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.
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!
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.
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.
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_shere, 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.