3.34.1 slow with Intel modesetting driver and high refresh rate display
I have a laptop with Intel uhd graphics 630 and Nvidia GTX 1660Ti with a 144hz 1080p panel where I have installed Manjaro Gnome (3.34.1), and I must say: I really like the design language of GNOME.
Unfortunately, when I have my integrated gpu drive it (with the modesetting driver), the performance is not good. By that I mean that it clearly doesn't run at 144hz, rather it seems to me more like 60 or less. This is everywhere, from moving windows around (where it is most noticeable) to just about every animation, nothing is completely smooth.
On the other hand, when I configure my optimus setup to use the Nvidia gpu, everything is as smooth as it should be.
So far I've tried to set CLUTTER_DEFAULT_FPS to 144 in /etc/environment, which made absolutely no difference, and to rollback to the Intel driver, where I noticed that by using DRI2 the performance was better (but still far from perfect - for example big windows like Firefox still stuttered badly, but at least I could see it reach 144hz from time to time). Unfortunately sticking with that is also a no-go for me because I need the modesetting driver for Nvidia PRIME render offloading.
I'm a total noob coming from Windows, and I'm just learning that most of the stuff I used to give for granted, like a perfectly smooth and vsynced desktop experience, or hardware accelerated youtube playback (seriously, how do you guys survive?), just aren't that obvious. But I'm having fun!
So, yeah... Any advice? Or is it just normal the way I described it?
Posted Nov 3, 2019, 5:56 PM UTC
I also had stuttering/lags with my laptop with same specs like yours, when I was using the modesetting driver.
I am using Manjaro i3. I finally solved it by disabling "background blur" in the compton config.
Perhaps you also have to turn off some graphic-heavy transparency or blur gimmicks.
Good Luck.