Arch Linux

hippoz

Member

Registered: 2020-08-27

Posts: 2

AMD+NVidia Hybrid graphics tearing PRIME

I have recently gotten a new HP Pavilion 15 with an AMD APU + an NVdia 1660 TI MAX-Q.
I also have a 1080p, 75hz external monitor that is connected with HDMI to the laptop.
I first installed windows which worked fine, but then I wanted to install linux.
I tried Pop!_OS, while the built-in system76 graphics card switching worked fine, I couldn't help but notice tearing on the second monitor. On the first monitor, it was ok-ish, but there was still some stuttering present.
I frantically googled for some time, and then came across PRIME Sync. It was supposed to be the "magical" thing that would eliminate screen tearing. Sure enough, I ran

sudo cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/modeset

to check if nvidia-drm was enabled. This would mean that Prime sync could work.
and the output was:

Looking into the nvidia settings, I clicked on the prime display and it said "Synchronization: Off".
I concluded that the reason the tearing was present was because Prime sync would not work.

I then went to Arch, and tried the same thing. nvidia-drm was enabled, meaning that PRIME Sync should be enabled too, but looking to the nvidia settings, it said "Synchronization: Off". I know that kernal 5.4 breaks sync, but someone said it was fixed in a recent driver.

Right now I am stumped. How do I stop the tearing? If PRIME Sync does not stop the tearing, then what does? If PRIME Sync is the problem, how do I enable it?\

uname -a:

Linux arch-pc 5.8.3-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri, 21 Aug 2020 16:54:16 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

lspci:
https://pastebin.com/wVaqF5Lp

Let me know if there is any more output you need.

Thanks in advance!

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,087

Re: AMD+NVidia Hybrid graphics tearing PRIME

You need to enable the modesetting parameter, it isn't by default, easiest by simply adding

nvidia-drm.modeset=1

to your kernel parameters.

hippoz

Member

Registered: 2020-08-27

Posts: 2

Re: AMD+NVidia Hybrid graphics tearing PRIME

I already did that. I don't know what could be causing the issue. Maybe I have to add it to my initramfs, ill have to try...