GNOME desktop dims periodically and GPU frames not in sync

tomsk · 2026-03-28 20:25:31

New discovery:

Primary issue persists that my screen goes to dim every 1-2 hours, but I found out that, when there are 2 "videos playing" I get that FPS out of sync, that "stuttering", for example on this screenshot https://i.imgur.com/DwvKiRD.png when it happened and I was playing game my FPS were alright, yeah screen was darker, but there was no stuttering, and when Alt+Tabed into desktop and started that youtube video and mouse hovered into game (you can see it on screenshot) so I got that "game preview" in task manager then my youtube video started to stutter (FPS out of sync), when I mouse hovered back to browser (so game preview went to hide) then video was playing normally.. so it explains why I get GPU stuttering during game, because I have RDP on second monitor running (3rd video), so it probably "counts" as "video".

But core issue persists and it is that my screen goes darker every few hours and that stuterring happens only when screen is darker.

seth · 2026-03-28 22:38:43

Fwwi, https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/issues/3461 - seems some chunk of nvidia-related patches for gnome 50

Do the problems disappear when entering the "overview" mode?
(I recall some other thread where the GPU would clock down too much but I don't think that was on nvidia)

Does it help to globally "export GSK_RENDERER=gl" ?
(Defaults to vulkan)

tomsk · 2026-03-29 00:07:31

Yes when I pres super key, when GNOME enters "overview" mode then it will disappear, but my darker screen will stay, just FPS stuttering disappear, but when I leave "overview" mode it happens again. So looks like they fucked something in last versions of GNOME?

What do you mean by globally "export GSK_RENDERER=gl"? if I type it in terminal that env variable will be used only for that terminal session, right? So how to make it globally for whole OS?

seth · 2026-03-29 11:15:43

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Enviro … s#Globally

tomsk · 2026-03-29 14:33:18

So GSK_RENDERER=gl didnt help, this is how my /etc/environments looks like:

#
# This file is parsed by pam_env module
#
# Syntax: simple "KEY=VAL" pairs on separate lines
#

CLUTTER_PAINT=disable-clipped-redraws:disable-culling
CLUTTER_VBLANK=True
GSK_RENDERER=gl

seth · 2026-03-29 14:37:04

CLUTTER_PAINT=disable-clipped-redraws:disable-culling
CLUTTER_VBLANK=True

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/clutter-gtk

pacman -Qs clutter
printenv

tomsk · 2026-03-29 15:49:33

pacman -Qs clutter
local/clutter 1.26.4-4
    A toolkit for creating fast, portable, compelling dynamic UIs
local/clutter-gst 3.0.27-5
    GStreamer bindings for clutter
local/clutter-gtk 1.8.4-5
    Clutter integration with GTK+
local/libcheese 44.1-7
    Webcam widget for Clutter and GTK

