Screentearing in Games with Nvidia

Support Graphics & Display
1

When playing fullscreen games like TF2 or CSGO, I get somewhat noticeable screen tearing. I don’t really notice in my window manager (budgie in this case) and I’m finding a lot of conflicting information online. If there’s any info I’m missing I can certainly provide it. Thanks!

System:
  Kernel: 5.13.13-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-5.13-x86_64 
  root=UUID=6ab0c792-bc4f-44d2-ad5b-06077dee7105 rw rootflags=subvol=@ quiet 
  apparmor=1 security=apparmor udev.log_priority=3 
  Desktop: Budgie 10.5.3 info: budgie-panel, vala-panel wm: budgie-wm 
  dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Micro-Star product: MS-7B51 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Micro-Star model: MPG Z390 GAMING PLUS (MS-7B51) v: 1.0 
  serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1.10 date: 08/22/2018 
Memory:
  RAM: total: 15.57 GiB used: 5.71 GiB (36.7%) 
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:
  Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-8700K bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake note: check family: 6 model-id: 9E (158) stepping: A (10) 
  microcode: EA cache: L2: 12 MiB bogomips: 88824 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 
  4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 7: 800 8: 800 9: 800 10: 800 11: 800 12: 800 
  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 vulnerable 
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
  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: conditional, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode 
  Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA TU106 [GeForce RTX 2070 Rev. A] vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
  driver: nvidia v: 470.63.01 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus-ID: 01:00.0 
  chip-ID: 10de:1f07 class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 1-2:3 chip-ID: 046d:0825 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter> 
  Display: x11 server: X.org 1.20.13 compositor: budgie-wm driver: 
  loaded: nvidia resolution: <missing: xdpyinfo> 
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070/PCIe/SSE2 
  v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.63.01 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl 
  bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403 
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU106 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:10f9 
  class-ID: 0403 
  Device-3: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 1-2:3 chip-ID: 046d:0825 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter> 
  Device-4: JMTek LLC. JOUNIVO JV605PRO type: USB 
  driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus-ID: 1-5:6 chip-ID: 0c76:605d 
  class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter> 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.13.13-1-MANJARO running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no 
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no 
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.34 running: yes 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: e1000e 
  v: kernel port: efa0 bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15bc class-ID: 0200 
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL88x2bu [AC1200 Techkey] type: USB driver: rtl88x2bu 
  bus-ID: 1-10:10 chip-ID: 0bda:b812 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter> 
  IF: wlp0s20f0u10 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global 
  broadcast: <filter> 
  IP v6: <filter> type: noprefixroute scope: link 
  WAN IP: <filter> 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Broadcom BCM20702A0 Bluetooth 4.0 type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
  bus-ID: 1-4.3:11 chip-ID: 0a5c:21e8 class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter> 
  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: 1.44 TiB used: 381.91 GiB (26.0%) 
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: SanDisk model: SDSSDH31000G 
  size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
  type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 70RL scheme: GPT 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: SanDisk model: SDSSDH3500G 
  size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
  type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 70RL scheme: GPT 
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 type: USB model: N/A size: 14.65 GiB 
  block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: N/A serial: <filter> 
  rev: 2.00 scheme: GPT 
  ID-4: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 type: USB vendor: Generic model: Flash Disk 
  size: 58.59 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B type: SSD 
  serial: <filter> rev: 8.07 scheme: MBR 
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: _NEC model: DVD+-RW ND-6650A rev: 102C 
  dev-links: cdrom 
  Features: speed: 24 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes 
  rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r state: running 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 41.99 GiB size: 41.99 GiB (100.00%) used: 7.04 GiB (16.8%) 
  fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 label: MANJARO 
