Desktop Performance Issues on Arch Linux (Endeavour OS)

[1zun4]

Hi,

I recently installed an Intel Arc B580 and have been struggling with severe stuttering and lag, even during basic desktop tasks. Actions like dragging windows, opening the start menu, or using dropdowns are enough to make the entire system unresponsive (video is attached). This was not the case with my AMD RX 570 card, and I am torn between continuing to hope for improvement with the drivers on Linux or going back to the old card.

To troubleshoot, I’ve enabled ReBAR and confirmed it’s working. I’m running X11 instead of Wayland, since I encountered the well-known issue where the monitor refresh rate is halved on Wayland with Arc cards. My BIOS is fully updated, and I’ve double-checked all relevant settings - nothing seems out of place, and these settings worked fine with my previous GPU. I also tested a live boot of Endeavour OS to ensure the issue is not specific to my Linux installation. For example, dragging Firefox around causes the same issue.

Surprisingly, the gaming performance on Minecraft Java Edition (OpenGL) is good, with only minor graphical glitches. Launching games through Steam takes a long time due to the processing of the Vulkan shaders, but after that CS2 runs really well and Cities Skylines 2, s&box runs fairly well with only minor stuttering.

I’ve spent hours searching through Reddit and Intel Community posts, but haven’t found a solution that works in my case. I would appreciate if someone can confirm is this is just me or if this is an known issue and if so, if there are any ways to resolve this.

Technical Information below:

Operating System: EndeavourOS
KDE Plasma Version: 6.3.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.14.0
Qt Version: 6.9.0
Kernel Version: 6.14.7-arch2-1 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 24 × AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor
Memory: 62,7 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Intel® Graphics
Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Product Name: B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2

❯ inxi -G

Graphics:
 Device-1: Intel Battlemage G21 [Arc B580] driver: xe v: kernel
 Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.6 driver: X:
   loaded: modesetting dri: iris gpu: xe resolution: 1: N/A 2: N/A
 API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: iris,swrast platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
 API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.1.1-arch1.1
   renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (BMG G21)
 API: Vulkan v: 1.4.313 drivers: intel surfaces: N/A
 Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
   de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: corectrl,lact wl: wayland-info
   x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr


ReBAR (from lspci):
       Capabilities: [420 v1] Physical Resizable BAR
               BAR 2: current size: 16GB, supported: 256MB 512MB 1GB 2GB 4GB 8GB 16GB

[AlHill]

Arc is only supported on Ubuntu* 22.04 or newer:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091128/graphics/intel-arc-dedicated-graphics-family.html

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[This is the dawning of the age of Colossus, where peace is compulsory, freedom is forbidden, and man’s greatest achievement is man’s greatest mistake.]

[1zun4 · Accepted solution]

Here is a follow-up: The issue was caused by X11, not the XE driver. When paired with the 'Floating' taskbar on KDE, X11 causes windows to stutter when dragged. I switched back to Wayland and the issue has now been resolved. I'm now waiting for the half refresh rate (https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/xe/kernel/-/issues/4363) issue on Wayland to be resolved, but that is a different issue which is much less noticeable.

Also @AlHill: I know that Intel Arc is officially supported on Ubuntu 22.04 or newer, but the Linux kernel comes with the XE driver, so why should that matter in this scenario, especially on a community forum? It's a GPU; it should be compatible with whatever I use it with.

[AlHill]

I did not write the support document.  Intel did.  I am only the messenger.  Also, if it did not matter, why would Intel publish such a statement?  

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)
[This is the dawning of the age of Colossus, where peace is compulsory, freedom is forbidden, and man’s greatest achievement is man’s greatest mistake.]