Cursor Lag/Stuttering

Hey All,

I just installed a fresh copy of Manjaro XFCE on my desktop at home and the only issue I am running into so far is a lag/stutter that is more visibly noticeable in the mouse. This happens even when i have just one app running or a simple file manager window, so I do no believe it is specific app issue. I have a strong feeling it has something to do with the latest nvidia 470 driver but I am no expert and wanted to see if anyone could help me troubleshoot this issue before switching back to another stable distro.

I was previously on Ubuntu/Kubuntu. I experienced this similar issue when I tried EndeavourOS.

Here are my PC specs. When I get home I can gather further information, outside of hardware if needed:

Hardware:
Intel Core i5-8600K CPU @3.6GHz (Coffee Lake)
Z370 Gaming Plus MSI Motherboard
EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 Superclocked 6GB DDR5
Samsung SSD 970 Evo 1TB
32GB DDR4/2400MHz TridentZ RGB
Logitech G Pro Wireless Mouse
LG 32" UltraGear QHD (2560x1440) 165Hz HDR 10 Monitor with FreeSync - 32GN600-B.AUS

Things I installed after the OS: Brave, Snap, Flatpak, 1Password, Piper, Standard Notes, Discord, Spotify

I also do not dual boot. This is a fresh install utilizing the entire M.2 SSD. After install I did do all of the updates that was suggested through the Apps & Software application. I believe that is it. Let me know if there is anything else I can provide. I can try doing a screen capture when I get home to show the issue and my system resources open if that helps.

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Welcome here, @thefireguy :wave:

Have a look into these threads, maybe there is a solution for you:

https://forum.manjaro.org/search?q=mouse%20lag

Yeah I did a lot of research into the issue before creating my account and gathering information regarding my system. None of the items you listed from that search ended up working for me.

I am just gonna switch back to Windows for stability sadly. Manjaro was my last ditch effort to stay with linux. Thanks for your time!

window magager tweaks, turn off the compositor

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I disabled the compositor, but I’d prefer not to do that as a solution. It strips away all the transparency in windows etc.

Also you will notice i have two DMs installed. I tried that last night to see if LightDM was the issue. Not sure how to uninstall GDM since that did not work. Another note is that I wish I saw the post on how to capture this info from the terminal before I started tinkering with the system to figure out the issue. The issue I am having was right after a fresh install with no modifications to the system.