  uuid: 6ab0c792-bc4f-44d2-ad5b-06077dee7105 
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 125 MiB size: 123 MiB (98.44%) 
  used: 554 KiB (0.4%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 label: NO_LABEL 
  uuid: 4C69-5014 
  ID-3: /home raw-size: 889.4 GiB size: 874.36 GiB (98.31%) 
  used: 374.87 GiB (42.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda4 maj-min: 8:4 label: N/A 
  uuid: f289b15e-41c3-4baa-a8e3-c22a1d3207cf 
  ID-4: /var/cache raw-size: 41.99 GiB size: 41.99 GiB (100.00%) 
  used: 7.04 GiB (16.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 label: MANJARO 
  uuid: 6ab0c792-bc4f-44d2-ad5b-06077dee7105 
  ID-5: /var/log raw-size: 41.99 GiB size: 41.99 GiB (100.00%) 
  used: 7.04 GiB (16.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 label: MANJARO 
  uuid: 6ab0c792-bc4f-44d2-ad5b-06077dee7105 
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found. 
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33 size: 14.62 GiB fs: exfat label: Ventoy 
  uuid: 3F2B-1B06 
  ID-2: /dev/sdc2 maj-min: 8:34 size: 32 MiB fs: vfat label: VTOYEFI 
  uuid: 7506-0A74 
  ID-3: /dev/sdd1 maj-min: 8:49 size: 58.59 GiB fs: vfat label: N/A 
  uuid: D9AE-3423 
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: 1-1:2 info: Razer USA Razer BlackWidow V3 Tenkeyless 
  type: Keyboard,Mouse driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 12 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 1532:0a24 class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: 1-2:3 info: Logitech Webcam C270 type: Video,Audio 
  driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s 
  power: 500mA chip-ID: 046d:0825 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter> 
  Device-3: 1-3:4 info: Initio INIC-1511L PATA Bridge type: Mass Storage 
  driver: usb-storage interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 2mA 
  chip-ID: 13fd:1040 class-ID: 0805 serial: <filter> 
  Hub-2: 1-4:5 info: VIA Labs VL812 Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s 
  chip-ID: 2109:2812 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 1-4.1:7 info: Valve Wireless Steam Controller type: Keyboard,HID 
  driver: hid-steam,usbhid interfaces: 5 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA 
  chip-ID: 28de:1142 class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: 1-4.2:9 info: Alcor Micro Flash Drive type: Mass Storage 
  driver: usb-storage interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 200mA 
  chip-ID: 058f:6387 class-ID: 0806 serial: <filter> 
  Device-3: 1-4.3:11 info: Broadcom BCM20702A0 Bluetooth 4.0 type: Bluetooth 
  driver: btusb interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s chip-ID: 0a5c:21e8 
  class-ID: fe01 serial: <filter> 
  Device-4: 1-4.4:12 info: MosArt Wireless Mouse 2.4G type: Mouse 
  driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 062a:4106 class-ID: 0301 
  Device-5: 1-5:6 info: JMTek LLC. JOUNIVO JV605PRO type: Audio,HID 
  driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid interfaces: 3 rev: 1.1 
  speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 0c76:605d class-ID: 0300 
  serial: <filter> 
  Device-6: 1-9:8 info: USB Disk 2.0 type: Mass Storage driver: usb-storage 
  interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: ffff:5678 
  class-ID: 0806 serial: <filter> 
  Device-7: 1-10:10 info: Realtek RTL88x2bu [AC1200 Techkey] type: Network 
  driver: rtl88x2bu interfaces: 1 rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA 
  chip-ID: 0bda:b812 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter> 
  Hub-3: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 10 rev: 3.1 
  speed: 10 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-4: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-5: 4-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 3.1 speed: 10 Gb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 55 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0% 
Info:
  Processes: 340 Uptime: 41m wakeups: 1 Init: systemd v: 248 tool: systemctl 
  Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 Packages: pacman: 1039 lib: 312 Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 
  running-in: tilix inxi: 3.3.06
2

Are you playing above your monitor refresh rate (not using vsync)? If you’re not using vsync and your FPS is higher than the monitor, then screen tearing is normal. You can turn on Force Full Composition Pipeline in nvidia-settings to get rid of the tearing without lowering the FPS, but you’re probably already know that any kind of vsync and competitive game is not a good pair.

4

Thanks! Doing this seems to work. However, I’ve heard that this shouldn’t be necessary nowadays and that it can cause performance problems. Should I be worried about that?

5

Oh, I forgot to say that if you enable composition pipeline in nvidia settings, it may also disable vsync on your desktop. Thus your GPU may run at full power every time. So disable it after your finish playing the game.

If you’re worried it may do something bad to your hardware then you can monitor your CPU and GPU temperature using sensors and nvidia-smi or nvidia settings. If your hardware is working at it’s safe temp, the you don’t need to worry about it.

6

Okay, thanks again.

7

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