printenv
ANDROID_HOME=/opt/android-sdk
ANDROID_SDK_ROOT=/opt/android-sdk
CASROOT=/usr
CLUTTER_PAINT=disable-clipped-redraws:disable-culling
CLUTTER_VBLANK=True
COLORTERM=truecolor
CSF_DrawPluginDefaults=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/DrawResources
CSF_EXCEPTION_PROMPT=1
CSF_IGESDefaults=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/XSTEPResource
CSF_LANGUAGE=us
CSF_MDTVTexturesDirectory=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/Textures
CSF_MIGRATION_TYPES=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/StdResource/MigrationSheet.txt
CSF_OCCTResourcePath=/usr/share/opencascade/resources
CSF_PluginDefaults=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/StdResource
CSF_SHMessage=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/SHMessage
CSF_STEPDefaults=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/XSTEPResource
CSF_ShadersDirectory=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/Shaders
CSF_StandardDefaults=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/StdResource
CSF_StandardLiteDefaults=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/StdResource
CSF_TObjDefaults=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/StdResource
CSF_TObjMessage=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/TObj
CSF_XCAFDefaults=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/StdResource
CSF_XSMessage=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/XSMessage
CSF_XmlOcafResource=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/XmlOcafResource
CUDA_PATH=/opt/cuda
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus
DEBUGINFOD_URLS=https://debuginfod.archlinux.org 
DESKTOP_SESSION=gnome
DISPLAY=:0
DRAWDEFAULT=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/DrawResources/DrawDefault
DRAWHOME=/usr/share/opencascade/resources/DrawResources
GDMSESSION=gnome
GDM_LANG=en_US.UTF-8
GIO_LAUNCHED_DESKTOP_FILE=/usr/share/applications/dev.warp.Warp.desktop
GIO_LAUNCHED_DESKTOP_FILE_PID=33124
GJS_DEBUG_OUTPUT=stderr
GJS_DEBUG_TOPICS=JS ERROR;JS LOG
GNOME_SETUP_DISPLAY=:1
GRADLE_HOME=/usr/share/java/gradle
GSK_RENDERER=gl
HG=/usr/bin/hg
HOME=/home/tomsk
INVOCATION_ID=8cec9986abaa4fd18527bfb943d0af59
JOURNAL_STREAM=9:18179
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LOGNAME=tomsk
MAIL=/var/spool/mail/tomsk
MANAGERPID=3021
MANAGERPIDFDID=3022
MEMORY_PRESSURE_WATCH=/sys/fs/cgroup/user.slice/user-1000.slice/user@1000.service/session.slice/org.gnome.Shell@wayland.service/memory.pressure
MEMORY_PRESSURE_WRITE=c29tZSAyMDAwMDAgMjAwMDAwMAA=
MKLROOT=/opt/intel/oneapi/mkl/latest
MMGT_CLEAR=1
MOTD_SHOWN=pam
NVCC_CCBIN=/usr/bin/g++
OLDPWD=/home/tomsk
PATH=/home/tomsk/.bun/bin:/home/tomsk/.cargo/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/opt/android-sdk/emulator:/opt/android-sdk/cmdline-tools/latest/bin:/opt/android-sdk/platform-tools:/opt/android-sdk/tools:/opt/android-sdk/tools/bin:/opt/cuda/bin:/home/tomsk/.local/share/flatpak/exports/bin:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/bin:/usr/lib/jvm/default/bin:/usr/bin/site_perl:/usr/bin/vendor_perl:/usr/bin/core_perl:/home/tomsk/.local/bin:/home/tomsk/.local/bin:/home/tomsk/.local/bin
PWD=/home/tomsk
PYTHIA8=/usr
PYTHIA8DATA=/usr/share/pythia8/xmldoc
QT_IM_MODULE=ibus
QT_IM_MODULES=wayland;ibus
SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh
SHLVL=1
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/run/user/1000/gcr/ssh
SSH_SOCKET_DIR=~/.ssh
SYSTEMD_EXEC_PID=3329
TERM=xterm-256color
TERM_PROGRAM=WarpTerminal
TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION=v0.2026.02.04.08.20.stable_03
USER=tomsk
USERNAME=tomsk
WARP_HONOR_PS1=1
WARP_IS_LOCAL_SHELL_SESSION=1
WARP_PATH_APPEND=
WARP_USE_SSH_WRAPPER=1
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-0
XAUTHORITY=/run/user/1000/.mutter-Xwaylandauth.CKL4M3
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME
XDG_DATA_DIRS=/home/tomsk/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/local/share/:/usr/share/
XDG_MENU_PREFIX=gnome-
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000
XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=gnome
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland
XMODIFIERS=@im=ibus
_=/usr/bin/printenv
ZSH=/home/tomsk/.oh-my-zsh
PAGER=less
LESS=-R
LSCOLORS=Gxfxcxdxbxegedabagacad
LS_COLORS=rs=0:di=01;34:ln=01;36:mh=00:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=40;31;01:mi=00:su=37;41:sg=30;43:ca=00:tw=30;42:ow=34;42:st=37;44:ex=01;32:*.7z=01;31:*.ace=01;31:*.alz=01;31:*.apk=01;31:*.arc=01;31:*.arj=01;31:*.bz=01;31:*.bz2=01;31:*.cab=01;31:*.cpio=01;31:*.crate=01;31:*.deb=01;31:*.drpm=01;31:*.dwm=01;31:*.dz=01;31:*.ear=01;31:*.egg=01;31:*.esd=01;31:*.gz=01;31:*.jar=01;31:*.lha=01;31:*.lrz=01;31:*.lz=01;31:*.lz4=01;31:*.lzh=01;31:*.lzma=01;31:*.lzo=01;31:*.pyz=01;31:*.rar=01;31:*.rpm=01;31:*.rz=01;31:*.sar=01;31:*.swm=01;31:*.t7z=01;31:*.tar=01;31:*.taz=01;31:*.tbz=01;31:*.tbz2=01;31:*.tgz=01;31:*.tlz=01;31:*.txz=01;31:*.tz=01;31:*.tzo=01;31:*.tzst=01;31:*.udeb=01;31:*.war=01;31:*.whl=01;31:*.wim=01;31:*.xz=01;31:*.z=01;31:*.zip=01;31:*.zoo=01;31:*.zst=01;31:*.avif=01;35:*.jpg=01;35:*.jpeg=01;35:*.jxl=01;35:*.mjpg=01;35:*.mjpeg=01;35:*.gif=01;35:*.bmp=01;35:*.pbm=01;35:*.pgm=01;35:*.ppm=01;35:*.tga=01;35:*.xbm=01;35:*.xpm=01;35:*.tif=01;35:*.tiff=01;35:*.png=01;35:*.svg=01;35:*.svgz=01;35:*.mng=01;35:*.pcx=01;35:*.mov=01;35:*.mpg=01;35:*.mpeg=01;35:*.m2v=01;35:*.mkv=01;35:*.webm=01;35:*.webp=01;35:*.ogm=01;35:*.mp4=01;35:*.m4v=01;35:*.mp4v=01;35:*.vob=01;35:*.qt=01;35:*.nuv=01;35:*.wmv=01;35:*.asf=01;35:*.rm=01;35:*.rmvb=01;35:*.flc=01;35:*.avi=01;35:*.fli=01;35:*.flv=01;35:*.gl=01;35:*.dl=01;35:*.xcf=01;35:*.xwd=01;35:*.yuv=01;35:*.cgm=01;35:*.emf=01;35:*.ogv=01;35:*.ogx=01;35:*.aac=00;36:*.au=00;36:*.flac=00;36:*.m4a=00;36:*.mid=00;36:*.midi=00;36:*.mka=00;36:*.mp3=00;36:*.mpc=00;36:*.ogg=00;36:*.ra=00;36:*.wav=00;36:*.oga=00;36:*.opus=00;36:*.spx=00;36:*.xspf=00;36:*~=00;90:*#=00;90:*.bak=00;90:*.crdownload=00;90:*.dpkg-dist=00;90:*.dpkg-new=00;90:*.dpkg-old=00;90:*.dpkg-tmp=00;90:*.old=00;90:*.orig=00;90:*.part=00;90:*.rej=00;90:*.rpmnew=00;90:*.rpmorig=00;90:*.rpmsave=00;90:*.swp=00;90:*.tmp=00;90:*.ucf-dist=00;90:*.ucf-new=00;90:*.ucf-old=00;90:
P9K_SSH=0
_P9K_SSH_TTY=/dev/pts/0
GRADLE_USER_HOME=/home/tomsk/.cache/gradle
BUN_INSTALL=/home/tomsk/.bun
CONDA_CHANGEPS1=false
P9K_TTY=old
_P9K_TTY=/dev/pts/0