System:
      Kernel: 5.10.52-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0 
      parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64 
      root=UUID=384d6233-7e02-43be-9c40-d33ff01dd284 rw quiet apparmor=1 
      security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 
      Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.29 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.16.1 vt: 2 
      dm: GDM 40.0, LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux 
    Machine:
      Type: Desktop System: Micro-Star product: MS-7B61 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
      Mobo: Micro-Star model: Z370 GAMING PLUS (MS-7B61) v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
      UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1.B1 date: 04/19/2021 
    Battery:
      ID-1: hidpp_battery_0 charge: N/A condition: N/A volts: 4.1 min: N/A 
      model: Logitech G Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse type: N/A serial: <filter> 
      status: Discharging 
    Memory:
      RAM: total: 31.3 GiB used: 1.95 GiB (6.2%) 
      RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
    CPU:
      Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i5-8600K bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Kaby Lake 
      note: check family: 6 model-id: 9E (158) stepping: A (10) microcode: EA 
      cache: L2: 9 MiB bogomips: 43212 
      Speed: 1600 MHz min/max: 800/4300 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1600 2: 1600 
      3: 1600 4: 1600 5: 1600 6: 1600 
      Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm acpi adx aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_perfmon art 
      avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 bts clflush clflushopt cmov constant_tsc cpuid 
      cpuid_fault cx16 cx8 de ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts ept ept_ad erms est f16c 
      flexpriority flush_l1d fma fpu fsgsbase fxsr hle ht hwp hwp_act_window 
      hwp_epp hwp_notify ibpb ibrs ida intel_pt invpcid invpcid_single lahf_lm lm 
      mca mce md_clear mmx monitor movbe mpx msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nopl nx pae pat 
      pbe pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pdpe1gb pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse pse36 pti pts 
      rdrand rdseed rdtscp rep_good rtm sdbg sep smap smep smx ss ssbd sse sse2 
      sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 stibp syscall tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc tsc_adjust 
      tsc_deadline_timer vme vmx vnmi vpid x2apic xgetbv1 xsave xsavec xsaveopt 
      xsaves xtopology xtpr 
      Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
      Type: l1tf 
      mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT disabled 
      Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled 
      Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
      Type: spec_store_bypass 
      mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
      Type: spectre_v1 
      mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
      Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, 
      IBRS_FW, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
      Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode 
      Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled 
    Graphics:
      Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] vendor: eVga.com. 
      driver: nvidia v: 470.57.02 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus-ID: 01:00.0 
      chip-ID: 10de:1c03 class-ID: 0300 
      Device-2: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: USB 
      driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-9:9 chip-ID: 046d:082d 
      class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter> 
      Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.16.1 driver: 
      loaded: nvidia display-ID: :1.0 screens: 1 
      Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x381mm (26.7x15.0") 
      s-diag: 777mm (30.6") 
      Monitor-1: DP-4 res: 2560x1440 dpi: 93 size: 700x390mm (27.6x15.4") 
      diag: 801mm (31.5") 
      OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2 
      v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.57.02 direct render: Yes 
    Audio:
      Device-1: Intel 200 Series PCH HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
      driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a2f0 
      class-ID: 0403 
      Device-2: NVIDIA GP106 High Definition Audio vendor: eVga.com. 
      driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f1 
      class-ID: 0403 
      Device-3: SteelSeries ApS Arctis Pro Wireless type: USB 
      driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 1-11.3:8 chip-ID: 1038:1294 
      class-ID: 0300 
      Device-4: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: USB 
      driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-9:9 chip-ID: 046d:082d 
      class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter> 
      Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.52-1-MANJARO running: yes 
      Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no 
      Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
      Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.32 running: no 
    Network:
      Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: e1000e 
      v: kernel port: f000 bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15b8 class-ID: 0200 
      IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
      IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global 
      broadcast: <filter> 
      IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link 
      Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: e000 
      bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280 
      IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
      WAN IP: <filter> 
    Bluetooth:
      Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
      bus-ID: 1-13:6 chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001 
      Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: see --recommends 
    Logical:
      Message: No logical block device data found. 
    RAID:
      Message: No RAID data found. 
    Drives:
      Local Storage: total: 1.36 TiB used: 19.36 GiB (1.4%) 
      SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
      ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 970 EVO 1TB 
      size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s 
      lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2B2QEXE7 temp: 31.9 C scheme: GPT 
      ID-2: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Western Digital 
      model: WDS500G2B0A-00SM50 size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B 
      logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 30WD 
      scheme: GPT 
      Message: No optical or floppy data found. 
    Partition:
      ID-1: / raw-size: 931.22 GiB size: 915.53 GiB (98.32%) 
      used: 19.36 GiB (2.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2 
      label: N/A uuid: 384d6233-7e02-43be-9c40-d33ff01dd284 
      ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) 
      used: 288 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1 
      label: NO_LABEL uuid: 73DB-4933 
    Swap:
      Alert: No swap data was found. 
    Unmounted:
      ID-1: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 size: 465.76 GiB fs: ntfs label: N/A 
      uuid: 21D0DADF1CF7194B 
    USB:
      Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 16 rev: 2.0 
      speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
      Device-1: 1-2:2 info: Logitech USB Receiver type: Keyboard,Mouse,HID 
      driver: logitech-djreceiver,usbhid interfaces: 3 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s 
      power: 98mA chip-ID: 046d:c539 class-ID: 0300 
      Device-2: 1-7:3 info: Kingston HX-KB4BL1-US [HYPERX Alloy FPS Pro] 
      type: Keyboard,Mouse,HID driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 3 rev: 2.0 
      speed: 12 Mb/s power: 480mA chip-ID: 0951:16d2 class-ID: 0300 
      Device-3: 1-9:9 info: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C920 type: Video,Audio 
      driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s 
      power: 500mA chip-ID: 046d:082d class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter> 
      Hub-2: 1-11:5 info: Texas Instruments TUSB2036 Hub ports: 3 rev: 1.1 
      speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 0451:2036 class-ID: 0900 
      Device-1: 1-11.2:7 info: SteelSeries ApS Arctis Pro Wireless type: HID 
      driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s 
      power: 500mA chip-ID: 1038:1290 class-ID: 0300 
      Device-2: 1-11.3:8 info: SteelSeries ApS Arctis Pro Wireless type: Audio,HID 
      driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid interfaces: 6 rev: 1.1 
      speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 1038:1294 class-ID: 0300 
      Device-3: 1-13:6 info: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: Bluetooth driver: btusb 
      interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0029 
      class-ID: e001 
      Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 10 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s 
      chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900 
    Sensors:
      System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8 C mobo: 27.8 C gpu: nvidia temp: 48 C 
      Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0% 
    Info:
      Processes: 265 Uptime: 6m wakeups: 2 Init: systemd v: 248 tool: systemctl 
      Compilers: gcc: N/A Packages: 1081 pacman: 1067 lib: 299 flatpak: 6 snap: 8 
      Shell: Bash v: 5.1.8 running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.06

