CPU Performance Issue in Games - Stuck on Powersave Despite Settings

Support Gaming
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Hello everyone,

I’m new to Linux and don’t know much about system configuration. I’m experiencing performance issues with my CPU while gaming (I haven’t tested other tasks yet).

It seems like my CPU is becoming a bottleneck in all the games I play (based on CPU usage I observed in Steam). This causes significant lag and frame drops. The same games run much smoother and with higher FPS on Windows.

I went to the power settings and set the power plan to “Performance,” but there was no change in performance.

So I checked using the command: cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor and noticed that even though I set it to Performance, the CPU is still on “powersave.”

After that, I used this command:
sudo cpupower frequency-set -g performance
But performance still didn’t change.

Even though cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor shows “performance,” I feel like it’s not making any difference.

After restarting, it goes back to “powersave” again.

I disabled the power-profiles-daemon service:
sudo systemctl disable --now power-profiles-daemon
echo 'performance' | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor
But it still activates.

I couldn’t find a suitable tool in Linux to display CPU power consumption to compare with Windows.
(I should mention that in the OCCT benchmark, it doesn’t seem like the processor has any performance issues, and changing from powersave to performance doesn’t make any difference in the score.)

P.S. Please excuse any language mistakes as English is not my native language. I would appreciate any guidance on improving my post.

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That would like comparing apples and tomatoes - they are both red.

Plasma system monitor may provide some insight - have you checked how the firmware has configured power?

With no other info than your speculations - what can be said?

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Thank you for your response. I understand that comparing different operating systems can be complex, but I’m specifically looking for technical guidance on resolving the power management issue I’m experiencing in Manjaro.

I’ve already:

  • Disabled the power-profiles-daemon service

  • Checked CPU governor settings

  • Verified that the system reverts to powersave after reboot

  • Confirmed that gaming performance is significantly lower than on Windows

    To help you provide more specific guidance, could you please tell me what additional information or diagnostics you need me to run?

    For example:

    • Should I run specific commands to check CPU power states?

    • Do you need me to check BIOS power management settings?

    • Should I provide output from certain system monitoring tools?

    • Do you need me to check kernel parameters or driver configurations?

    I want to make sure I provide you with the right information to help diagnose this power management issue properly

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One easy and general advise is installing gamemode package.

And in Steam you can add this command for your Steamgames when you rightclick on each game and properties then add this startup command to all your Steam Games:

gamemoderun %command%

There are always more tweaks possible around Linux. Some games running better on X11 as with Wayland (which you can change at Login in SDDM) or adjusting your Swap Partition if you don’t have enough RAM.

Disabling your iGPU in your Bios if you don’t need it. Disabling file Indexing in Plasma.

Manually activate Trim.

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Thank you so much for the detailed suggestions for gaming! I really appreciate you taking the time to help. I will definitely try installing gamemode and the other tweaks you mentioned.

On a related note, my main issue is actually the CPU power plan itself. I can’t seem to get it to stay on “Performance” mode, which I believe is the root cause of the low FPS. I’ve tried several commands, but it always reverts to “Powersave” after a reboot.

Do you have any idea how to fix the CPU power plan so it stays on “Performance” permanently?

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regarding the fact that after restarting it goes back to powersave,

i think that you also need to edit this file: /etc/default/cpupower

you also need these commands:

systemctl enable cpupower.service  systemctl start cpupower.service

i used to get the max clock speed of my CPU when setting it to performance,now it does whatever it feels like,and i don’t care enough to bother with it.

i have a second SSD with Windows for gaming.

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Since i started my Linux experience with Manjaro 5 year’s ago, i also created a few txt files which settings i changed. Specially good if i have to reinstall Linux someday.

Here is the way how i forced my CPU on a fixed Mhz value, to have always good performance under Linux:

CPU Performance:
sudo nano /etc/default/cpupower

governor=‘performance’

min_freq=“4.50GHz”
max_freq=“4.50GHz”

and in Terminal after i was done with my adjustments:
systemctl enable cpupower.service

Keep in mind to use your own Mhz settings for your CPU. Its also important to know that you can’t run in Linux the exact same Mhz value as under Windows.

At least i had severaltimes freezing problem’s when i use the same OC from 4700Mhz with my CPU, which would run stable under Windows, but no way for a stable system even with 4600Mhz under Linux.

You might be also interested in REISUB ergo Magic System Keys. Which is a yaw dropping experience compared to ■■■■■■ Windoze, where you just got a bluescreen. But in Linux you still have more option’s to deal with a freezing system.

To activate Reisub:
Add to your /etc/default/grub in the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT parameter the sysrq_always_enabled=1 variable.
Save the file and then execute:
sudo update-grub

After that, check the file again:
/proc/sys/kernel/sysrq

The Value changed from 16 to 1 after a system restart.

So SysRq Key should be fully unlock (with value 1) with that command.

Free Memory, when your system going to freeze because OOM bug:
alt+print+f

More combos:

There is also a few other commands around CPU Checkings in Terminal which i had saved:

CPU Frenquenz check:
cpupower frequency-info

CPU-Temp check:
sensors

CPU-Clock check:
watch grep \"cpu MHz\" /proc/cpuinfo

CPU Infos:
lscpu

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Hey, I just wanted to follow up and say a huge thank you for your help!

I have some strange news. I decided to do a fresh reinstall of Manjaro, and for some reason, the problem is completely gone. The CPU is now sticking to the “Performance” governor by itself.

It’s pretty weird, but I’m definitely not complaining! I’m not sure what was wrong with my previous installation, but a fresh start seems to have fixed it.

Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction. I really appreciate it!

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