Everything is laggy under nvidia/hybrid mode

[elichai]

Describe the bug Whenever I switch to nvidia or to hybrid mode everything starts being laggy, both simple things (terminal, browser) and obviously games.

I tried fiddling with the configuration a bit but nothing changed, what I've tried:

[optimus]
pci_power_control=yes

[nvidia]
modeset=yes
DPI=

System info Please include :

• Your distribution Arch Linux 5.8.5-arch1-1 x86_64
• Your desktop manager: KDE
• You display manager: SDDM
• Your laptop model: Dell XPS 15 7590 (GTX 1650, Intel i9-9980HK).
• The version of optimus-manager you are using : latest stable release (Optimus Manager (Client) version 1.3)
• Your custom optimus-manager configuration file at /etc/optimus-manager/optimus-manager.conf, if you made one

Logs switch:

[5] INFO: # Xorg pre-start hook
[5] INFO: Previous state was: {'type': 'pending_pre_xorg_start', 'requested_mode': 'hybrid', 'current_mode': 'intel'}
[5] INFO: Requested mode is: hybrid
[5] INFO: Checking for GDM display servers
[668] INFO: Available modules: ['nouveau', 'bbswitch', 'acpi_call', 'nvidia', 'nvidia_drm', 'nvidia_modeset', 'nvidia_uvm']
[668] INFO: Unloading modules ['nouveau'] (if loaded)
[680] INFO: Setting Nvidia PCI power state to on
[722] INFO: Loading module nvidia
[724] INFO: Loading module nvidia_drm
[1177] INFO: Loaded extra Intel Xorg options (0 lines)
[1177] INFO: Loaded extra Intel Xorg options (0 lines)
[1177] INFO: Writing to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-optimus-manager.conf
[1177] INFO: Writing state {'type': 'pending_post_xorg_start', 'switch_id': '20200829T175758', 'requested_mode': 'hybrid'}
[1177] INFO: Xorg pre-start hook completed successfully.
[2] INFO: # Xorg post-start hook
[2] INFO: Running /etc/optimus-manager/xsetup-hybrid.sh
[6] INFO: Writing state {'type': 'done', 'switch_id': '20200829T175758', 'current_mode': 'hybrid'}
[6] INFO: Xorg post-start hook completed successfully.

[Askannz]

Well, that's new. Is there anything in task manager/htop that has an abnormally high CPU usage ? Anything fishy in dmesg or nvidia-smi ?

[elichai]

Well, that's new. Is there anything in task manager/htop that has an abnormally high CPU usage ? Anything fishy in dmesg or nvidia-smi ?

didn't check dmesg, but both htop and nvidia-smi showed nothing out of the ordinary. this is both for games and with regular usage.

[KannebTo]

@elichai did you mean video lag or input lag? In my case it's a strange input lag for a couple of hundred ms when running on NVIDIA, that happens once a minute or so. But i have no problems while gaming. It could be some auto-suspend issue of input devices, but this makes no sense because it happens also while typing. /var/log/Xorg.0.log says: client bug: event processing lagging behind by 1287ms, your system is too slow. But there is no process with high CPU usage. I have not noticed this on Intel graphics.

[Askannz]

@elichai do you use an external monitor ? The new Reverse Prime (that allows to use the Nvidia outputs in hybrid mode) is a little buggy at the moment: https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/the-all-new-outputsink-feature-aka-reverse-prime/129828/31

[dgaus]

I am having a similar issue, hybrid mode works fine using the internal display, but as soon as I plug in an external monitor everything becomes extremely choppy. For example playing a 4k video uses 50% of all cores. Thank for the nvidia link, guess we will have to wait a bit.

[elichai]

@elichai do you use an external monitor ? The new Reverse Prime (that allows to use the Nvidia outputs in hybrid mode) is a little buggy at the moment: https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/the-all-new-outputsink-feature-aka-reverse-prime/129828/31

yes, I use 2 external monitors

[xeruf]

Similar problem here on a HP Pavilion laptop running Arch, no display manager, KDE Plasma:

• in intel mode, the external monitor is ignored
• in nvidia and hybrid mode, both monitors work, but the external one lags, while the internal one is just fine

And I just realized that removing optimus-manager completely produces that same behavior...

[DenisValcke]

I'm having the same issue in hybrid mode my external monitor is very choppy and my internal monitor is smooth as can be.

Current config:

[optimus]
startup_mode=hybrid
startup_auto_battery_mode=hybrid
startup_auto_extpower_mode=hybrid

[intel]
driver=intel
tearfree=yes

[nvidia]
modeset=yes
PAT=yes

Working on nvidia only leaves me with the same issue @KannebTo is having and that is mentioned here: https://github.com/Askannz/optimus-manager/issues/398#issuecomment-846388362

It seems that every mode has some issue that makes it hard to work with. Starting to consider moving away from Gnome because the nvidia only issues seem related to Gnome/Mutter.

Also worth mentioning that I have the Dell Precision 5540 which is the same device as the XPS mentioned in the first post except for the Quatro T2000 nvidia card instead of the GTX.

[andrewaclear]

Is there a fix for this as I also have this issue I have the Legion 7i with the RTX 3070 and Intel i7 processor? When I set Optimus to hybrid the external monitor works but goes very choppy and slow when I close the lid (shut off my builtin display) and doesn't turn on at all in integrated mode. In nvidia mode everything works well, however.

[andrewaclear]

But my issue is only on the external monitor when my laptop primary monitor is disabled.

[xeruf]

But my issue is only on the external monitor when my laptop primary monitor is disabled.

Had similar observations on my HP Pavilion before

[alexanderwwagner]

Any uptates here? I have the same issue if I connect an external monitor.

[Xefreh]

same I'm having the same issue on my ROG Strix G733QS laptop, when I switch to nvidia mode, my integrated monitor is really not smooth.

[nwildner]

Closing as a duplicate of:

• #498

Let's focus our efforts on cases related to "nvidia mode is sluggish or choppy on laptop screen" concentrated on that case.

Have a nice week ahead