What happens if you disconnect your various hubs and devices connected via USB? Any improvement? Also, do you have a cabled mouse to compare?

nvidia doesn’t play well with compositors.
i did see a blip about them having it working with gnome/mutter, but it’s just something i glanced over.
use your google foo.

1 Like

Can you see if this happens with KDE then?

Note this is not recommended.

2 Likes

I’ve had this same exact issue back when I had an EVGA GTX 1060 6GB. For me, it occured more prominently while opening just about any window. The stutters annoyed me so much that I posted about it in the old Manjaro forums last year but never got any solution.

I then slowly learned that Nvidia drivers, both proprietary and Nouveau, have poor desktop performance in Linux in general, especially with KDE. The performance issues got so bad that after I installed the Plasma 5.21 update earlier this year, the compositor would just crash unexpectedly every few hours. Luckily, I swapped my Nvidia card with a Windows gamer friend’s Radeon RX 570 almost two months ago, and I’ve never been happier since. Other than the rare glitchy effects for a split second when opening Firefox, the compositor crashes and cursor and animation stuttering have stopped entirely.

I totally agree with @kerry_s here, and it’s unfortunately the truth. It’s a shame that Nvidia’s lackluster support for Linux severely limits the full potential of their powerful GPUs unlike on Windows, and that was the other reason why I decided to switch to an AMD card. So, the best advice I can give you at this time is if you plan to stay on Linux full-time, you should switch to an AMD graphics card whenever you can.

Edit: I forgot I saw that you’re new here, so allow me to welcome you to the Manjaro forums.

Thanks everyone for helping on this. I did a lot of research on this and I knew that Linux struggled with Intel/Nvidia PCs but I went ahead and tried it anyways to see if I could in fact make a full switch. After distro hopping, playing with different display managers and desktop environments I came to the conclusion that my PC is just not supported well enough for what I am looking for right now.

As much as I despise windows it works out of the box for me and my hardware right now. I will continue to keep my eyes on Nvidia/Intel news with Linux and hope that in the near future I can return to a Manjaro setup.

Ubuntu out of the box worked the best for my system but it felt like MacOS and I wasn’t looking for that. I tried changing Desktop environments but the moment I did that the problems started to surface.

Again, thanks everyone for chiming in and trying to help on this one. I basically needed someone to reaffirm that Nvidia and Compositors don’t play nicely and that is enough for me to hold on making a full switch at this moment.

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Nvidia does play nicely with compositors if you disable vsync in those compositors. I’m using Nvidia 470 and XFCE.

In the XFWM4 settings (accessible via “Settings Editor”, the xfconf GUI), I have:

  • use_compositing set to true (boolean value)
  • sync_to_vblank set to false (boolean value)
  • vblank_mode set to "off" (string value)

In nvidia-settings, I have “Force Composition Pipeline” enabled, and saved to my /etc/X11/mhwd.d/nvidia.conf file.

After setting those options and rebooting, everything will be smooth as silk.

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