tried the kernel 5.10 LTS, but gives me almost same performance

b) did you try 5.4 from the AUR? Does that improve the situation (cause if it doesn't and 5.4 was better before, we might be dealing w/ a userspace situation still)

am currently trying the kernel 5.4, which now seems mildly better than kernel 5.10 and 5.11, but am getting this strange issue with dmesg

$ sudo dmesg | grep "i915"
...
Failed to program MOCS registers; expect performance issues
...

Other than that and cc.: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Microcode"

I have already installed (and using) intel-ucode

You could try "no_hwp" or fine-tune https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/v5.11/a … e-in-sysfs

will now test that, but when I had tried

intel-pstate=passive

, the system did become more smoother, but some other weird issue came up: the text become a bit more smudgy when scrolling through large chunks of text in apps like firefox, than with active, seems the cpu/gpu is not scaling correctly?

(Edit: some corrections)

Last edited by drishal (2021-04-11 06:29:34)

seth · 2021-04-11 06:46:15

drishal wrote:

kernel 5.4, which now seems mildly better than kernel 5.10 and 5.11

drishal earlier wrote:

when I was running the 5.4 LTS kernel, the system was a lot more smoother and responsive

But this doesn't suggest that the cause is the kernel update, does it?

drishal · 2021-04-11 09:13:45

But this doesn't suggest that the cause is the kernel update, does it?

hmm maybe it could be anywhere in the kernel or graphics or the userspace

one more thing I noticed something interesting:
I use the command

sudo grep -H '' /sys/module/i915/parameters/*

on both kernel 5.4 and current kernel 5.11
the output:
1. kernel 5.4

/sys/module/i915/parameters/alpha_support:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/disable_display:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/disable_power_well:1                    #powerwell is set to 1 instead of -1 on the older kernel
/sys/module/i915/parameters/dmc_firmware_path:(null)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/edp_vswing:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_dc:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_dpcd_backlight:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_dp_mst:Y
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_fbc:1                              #fbc is set to 1 instead of -1 
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_guc:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_gvt:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_hangcheck:Y
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_ips:1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_psr:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/error_capture:Y
/sys/module/i915/parameters/fastboot:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/force_probe:*
/sys/module/i915/parameters/force_reset_modeset_test:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/guc_firmware_path:(null)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/guc_log_level:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/huc_firmware_path:(null)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/invert_brightness:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/load_detect_test:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/lvds_channel_mode:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/mmio_debug:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/modeset:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/nuclear_pageflip:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/panel_use_ssc:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/prefault_disable:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/reset:2
/sys/module/i915/parameters/vbt_firmware:(null)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/vbt_sdvo_panel_type:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/verbose_state_checks:Y

kernel 5.11

/sys/module/i915/parameters/disable_display:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/disable_power_well:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/dmc_firmware_path:(null)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/edp_vswing:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_dc:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_dpcd_backlight:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_dp_mst:Y
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_fbc:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_guc:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_gvt:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_hangcheck:Y
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_ips:1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_psr:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_psr2_sel_fetch:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/error_capture:Y
/sys/module/i915/parameters/fastboot:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/force_probe:*
/sys/module/i915/parameters/force_reset_modeset_test:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/guc_firmware_path:(null)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/guc_log_level:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/huc_firmware_path:(null)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/invert_brightness:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/load_detect_test:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/lvds_channel_mode:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/mitigations:auto
/sys/module/i915/parameters/mmio_debug:0
/sys/module/i915/parameters/modeset:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/nuclear_pageflip:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/panel_use_ssc:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/psr_safest_params:N
/sys/module/i915/parameters/reset:3
/sys/module/i915/parameters/vbt_firmware:(null)
/sys/module/i915/parameters/vbt_sdvo_panel_type:-1
/sys/module/i915/parameters/verbose_state_checks:Y

(note: I set enable_psr = 0 manually due to this issue: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ta … _graphics#[drm:intel_pipe_update_start_[i915]]_*ERROR*_Potential_atomic_update_failure_on_pipe_A

drishal · 2021-04-11 10:22:07

one Q: should I try setting these options which were present in the 5.4 LTS kernel and check if it makes a difference?

Edit: never mind, set the options: i915.disable_power_well=1 i915.enable_fbc=1, which was set to -1 in the newer kernels
the system now seems a lot more responsive with these options
one more interesting thing, as soon as the system comes under load, ie the cpu spins up, the system immediately becomes a lot more responsive. Seems either the priorities are a bit messed up or the scaling of CPU/GPU is not done properly under light workloads. (I also do not want to set the pstate to performance, as it eats a bit more battery)
any further solutions/ideas to the issue?

Last edited by drishal (2021-04-11 10:45:30)

drishal · 2021-04-19 09:07:47

just found something interesting: in this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/intel_graphics
there is a line somewhere which says: (I have a UHD 620 graphics)
For Intel UHD 620 you will need to add Option "TripleBuffer" "true" in order for TearFree to work.
and BOOM, most of the lagginess in xorg seems to have gone after switching back to xf86-video-intel
but one new issue due to xf86-video-intel: insane flickering in OBS and other screen recording tools (in the recorded video, not the actual desktop), and I use OBS to often record my classes
any help on this?
(edit: the flickering seems to happen mostly in plasma)
(edit 2: also the recorded videos seem a bit more blurry)
(edit 3 : had to remove the triple buffering option bcs it was causing some issues with games like xonotic, but there seems to be not much of an impact on the overall Desktop responsiveness. but even then it looks as if xf86-video-intel actually seems to work better than modesetting for my laptop. Any ideas why? also the OBS and other recorders still has bad flickering in the video output with xf86-video-intel, especially with plasma desktop, but does not happen on other WMs like dwm, xmoand or qtile with picom)

Last edited by drishal (2021-04-19 09:32:14)

garabulho · 2021-04-20 07:45:53

Same problem here with an intel tiger lake iris Xe. Input lag in terminal and stutter video playback. I tried xorg modesetting driver and intel with no difference. If I use i915 with enable_fbc=1 videos runs in i3 smoothly but appear more input lag.

I ran an ubuntu groovy gorila in the same laptop and everything works fine. I think problem is with newer kernel 5.10 and 11

Arch Linux

#1 2021-04-10 12:47:52

intel graphics issues

#2 2021-04-10 12:58:54

Re: intel graphics issues

#3 2021-04-10 13:01:36

Re: intel graphics issues

#4 2021-04-10 13:16:22

Re: intel graphics issues

#5 2021-04-10 13:25:09

Re: intel graphics issues

#6 2021-04-10 13:42:12

Re: intel graphics issues

#7 2021-04-10 13:49:54

Re: intel graphics issues

#8 2021-04-10 15:55:27

Re: intel graphics issues

#9 2021-04-10 16:00:29

Re: intel graphics issues

#10 2021-04-10 16:03:46

Re: intel graphics issues

#11 2021-04-10 17:23:00

Re: intel graphics issues

#12 2021-04-10 19:21:41

Re: intel graphics issues

#13 2021-04-11 05:19:17

Re: intel graphics issues

#14 2021-04-11 06:46:15

Re: intel graphics issues

#15 2021-04-11 09:13:45

Re: intel graphics issues

#16 2021-04-11 10:22:07

Re: intel graphics issues

#17 2021-04-19 09:07:47

Re: intel graphics issues

#18 2021-04-20 07:45:53

Re: intel graphics issues

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