So, it seems like the whole system lags, which bothered me even before i was looking for help here. I set up this laptop in Sept.20. And indeed, even Youtube Videos get a bad framerate, not only games.

As for the suggested values (Temperature, Memory, CPU-, GPU-, Network- usage): it's all ok.

I got a new 144hz monitor not long ago and keep the website www.vsynctester.com always open to see system framerate vs monitor speed. When system lag occurs, the system framerate is always below monitor speed. Still learning here about new technologies, namely display-tech and linux gaming.

Maybe a slight improvement of the lag i got from the Nvidia Settings - Powermizer set to "Prefer Maximum Performance" instead of "Adaptive". The Powermizer is like a energy saving feature for the GPU. But like always with the Nvidia Settings-Tool, the settings don't survive a reboot.

Since the system-lag occurs irregulary, i'm testing what software that i use could cause it. Moonlight, Steam, Electron-Framework, Browser, Cairo Dock...who knows. I hope to find out!

Last edited by eiseneuter on 23 December 2020 at 1:14 pm UTC

I'm really grasping at a straw here, but I see you use KDE. Perhaps check and make sure kwin hadn't crashed when you get a slowdown. I had a recent graphic issue last week actually where kwin had crashed and KDE "safemoded" and switched to xrender. I had to manually turn it back on. I think it's in display settings. It crashed silently for me while I was playing a game (which crashed at the same time, not sure which was first). I noticed a slow down and a change in brightness, like the gamma turned up suddenly.

If it's the whole system, might be worth trying wayland or x11. Honestly though, I'm just guessing at this point, I'm pretty stumped

Ok, as Compositor I use XRender. I don't remember why exactly, but i decided not to use the OpenGL settings.
As for Kwin, I read that it can cause problems. How can i find out, if it crashed or not? Already unchecked "allow applications to disable compositing". Maybe i try a different version with Kwin-git.
Thanks!

Last edited by eiseneuter on 24 December 2020 at 2:21 am UTC

Hello

From my memory (I'm traveling this week, sorry), there was a red shaded box that basically said something to the effect of "kwin crashed, so it was disabled until you re enable it to maintain stability"

I've used kwin with the opengl 4.x option for the past 2 years with no issues. This was the only crash I've ever had of the window manager. For reference and I'm not sure if it matters, my session is X11, not wayland. Everything on my setup is default.

Perhaps try switching to kwin with the latest opengl and seeing if that changes anything?

I will try that, yes. Version 3.1 is my latest version to select in the compositor.
The Infocenter tells my my OpenGL Version is 4.6. Well...i can't select it in the compositor settings though.

Last edited by eiseneuter on 27 December 2020 at 2:14 am UTC

Found out that it is indeed a lag caused by kwin_x11.
While observing the 3-second regular spike (lag) at vsynctester.com i killed kwin_x11 and suddenly it was smooth again. The lag returns when starting kwin_x11 again with "kwin --replace", so I can't even do this workaround on the fly, but rather have to reboot or kill kwin every time i fire up a game :S Also I can't imagine any other way to fix this. Wayland? No. Pretty sure by now that it is just the unholy prop. Nvidia drivers.



Last edited by eiseneuter on 4 January 2021 at 4:26 pm UTC

I know now how to reproduce that laggish behavior:
Unplugging the Laptop (while in KDE desktop) from power results in a massive performance drop (as intended I guess).
Plugging the Laptop back in would not restore whole previous performance -> Lag until reboot!

-------
Offtopic On a side note, i finally managed to get a smooth desktop experience on a 144hz monitor.
Found that there's a built-in FPS counter for your desktop in the Settings -> Desktop Effects which told me, that despite option 144hz for the monitor in the Display Settings, it was still running on only around 70 fps.
Solution:
- add MaxFPS=144 to ~/.config/kwinrc under section [Compositing]
- disable Vsync in Settings -> Compositor

Last edited by eiseneuter on 5 January 2021 at 9:52 am UTC

Congrats! I'm glad it worked out!

Looking into Nvidia Settings, the Powermizer keeps on switching the Performance Levels in AC after Battery Mode.

AC -> Performance Level 4 constant
Battery -> Performance Level 1 constant
AC after Battery -> Performance Level jumping

Check out the video (600 kb) Powermizer Video

Last edited by eiseneuter on 9 January 2021 at 3:28 am UTC

finally [SOLVED] it:
Found this posting to force Low-Performance Settings, but indeed the same settings (Parameter 0x3) solved my problem with Performance Level jumping and thus creating system lag after plugging the laptop to AC again.
Works as intended: Laptop back on AC - Performance Level 4 constant

https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/solved-forcing-maximum-power-saving-on-the-desktop-minimum-power-mode-for-powermizer/30403

Solution:
- edit / create file:

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf

(you may choose your favorite texteditor instead of nano)

- edit /paste in file:

Section “Device”
Identifier “Device0”
Driver “nvidia”
VendorName “NVIDIA Corporation”
Option “Coolbits” “1”
Option “RegistryDwords” “PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerLevel=0x3; PowerMizerDefault=0x3; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x3”
EndSection

- reboot

Last edited by eiseneuter on 9 January 2021 at 6:22 am UTC