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#1 2026-04-09 21:45:24

Big Scorpio
Member
Registered: 2024-12-15
Posts: 97

Low FPS in games (nvidia)

Hello Arch Friends,

This is a recurring issue I get when I install Arch fresh or overinstall an existing Arch System (such as was the recent case here to get my system back in a healthy shape https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=312947 )
I play on Steam and use Proton-GE.
There was a time, where I did things, that I don't remember (or even know fully what I did but these attempts were successful) to resolve this low FPS issue and my games played just as smoothly as on Spydows.
Now I'm back again after overinstalling Arch to get my system back in shape and I have those choppy low FPS problems again.

It happens on KDE Wayland (+HDR) + X11 and Cinnamon X11, so DE is seemingly not at fault here and I use the Nvidia 580xx drivers for my GTX 1080 Ti.
nvtop also shows correct GPU usage (my 1080 Ti and not the intel integrated graphics processor)
I have 32 GB RAM and an i7 6700K and it's the same games I've been playing, so it's not like my rig is getting weaker.

Some more things I tried/made:

From https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/c … ch_nvidia/
"/etc/mkinitcpio.conf" put modules like so "MODULES=(nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm)"

From https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=278796 and https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 4#p2215844
Enabled and installed multilib and have 32-bit libs installed

I checked the Arch Wiki about Gaming and performance improvements but these didn't address my issues ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Improving_performance )

What secret magic trick am I missing to get my FPS back to normal?

Journalctl -> https://pastebin.com/FVTqEkkN

3D Graphics and GPU relevant command outputs:

[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$ glxinfo -B
name of display: :0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Memory info (GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info):
    Dedicated video memory: 11264 MB
    Total available memory: 11264 MB
    Currently available dedicated video memory: 10570 MB
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 580.142
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60 NVIDIA
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 580.142
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60 NVIDIA
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: (none)

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 NVIDIA 580.142
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20

[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$ glxinfo32 -B
name of display: :0
display: :0  screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
Memory info (GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info):
    Dedicated video memory: 11264 MB
    Total available memory: 11264 MB
    Currently available dedicated video memory: 10583 MB
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 580.142
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60 NVIDIA
OpenGL core profile context flags: (none)
OpenGL core profile profile mask: core profile

OpenGL version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 580.142
OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60 NVIDIA
OpenGL context flags: (none)
OpenGL profile mask: (none)

OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 NVIDIA 580.142
OpenGL ES profile shading language version string: OpenGL ES GLSL ES 3.20

[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$ vulkaninfo --summary
==========
VULKANINFO
==========

Vulkan Instance Version: 1.4.341


Instance Extensions: count = 27
-------------------------------
VK_EXT_acquire_drm_display             : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_acquire_xlib_display            : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_debug_report                    : extension revision 10
VK_EXT_debug_utils                     : extension revision 2
VK_EXT_direct_mode_display             : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_display_surface_counter         : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_headless_surface                : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_layer_settings                  : extension revision 2
VK_EXT_surface_maintenance1            : extension revision 1
VK_EXT_swapchain_colorspace            : extension revision 5
VK_KHR_device_group_creation           : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_display                         : extension revision 23
VK_KHR_external_fence_capabilities     : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_external_memory_capabilities    : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_external_semaphore_capabilities : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_get_display_properties2         : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_get_physical_device_properties2 : extension revision 2
VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2       : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_portability_enumeration         : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_surface                         : extension revision 25
VK_KHR_surface_maintenance1            : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_surface_protected_capabilities  : extension revision 1
VK_KHR_wayland_surface                 : extension revision 6
VK_KHR_xcb_surface                     : extension revision 6
VK_KHR_xlib_surface                    : extension revision 6
VK_LUNARG_direct_driver_loading        : extension revision 1
VK_NV_display_stereo                   : extension revision 1

Instance Layers: count = 12
---------------------------
VK_LAYER_INTEL_nullhw             INTEL NULL HW                                                1.1.73   version 1
VK_LAYER_MESA_anti_lag            Open-source implementation of the VK_AMD_anti_lag extension. 1.4.303  version 1
VK_LAYER_MESA_device_select       Linux device selection layer                                 1.4.303  version 1
VK_LAYER_MESA_overlay             Mesa Overlay layer                                           1.4.303  version 1
VK_LAYER_MESA_screenshot          Mesa Screenshot layer                                        1.4.303  version 1
VK_LAYER_MESA_vram_report_limit   Limit reported VRAM                                          1.4.303  version 1
VK_LAYER_NV_optimus               NVIDIA Optimus layer                                         1.4.312  version 1
VK_LAYER_NV_present               NVIDIA GR2608 layer                                          1.4.312  version 1
VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_fossilize_32 Steam Pipeline Caching Layer                                 1.3.207  version 1
VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_fossilize_64 Steam Pipeline Caching Layer                                 1.3.207  version 1
VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_overlay_32   Steam Overlay Layer                                          1.3.207  version 1
VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_overlay_64   Steam Overlay Layer                                          1.3.207  version 1

