Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

moderndaytragedy · 2025-10-25 16:14:07

anything that runs on a nvidia gpu seems to have a tearing image and stuttering framerate (enabling vsync in a particular game or app does nothing), programs that run on an integrated amd gpu are normal.
when i search similar issues i find posts saying how this was a composition issue fixed in wayland a couple years ago but i dont seem to be so lucky.
ive tried nvidia and nvidia-open (with and without dkms) but nothing changed.
any help is appreciated

seth · 2025-10-25 16:47:19

anything that runs on a nvidia gpu

so this is a hybrid graphics system?

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

Possibly a problem about https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PRIME# … ronization - no idea what the kwin_wayland situation itr is - can you disable the IGP and only run on the GPU?

moderndaytragedy · 2025-10-25 18:13:15

yes hybrid graphics
i also have the mentioned xf86-video-amdgpu driver but i dont know if its being used on a wayland de
i dont know if i can run on the nvidia gpu only, last time i tried packages for manual gpu switching i only had igpu and hybrid modes available
outputs:
https://textbin.net/4wxlu5zt2a
https://textbin.net/hs4x3b0pqt
xrandr --prop:
https://textbin.net/ottsn3dfdu
can you please explain what the output-name stands for in the example?

seth · 2025-10-25 18:36:03

i also have the mentioned xf86-video-amdgpu driver but i dont know if its being used on a wayland de

Not by wayland, possibly by an xwayland server - but that's a secondary concern (unless the problem exclusively exists w/ xwayland clients like steam but not w/ any native wayland client)

i dont know if i can run on the nvidia gpu only, last time i tried packages

You'd configure that in the BIOS/UEFI.

can you please explain what the output-name stands for in the example?

"eDP-1", but this is completely irrelevant: you cannot configure this with xrandr on wayland.

Ftr, The only eDP is running on the AMD GPU on kwin_wayland.

Does this also happen if you set the scale to 1.0?

moderndaytragedy · 2025-10-25 21:44:16

i assume youre talking about scaling in display configuration?
yes the same issue occurs on 100% scaling
ive also toglled between 2 x11 scaling options (by themselfs/by system) didnt help
both steam and godot are xwayland right? i dont think the issue happens in blender when i pan around a render preview

seth · 2025-10-26 16:51:13

both steam and godot are xwayland right?

godot would make a splendid testcase:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Godot_ … in_Wayland

In case, please post your Xorg log, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#General

moderndaytragedy · 2025-10-27 10:56:02

same issue in single window and with the wayland terminal option
i dont know if these options only apply to the editor (which workes fine either way) and not the project being launched
xorg log:
https://sharetext.io/7d56fa6d

Last edited by moderndaytragedy (2025-10-27 10:56:31)

seth · 2025-10-27 13:26:47

Hybrid system, amdgpu (eDP is the only output) - nvidia is completely ignored.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=307795
Does it help to remove xf86-video-amdgpu (and adjust /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-amdgpu.conf to say "modesetting" instead of "amdgpu")?

moderndaytragedy · 2025-10-27 15:23:43

changed the config and removed the driver, no changes

moderndaytragedy · 2025-10-31 13:46:17

sorry im confused is this something that should work but doesnt or is it something unsupported, if so do i need to switch to x11 or try a different wayland window manager?
also i think the godot terminal options apply both to the editor and the game window since if i pass using the amd gpu explicitly the tearing and stuttering completely disappears

Last edited by moderndaytragedy (2025-10-31 13:54:46)

seth · 2025-10-31 14:58:15

do i need to switch to x11 or try a different wayland window manager?

It would be a good idea to test whether you can replicate that w/ either and also see https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 5#p2270365

moderndaytragedy · 2025-10-31 16:32:35

the issue does not appear on sway(fullscreen and windowed)! that means its kwin specific right?
kwin also might be responsible for steam games not launching sometimes but it might be just a steam update issue
i tried toggling allow tearing and windowing modes but that didnt seem to do anything
one deteail tho i didnt bother setting up sway too much so everything ran at non-native screen resolution (dont know how inportant that is but just in case)

Last edited by moderndaytragedy (2025-10-31 16:34:17)

seth · 2025-10-31 20:09:56

ran at non-native screen resolution

You mean equivalent to

i assume youre talking about scaling in display configuration?
yes the same issue occurs on 100% scaling

?
Then it's not.

fullscreen and windowed

Is the problem on kwin limited to either of those?
(Might be an unredirection thing)

that means its kwin specific right?

