My additions to this guide

[Nama]

Hi, like this guide and I observed some things, too.

• X11/Wayland
  • Gaming on wayland just works and I would even recommend to use wayland
  • All games I played (incl. Overwatch), just work on wayland, if they are reported to run on linux
  • The new nvidia drivers are needed
• Linux distribution
  • Maybe add in here, that smaller (not bloated) distros will probably perform better
  • Arch is very minimal and with the install script, beginners can use it, too
• Kernel
  • Could put infos about the ryzen optimized kernels there (easier to install on arch)
    • Ryzen 3000
    • Ryzen 5000
  • Also mention linux-zen
    • But streaming was bad with this for me
• Game mode (why is this under kernel?)
  • I had better results putting everything in a script and let gamemode run this instead of different things in the gamemode.ini

gamemode.sh

#!/bin/bash

export WAYLAND_DISPLAY="wayland-1"
export SWAYSOCK=$(ls /run/user/1000/sway-ipc.1000.*.sock)


if [[ "$1" == "on" ]]; then
    sudo /home/yama/scripts/perf_mode.sh gaming
    swaymsg output DP-3 mode 3440x1440@144Hz
    sleep 1
    gpu-screen-recorder -w DP-3 -f 60 -q medium -r 20 -k h264 -c mp4 -ac aac -a "$(pactl get-default-sink).monitor" -o /mnt/data/downloads/clips -v no -sc /home/yama/scripts/clip_upload.sh  > /tmp/gamemode.log 2>&1 &
else
    pkill -f gpu-screen-recorder
    swaymsg output DP-3 mode [email protected]
    sudo /home/yama/scripts/perf_mode.sh
fi

• I couldn't find a tool to dynamically switch between graphics card performance modes
  • corectrl does only work statically and doesn't even save the set values to the different modes, makes it useless for me
  • This script does undervolting if not playing a game and removes the undervolt for gaming
  • Switches between power_saving and 3d_full_screen for gaming

gpu_mode.sh

#!/bin/bash

# power profile
echo manual > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_dpm_force_performance_level
if [[ $1 == "gaming" ]]; then
    echo 1 > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/pp_power_profile_mode
    echo "vo 0" > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/pp_od_clk_voltage
else
    echo 2 > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/pp_power_profile_mode
    echo "vo -100" > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/pp_od_clk_voltage
fi
echo "c" > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/pp_od_clk_voltage

• Streaming - Saving replays
  • Replay sorcery is a dead project and doesn't work on wayland
  • gpu-screen-recorder works very nicely
    • Hotkeys don't work (by design) on wayland, so you can let your WM/DE run with a hotkey to save replays: killall -SIGUSR1 gpu-screen-recorder
    • I run a script -sc to directly upload the clip via ssh
    • on AMD cards the files are rather big
• Game / "Wine prefix" manager
  • Please add SteamTinkerLaunch
    • Its a little bit weird, but makes gamemode only run, if a game starts
    • And a lot more things

[AdelKS]

Hello! Thanks for your feedback !

X11/Wayland

Yeah I agree with you, it's not clear in the guide that Wayland works without issues (through XWayland). I have yet to benchmark any added input lag because of that vs Xorg.

Maybe add in here, that smaller (not bloated) distros will probably perform better

I think "bloat" in other distros is actually not running, just on the disk. Except if you have clear examples of ditros running useless services (maybe snapd on Ubuntu haha).

Could put infos about the ryzen optimized kernels there (easier to install on arch)

I think that march-optimized kernels provide <1% perf improvement, because in the end the linux kernel does not use SIMD instructions by design (so no AVX). Therefore, only the timings tuning (the -mtune compiler flag) actually makes a difference. Not worth the hassle I would argue, but yeah. Those links are Arch specific too.

Game mode (why is this under kernel?)

I put it under kernel because it does kernel-level tweaks. No strong opinion about that placement though

Replay sorcery is a dead project and doesn't work on wayland

Thanks for the heads up, will update

I couldn't find a tool to dynamically switch between graphics card performance modes

I am not sure it makes a huge difference, but it's definitely worth talking about it in the guide.

gpu-screen-recorder works very nicely

nice to see new tools !

Please add SteamTinkerLaunch

Noted!

[Nama]

it's not clear in the guide that Wayland works without issues (through XWayland).

Exactly, the guide reads like that wayland is not a viable option. But it is.

I have yet to benchmark any added input lag because of that vs Xorg.

Phoronix does some tests. Couldn't find an input lag test, tho. https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aphoronix.com+wayland+xorg

(maybe snapd on Ubuntu haha)

:smirk:

I am not sure it makes a huge difference, but it's definitely worth talking about it in the guide.

Just mentioning, so readers understand their options. My PC is not for gaming only, thats why I look into power saving while not gaming.