Devices:
========
GPU0:
        apiVersion         = 1.4.312
        driverVersion      = 580.142.0.0
        vendorID           = 0x10de
        deviceID           = 0x1b06
        deviceType         = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_DISCRETE_GPU
        deviceName         = NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
        driverID           = DRIVER_ID_NVIDIA_PROPRIETARY
        driverName         = NVIDIA
        driverInfo         = 580.142
        conformanceVersion = 1.4.1.3
        deviceUUID         = 53d43949-6a13-e9b2-7da2-e5b953fec214
        driverUUID         = 39c7349d-b177-509c-aed0-a302b37d2085
GPU1:
        apiVersion         = 1.4.335
        driverVersion      = 26.0.4
        vendorID           = 0x8086
        deviceID           = 0x1912
        deviceType         = PHYSICAL_DEVICE_TYPE_INTEGRATED_GPU
        deviceName         = Intel(R) HD Graphics 530 (SKL GT2)
        driverID           = DRIVER_ID_INTEL_OPEN_SOURCE_MESA
        driverName         = Intel open-source Mesa driver
        driverInfo         = Mesa 26.0.4-arch1.1
        conformanceVersion = 1.4.0.0
        deviceUUID         = 86801219-0600-0000-0002-000000000000
        driverUUID         = 99a44e3a-7e0c-b8a6-29d4-158cb87d6a0e
[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$ 
[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$ pacman -Q nvidia
nvidia-580xx-dkms 580.142-2
[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$ pacman -Qs vulkan
local/lib32-nvidia-580xx-utils 580.142-1
    NVIDIA drivers utilities (32-bit) (580xx)
local/lib32-vulkan-icd-loader 1.4.341.0-1
    Vulkan Installable Client Driver (ICD) Loader (32-bit)
local/nvidia-580xx-utils 580.142-2
    NVIDIA drivers utilities (580xx)
local/qt6-shadertools 6.11.0-1 (qt6)
    Provides functionality for the shader pipeline that allows Qt Quick to operate on Vulkan, Metal, and Direct3D, in addition to OpenGL
local/spirv-tools 1:1.4.341.0-2 (vulkan-devel)
    API and commands for processing SPIR-V modules
local/vulkan-headers 1:1.4.341.0-1 (vulkan-devel)
    Vulkan header files and API registry
local/vulkan-icd-loader 1.4.341.0-1 (vulkan-devel)
    Vulkan Installable Client Driver (ICD) Loader
local/vulkan-intel 1:26.0.4-1
    Open-source Vulkan driver for Intel GPUs
local/vulkan-mesa-implicit-layers 1:26.0.4-1
    Mesa's implicit Vulkan layers
local/vulkan-mesa-layers 1:26.0.4-1
    Mesa's explicit Vulkan layers
local/vulkan-tools 1.4.341.0-2 (vulkan-devel)
    Vulkan tools and utilities
[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$

Environment:

QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME="wayland;xcb"
# 1st is my nvidia, 2nd is intel
KWIN_DRM_DEVICES="/dev/dri/by-path/pci-0000\:01\:00.0-card:/dev/dri/by-path/pci-0000\:00\:02.0-card"

# Graphics Buffer Manager (GBM) - use Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) with this backend. Needed for modern display servers (e.g. Wayland)
# Consider removing. May interfere with Intel or AMD capture
GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm
# Force OpenGL implementationto use Nvidia vendor library. Relevant for multiple GPUs in a hybrid system (e.g. Intel + Nvidia). Force to use this GPU
# Keep - Gaming needs this
__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia
__GL_VRR_ALLOWED=1
__GL_NGX_ALLOWED=1
# disable vsync
__GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK=0
# Video Acceleration API (VA-API) - HW Acceleration for media players on VLC, Web Browsers, Steam
# Remove if Intel or AMD is wanted for encoding
LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=nvidia
QSG_RENDERER_LOOP=threaded
# Video Decode and Presentation API - enable HW acceleration on video playback (YT, local video files) using NVIDIA instead of Software Decoding
# Remove if Intel or AMD is wanted for decoding
VDPAU_DRIVER=nvidia