Right now seems so, possibly related to the vblank handling, might relate to vulkan vs. GL as well.
You've ensured that the nvidia GPU is actually used under sway?

moderndaytragedy · 2025-10-31 22:00:30

when i said non native resolution i meant i noticed a lot of apps (including steam and games but weirdly not the godot project) were very blury and pixelated probably rendered at lower resolution than the screen
no the issue occurs regardless of windowing (in windowed and fullscreen and exclusive fullscreen)
on sway i ran godot and prime-run godot in both cases nvidia-smi showed a process running on the gpu like on kde
on kde i ran godot with --rendering-driver opengl3/vulkan and the same issue occurs regardless

seth · 2025-11-01 15:41:34

were very blury and pixelated probably

Upscaled xwayland?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Waylan … plications

moderndaytragedy · 2025-11-02 14:35:27

yes sway does seem to have an issue with xwayland scaling however thats not important since i only used it for testing
if i run godot natively on wayland it has same scaling as on kde
running godot wayland on sway (with the same scaling and ensuring the same gpu is being used) doesnt produce the stutter and tear seen on plasma

seth · 2025-11-02 16:40:51

https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?compon … esolution=---
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=506895 - but that's not a hybrid system - can you toggle one of the GPUs in the UEFI?

moderndaytragedy · 2025-11-05 08:26:33

After doing some more testing and running steam games not just godot im very confused
So the issue seems to actually happen on all wayland but the severity varies like this
Kwin>niri>sway
It also seems like it doesn't happen initially but after a while
It is possible that something isn't setup correctly since this is what happens when u don't have gsync enabled, i think it should be enabled by default but i don't know how to verify that
I also want to test this on a xorg wm but im having troubles with i3 currently

seth · 2025-11-06 16:28:36

Since you've menatime probably updated to plasma 6.5, make sure https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=310002 (color profile, performance vs. accuracy) isn't a factor now.

moderndaytragedy · 2025-11-06 18:39:29

i havent moved to plasma 6.5 as it breaks my current theme
i also tried godot on a xorg wm (awesome) and the tearing persists (the stutter seems to be reduces although i might have just not run it for long enough, i also checked several times that vsync is enabled in the project setting, the tearing is also sporadic and appears as displaced bands rather than a scan line)
i would also like to test this on games but the 2 games that use nvidia both refused to launch for me
since some form of this at least the tearing happens on both xorg and wayland (i did also test vulkan vs gl with godot on wayland) its gotta be a driver or a configuration issue right?

seth · 2025-11-06 19:55:08

the issue does not appear on sway(fullscreen and windowed)! that means its kwin specific right?

So the issue seems to actually happen on all wayland but the severity varies like this
Kwin>niri>sway

xorg wm (awesome) and the tearing persists (the stutter seems to be reduces although i might have just not run it for long enough

The tearing specifically will be an issue about https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PRIME# … ronization - is that enabled and if not, what if you enable it?
(awesome is awesome alone, no picom etc)?

Also please post the xorg log from the awesomewm session.

moderndaytragedy · 2025-11-10 14:43:14

sorry for the late response and unreliable reports, the only consistent thing seems to be the tearing

yes just awesome wm package i dont have picom
xrandr --output eDP-1 --set "PRIME Synchronization" 1 gives this:

X Error of failed request:  BadName (named color or font does not exist)
  Major opcode of failed request:  140 (RANDR)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  11 (RRQueryOutputProperty)
  Serial number of failed request:  21
  Current serial number in output stream:  21

xrandr --prop same as in #3
xorg log: https://pastebin.com/SUwhRTAe
i dont have anything about nvidia in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d could that be the issue
20-amdgpu.conf:

Section "Device"
    Identifier "MyAMD"
    Driver "modesetting"
    BusID "197:0:0"
EndSection

00-keyboard.conf:

# Written by systemd-localed(8), read by systemd-localed and Xorg. It's
# probably wise not to edit this file manually. Use localectl(1) to
# update this file.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "system-keyboard"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        Option "XkbLayout" "us"
        Option "XkbModel" "pc105+inet"
        Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

i also tried nvidia-settings but it didnt have any options about gsync

Arch Linux

#1 2025-10-25 16:14:07

Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#2 2025-10-25 16:47:19

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#3 2025-10-25 18:13:15

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#4 2025-10-25 18:36:03

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#5 2025-10-25 21:44:16

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#6 2025-10-26 16:51:13

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#7 2025-10-27 10:56:02

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#8 2025-10-27 13:26:47

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#9 2025-10-27 15:23:43

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#10 2025-10-31 13:46:17

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#11 2025-10-31 14:58:15

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#12 2025-10-31 16:32:35

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#13 2025-10-31 20:09:56

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#14 2025-10-31 22:00:30

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#15 2025-11-01 15:41:34

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#16 2025-11-02 14:35:27

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#17 2025-11-02 16:40:51

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#18 2025-11-05 08:26:33

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#19 2025-11-06 16:28:36

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#20 2025-11-06 18:39:29

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#21 2025-11-06 19:55:08

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

#22 2025-11-10 14:43:14

Re: Screen tearing and stutters when using nvidia (kde 6.4 wayland)

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