I’ve been working on converting my gaming PC to Linux for a few weeks, but everything is running, but it all is just a little jankier than I would like.
I have an 8th gen Intel i7 and an Rtx 2070, running Arch linux.
Sometimes I boot up and my mouse doesn’t work and I have to restart. Sometimes I launch games and they just don’t launch right.
It feels like I’m doing a lot of work for no benefit. In fact, Elden ring runs way worse on my Linux partition than my Windows partition.
I’ve tried GE proton, gamemode, steam compatibility, everything… I’m sorry but I’m going to have to stick with Windows for gaming.
Are you using KDE? I’m on a fresh install of Arch with KDE Plasma on my gaming computer and I agree, it’s janky as fuck. I’ve gone through everything I can find about how to deal with the flicker, but it’s still there and it’s an awful experience.
I have none of these issues on my Arch laptop with Gnome, so I’m going to switch my desktop to Gnome too when I have the time. Plasma is not ready for mainstream use if this is the best that it gets. Gnome however is awesome!
So, I suggest changing your DE to Gnome. If that doesn’t fix the problem then switch to Pop!_OS. It’s a completely plug and play distro and I never had a single problem with it. I only switched to Arch because I wanted to get HDR support which requires Plasma. Well, it’s not worth it. I can’t even use adaptive sync which is a pretty big deal for gaming.
Good luck, we’re all counting on you.
Edit: otherwise Arch is an awesome distro. The power you have with all of the available programs is great! So, now it’s just about getting the screen rendering to be stable.
I had screen flicker on my endeavour os using kde and had to switch screen dimming off. Haven’t had it since.
The flickering thing is because you’re using Wayland and Nvidia GPU. If you switched to X11 (losing HDR support, unfortunately), the flickering goes away. However! I would recommend updating your system to KDE 6.1, which I believe has the explicit sync fix.
I’m not at my computer right now to check the KDE version, but I just installed Arch two weekends ago. Wouldn’t it be the latest version already, or did that just come out in the last week? If I don’t already have it then that would be amazing if it actually fixes the issue. I’ve enjoyed KDE’s layout and options so far.
I’ve thought about switching to x11 instead of going back to Gnome, but I haven’t decided yet. HDR is definitely not worth all of these other visual glitches and latency, so I need to do something. I don’t understand how the system can perform so poorly and be considered stable enough to be the default. At least half the people out there are probably using Nvidia cards.
Is there anything I should know before I switch to x11? Like, do I need to undo all these custom settings I made for the Nvidia driver, or use another driver? I’d appreciate the advice since this is one issue I’ve encountered that is definitely not resolved by reading the wiki.
I’m pretty sure the explicit sync fix requires the 555 beta version of the Nvidia driver to be installed, as there’s a driver component that’s required.
What distro are you on? If it has a decent way to install the 555 beta that would probably be a good route to go with - but otherwise, no, switching to X11 shouldn’t require reverting any settings at all. I used to switch between the two sessions all the time, right before you enter your password on the login screen (you have to be completely logged out, not just at the screen lock) click the menu at the bottom right and it should have a “Plasma (X11)” option.
Thanks! I’m on Arch. I actually tried X11 last night after posting and it seems to fix the glitch. I’ll see if there’s a driver update for me. I appreciate the advice!
No problem! It looks like there’s an AUR package for it - though exercise caution since it is still in beta. That being said, 555 has been in beta for a bit now, so I expect it’ll probably be promoted to an official release imminently.
Definitely would give Wayland another try once the newer Nvidia driver is installed later on (either via the beta or the official release). I don’t use an Nvidia card anymore (this bug is precisely what caused me to switch, ironically - it has been around for a while and got worse for me when 535 came around) but I’ve heard from a lot of folks that it resolves the flickering issue.
Either way, I’m glad to hear that you’re glitch free now - and on a side note, it appears its your cake day so happy cake day!
Yaaay! Wow, a year already? Crazy.
KDE 6.1 just hit Arch repos like 3 days ago. You’re likely on 6.0.5. Switching between X11 and Wayland is effortless just change the default manager in SDDM settings.
Thanks. I verified and I’m on 6.1. I forgot I ran a system update a couple days ago.
Yes I am using KDE mainly because gnome felt too mac os to me. Also KDE supports HDR (somewhat).
Is there a way to change distro without losing steam installs?