# Automatically apply proton settings
PROTON_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1
PROTON_ENABLE_HDR=1

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#2 2026-04-09 22:08:04

seth
Member
From: Don't DM me only for attention
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 74,432

Re: Low FPS in games (nvidia)

Apr 09 22:51:05 Nexus kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] [ENCODER:105:DDI A/PHY A] failed to retrieve link info, disabling eDP
Apr 09 22:51:05 Nexus kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] *ERROR* Failed to probe lspcon
Apr 09 22:51:05 Nexus kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Registered 3 planes with drm panic
Apr 09 22:51:05 Nexus kernel: [drm] Initialized i915 1.6.0 for 0000:00:02.0 on minor 1
Apr 09 22:51:05 Nexus kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Cannot find any crtc or sizes
Apr 09 22:51:05 Nexus kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Cannot find any crtc or sizes
Apr 09 22:51:05 Nexus kernel: i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] Cannot find any crtc or sizes

IGP seems unused?
Same problem w/ any of https://aur.archlinux.org/packages?O=0&K=unigine ?

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#3 2026-04-10 00:24:45

Big Scorpio
Member
Registered: 2024-12-15
Posts: 97

Re: Low FPS in games (nvidia)

seth wrote:

IGP seems unused?

You made me look it up online. Then i thought maybe you meant my *i*ntel *g*raphics *c*ard?
Just checked OBS. Intel's gone from the encoder list. That's bad.
However a test on Spydows with the intel GPU turned out to really struggle to capture 2560x1440 at 60 frames per second to the point it couldn't capture anything. But back in the day shortly after i got it, it was handling 1080p60fps just fine.

Somewhat unrelated but still, I am actually planning on acquiring new PC parts with an AMD 9850 X3D as my new CPU (replacing also my motherboard and getting ripped off with DDR5). This one should (be able to) get the job done I believe. I'm not letting go of the idea to have 2 GPU's doing their designated tasks and I'm keeping my GTX 1080 Ti until it can't function in my workstation.

seth wrote:

Yes. FPS ranging from 9-15 on medium and high settings. Low settings yields from 30-60 FPS. Tested with unigine-heaven.

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#4 2026-04-10 07:20:01

seth
Member
From: Don't DM me only for attention
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 74,432

Re: Low FPS in games (nvidia)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_ … ssing_unit

Check nvidia-smi to see whether the GPU steps up under load.
Edit, sorry - you already posted glxinfo.

Last edited by seth (2026-04-10 07:20:37)

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#5 2026-04-10 16:00:20

Big Scorpio
Member
Registered: 2024-12-15
Posts: 97

Re: Low FPS in games (nvidia)

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 580.142                Driver Version: 580.142        CUDA Version: 13.0     |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti     Off |   00000000:01:00.0  On |                  N/A |
| 80%   91C    P0             82W /  270W |    1511MiB /  11264MiB |    100%      Default |
|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                              |
|  GPU   GI   CI              PID   Type   Process name                        GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
|=========================================================================================|
|    0   N/A  N/A             804      G   /usr/lib/Xorg                            35MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A             952      G   /usr/bin/ksecretd                         2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A             990      G   /usr/bin/kwin_wayland                    88MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1076      G   /usr/bin/Xwayland                         2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1112      G   /usr/bin/ksmserver                        2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1114      G   /usr/bin/kded6                            2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1128      G   /usr/bin/plasmashell                    220MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1157      G   /usr/bin/kaccess                          2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1158      G   ...it-kde-authentication-agent-1          2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1439      G   /usr/lib/DiscoverNotifier                 2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1549      G   /usr/lib/xdg-desktop-portal-kde           2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1593      G   ...share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam          4MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1761      G   ./steamwebhelper                         52MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            1793    C+G   ...am/ubuntu12_64/steamwebhelper          7MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            2958      G   /usr/bin/kwalletd6                        2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            7010      G   /usr/lib/baloorunner                      2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            7067      G   /usr/lib/electron37/electron             44MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            7977      G   /usr/bin/konsole                          2MiB |
|    0   N/A  N/A            8992      G   ./valley_x64                            870MiB |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

I wonder if i should reinstall the gaming related libraries? I don't even know all of them, that are relevant.

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#6 2026-04-10 22:57:37

seth
Member
From: Don't DM me only for attention
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 74,432

Re: Low FPS in games (nvidia)

Well, it's certainly doing something - the performance isn't CPU limited?
How is it on an uncomposited X11 session (eg openbox or icewm)?

