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maboleth

Member

Registered: 2020-01-03

Posts: 220

[solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

My hardware:

Ryzen 7 3600X
32GB RAM
M.2 drive
AMD Radeon 6650XT 8GB GPU
2x 1920x1200 60hz Monitors

The Elder Scrolls Online game using Steam Proton in KDE worked ok but sluggish. The animations were choppy and movements made me dizzy. In XFCE it's just as fluid as it gets in Windows 11.

I disabled baloo in KDE but it didn't help.

On both I used Open MESA Vulkan drivers for AMD.
Any other thing I should have looked on in KDE? My hardware is pretty up to date so I don't think the game should be that choppy with KDE.

Last edited by maboleth (2023-12-19 13:06:36)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,771

Website

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

I did experience some stuttering with Proton games under sway a while back which made me switch to X11/openbox just for steam but it's fixed now. Have you tried the X11 Plasma desktop? No idea if Plasma uses Wayland by default now though, I don't use it myself (too many knobs).

EDIT: OT but you should try a high refresh rate monitor, they make a massive difference for games.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2023-12-18 17:20:08)

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maboleth

Member

Registered: 2020-01-03

Posts: 220

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

I did experience some stuttering with Proton games under sway a while back which made me switch to X11/openbox just for steam but it's fixed now. Have you tried the X11 Plasma desktop? No idea if Plasma uses Wayland by default now though, I don't use it myself (too many knobs).
EDIT: OT but you should try a high refresh rate monitor, they make a massive difference for games.

Yeah I forgot to mention that both use(d) X11. No changes in that regard.

I actually like Xfce a lot. It's rock stable and very, very fast. Though I liked some visual bells and whistles KDE had, some were convenient to have. But it seems that comes with a price, even on a relatively mid to high-end system (for example, W11 is flying to the max on the same PC).

Speaking of 120/144hz, I'm not much of a gamer. I just play a few games, now mostly one.
Been using these Dell monitors for years, they work like a charm and are super sharp. I guess when the change comes I will eventually switch for something higher.

Last edited by maboleth (2023-12-18 17:36:36)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,771

Website

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

Is KDE using a compositor? If so then try disabling it. Or try the Wayland desktop. I prefer Wayland for gaming because it doesn't tear.

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maboleth

Member

Registered: 2020-01-03

Posts: 220

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

I don't actually have KDE now, but I was thinking to get some data first then test it on a spare partition.

Yeah, compositor was always ON and didn't try Wayland. I'm kind of afraid Wayland would be even worse - maybe because of everything (glitches) I heard about it.

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,771

Website

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

Wayland is the future. I've tasted it.

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maboleth

Member

Registered: 2020-01-03

Posts: 220

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

Wayland is the future. I've tasted it.

Haha, now you got me curious. I mean yeah, sure, at some point it will be default and rock solid. I will try it for sure though.

Also curious, which DE do you use?

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,771

Website

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

Sway. I'm also a GNOME fan but sway runs lighter and gets me at least an extra 2-3fps.

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maboleth

Member

Registered: 2020-01-03

Posts: 220

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

Well, for me at least Xfce gives me that GNOME flavour, but much faster response. I too love Gnome. Never tried WMs though.

maboleth

Member

Registered: 2020-01-03

Posts: 220

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

I definitely gave up on KDE. Tried it again without compositor, very similar results for this game.

Further, I tried Wayland for the first time in many years and first time with AMD. Followed the Wiki, created a new user, checked some obvious tips & tricks I found on the web and nothing helped to log me back to Plasma - black screens with monitors shutting down every time Wayland was started. So no.

maboleth

Member

Registered: 2020-01-03

Posts: 220

Re: [solved] Game graphics under Xfce much faster and better than on KDE?

Alright, I deleted the entire partition and installed it from scratch and now it's working nicely, even under Wayland, as default. Will test it further mostly to see how Wayland behaves.

Last edited by maboleth (2023-12-19 14:38:52)