seth · 2026-03-29 20:48:48

So you've clutter because of cheese (nb. this dropped out of the repos), but there' nothing else really suspicious in the environment and apparently (unfortunately) it's also not vulkan

My gut feeling is that for whatever reason the GPU clocks down or otherwise ends up being underpowered - cannot be temperature because it's implausible that this would result in static frequency (you'd have a long hold-off and then the temps would start to cycle into and out of the critical range - plus random load would interfere)

Is there significant sideload during those 5 minutes (eg. CPU intense task or you're running a backup spinning up all internal disks, …)?
"top" and "iotop" might provide hints itr.

Arch Linux

#26 2026-03-28 20:25:31

Re: GNOME desktop dims periodically and GPU frames not in sync

#27 2026-03-28 22:38:43

Re: GNOME desktop dims periodically and GPU frames not in sync

#28 2026-03-29 00:07:31

Re: GNOME desktop dims periodically and GPU frames not in sync

#29 2026-03-29 11:15:43

Re: GNOME desktop dims periodically and GPU frames not in sync

#30 2026-03-29 14:33:18

Re: GNOME desktop dims periodically and GPU frames not in sync

#31 2026-03-29 14:37:04

Re: GNOME desktop dims periodically and GPU frames not in sync

#32 2026-03-29 15:49:33

Re: GNOME desktop dims periodically and GPU frames not in sync

#33 2026-03-29 20:48:48

Re: GNOME desktop dims periodically and GPU frames not in sync

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