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#7 2026-04-11 20:02:22

Big Scorpio
Member
Registered: 2024-12-15
Posts: 97

Re: Low FPS in games (nvidia)

I've done some more testing. I think I get closer to the "unexpected" culprit (?)
I'm using 2 monitors side by side. On Spydows i lately got horizontal graphical artifacts on my screens stretching across both screens - except when playing video games, then the horizontal graphical artifact occurs only on my other screen and not on the screen i am playing on. As it was distracting me I turned off the 2nd screen.
Next, I boot into Arch and forgot to turn on my 2nd screen. "Anyway" i thought and test played again just like so. This time I got the FPS i was expecting and even a more smooth experience than on Spydows or so I felt (impressed).
While the game was still running I turned on my 2nd screen. Bam! Now the choppy low framerates are back. What's even more weird is that I turn the 2nd screen off but I don't get the smooth FPS back. It still stutters with just 1 monitor. Weird.

More weird is that I get those graphical horizontal artifact lines only on Spydows, not on Arch Linux.

I think my legendary GTX 1080 Ti is slowly giving up now. How very sad.
I'll try to replace my Motherboard, CPU and RAM first and then see if those problems still exist, though i have a very low expectation, that it'll go away. Most likely I'll need a new discrete GPU too and will have to retire my beloved GTX 1080 Ti.

seth, I didn't get to test with openbox yet but what can you tell me are we attempting to deduce by doing that?

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#8 2026-04-11 21:41:07

seth
Member
From: Don't DM me only for attention
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 74,432

Re: Low FPS in games (nvidia)

Rule out the bottleneck is introduced by the wayland compositor.

Both outputs are attached to the same GPU?
I assume they typically do not show the same picture (clone) but some horizontal or vertical strip.
What if you configure them to be clones?

The powered off monitor might have been ignored at start, added when powered up, but not (logically) removed when powered down. ("xrandr -q"?)
A dual output (on X11 at least) would also trigger the full composition pipeline and higher power states.

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#9 2026-04-12 15:47:20

Big Scorpio
Member
Registered: 2024-12-15
Posts: 97

Re: Low FPS in games (nvidia)

seth wrote:

Rule out the bottleneck is introduced by the wayland compositor.

Tested using Openbox. With 1 screen and 2 screens, though only my primary screen was displaying. The second screen was showing no video signal.
I get only marginally more FPS/smooth experience out of Openbox but it sacrifices HDR. I guess that's just the overhead we've eliminated (or averted a marginal bottleneck) when going for Openbox.

seth wrote:

Both outputs are attached to the same GPU?

Yes.

seth wrote:

I assume they typically do not show the same picture (clone) but some horizontal or vertical strip. What if you configure them to be clones?

Yes.
And i'm getting inconsistent results today. Today i wasn't able to reproduce the FPS drops, be it with 1 or 2 monitors connected at the same time (not mirroring the displays but extending them like usual. I did not test mirroring them so far as I wasn't able to reproduce the FPS drops).

seth wrote:

("xrandr -q"?)

I performed this on Plasma Wayland. xrandr seems to correctly assign and unassign screens as soon as I turn them on and off.

[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 16 x 16, current 2560 x 1440, maximum 32767 x 32767
DP-4 connected primary 2560x1440+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 697mm x 392mm
   2560x1440    179.98*+

[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 16 x 16, current 5120 x 1440, maximum 32767 x 32767
DP-4 connected primary 2560x1440+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 697mm x 392mm
   2560x1440    179.98*+
DP-5 connected 2560x1440+2560+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 697mm x 392mm
   2560x1440    179.98*+

[motherfucker_big_scorpio@Nexus ~]$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 16 x 16, current 2560 x 1440, maximum 32767 x 32767
DP-4 connected primary 2560x1440+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 697mm x 392mm
   2560x1440    179.98*+

---

It seems to point to the same original problem I have. Hardware needs replacing. Going to have to take a loan with the bank just for DDR5 (and this time I'll go with AMD Radeon if my new HW doesn't make these issues go away that is). Not sure if AMD's longevity is greater than that of nGreedia's. Dropping support for the GTX 1000s series was really an anti-customer move.

Last edited by Big Scorpio (2026-04-12 15:48:35)

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#10 2026-04-12 19:58:35

seth
Member
From: Don't DM me only for attention
Registered: 2012-09-03
Posts: 74,432

Re: Low FPS in games (nvidia)

Today i wasn't able to reproduce the FPS drops, be it with 1 or 2 monitors connected at the same time

That includes a previously affected setup (not openbox, but also eg. kwin_wayland)?

I performed this on Plasma Wayland. xrandr

Apparently yes smile
xrandr on wayland is of very limited meaning, it's what xwayland gets told by kwin_wayland, not the actual state.

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