[Linux Mint] High Frame Time and Stuttering in Smite 2 with Intel Arc B580

[oneone]

Hello Intel Community,

I would like to report an issue with high frame times and micro stuttering when playing Smite 2 on Linux Mint using an Intel Arc B580 GPU. Compared to Windows, where I reach ~170 FPS stable, on Linux Mint I only get ~130 FPS and they are unstable. However, my main concern is the stuttering and frame time spikes.

System Specifications

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600

• RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2×8GB 3200MHz (CMK16GX4M2B3200C16)

  • Previously had an additional 16GB module at 3000MHz CL18, which worsened performance. Removing it improved stability.

• Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H (Rev. 1.0), BIOS F20 (latest)

• GPU: Intel Arc B580

• Storage: Crucial P3 500GB NVMe SSD

• OS: Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon

• Kernel: 6.17.0-19-generic

• Mesa: 26.0.1 (git)

• Drivers tested: intel-media-driver (latest), zero-level (per Intel documentation)

BIOS Settings

• Above 4G Decoding: Enabled

• Re-Size BAR Support: Auto

• PCIe Slot Configuration: Gen4

• Other ports (Serial, Wake on LAN, Hot Plug, etc.): Disabled

In-Game Graphics Settings (Advanced Video)

• Resolution: 1920×1080

• Display Mode: Fullscreen Windowed

• Vertical Sync: Enabled

• Global Quality: Custom

• Shader Quality: Low

• Texture Quality: Maximum

• Post-Processing Quality: Normal

• Shadow Quality: Low

• Foliage Quality: Low

• View Distance Quality: Low

• Reflection Method: None

• Reflection Quality: Low

• Effects Quality: Low

• Anti-Aliasing Quality: Maximum

• Anti-Aliasing Method: None (previously FXAA, but this card shows issues)

• Motion Blur: Disabled

Issue Description

• In Smite 2, Arena mode with Loki (ability #1): every time Loki turns invisible, frame time spikes up to ~100ms.

• In Conquest mode with Thor (ability #3)*: frame time increases significantly.

• When new objects spawn on the map (e.g., monsters at the start of a match), frame time drops drastically. Combining these events (abilities + object spawn) makes the stuttering worse.

Troubleshooting Attempts

• Enabled/disabled XMP profile in BIOS.

• Removed mismatched RAM module (16GB 3000MHz CL18). Performance improved after using only matched 2×8GB modules.

• Installed latest intel-media-driver and zero-level packages. This reduced stuttering somewhat.

• Verified BIOS settings are up to date and optimized for GPU performance.

Observations

• Compared to my previous AMD RX 6600, the Arc B580 shows much higher frame times under the same conditions.

• Shader Cache in Steam is enabled.

• Using Proton Experimental and Proton-GE for testing.

• Stuttering is reproducible and consistent in the scenarios described.

Additional Suspicions

• I suspect that stuttering may be related to communication between components when XMP is enabled or due to the factory Performance Boost (PBO) behavior of Ryzen CPUs. With PBO Limits applied, the Arc B580 seems more sensitive compared to my previous AMD RX 6600.

• Another possible factor is physics or lighting rendering. With Proton default, lighting consistently appears yellowish. In earlier Proton Hotfix builds, this yellow tint was removed but stuttering increased slightly. With the current Proton Hotfix version, the yellow tint no longer disappears, and stuttering remains. This may indicate that lighting/physics handling is connected to frame time spikes.

Could Intel please investigate whether this is a driver-level issue with Arc GPUs on Linux, especially regarding frame time spikes in DX12/Vulkan games under Proton? I am happy to provide mangohud logs or additional debugging information if needed.

Thank you for your support.

[Goutham_intel]

Hello oneone,

Thank you for sharing the detailed information and the troubleshooting steps you have already performed. The observations regarding frame time spikes and micro-stuttering in Smite 2 are noted.

For clarification, Intel’s official Linux support and validation for Intel Arc graphics are primarily focused on Ubuntu. While other distributions such as Linux Mint are widely used, they are not part of the official validation scope. Due to differences in kernel versions, Mesa implementations, and overall system integration, behavior may vary between distributions.

As a result, support for non-Ubuntu environments is limited, and issues observed on such platforms may be influenced by OS-specific factors rather than the graphics driver alone.

Suggestion

You may consider checking with the Linux Mint community or related forums for additional guidance, as they may have insights or similar reports specific to that environment.

Linux mint forum:- https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=462012

Based on the current setup, the behaviour described may be influenced by the operating system environment. Validation and support are currently limited to Ubuntu-based configurations.

Thank you for your understanding.

Best regards .

Goutham 

Intel customer Support Technician 

[oneone]

As a follow-up, I have now tested the same setup on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, since this distribution is officially validated for Intel Arc graphics. Unfortunately, the issue with high frame times and micro stuttering in Smite 2 persists under Ubuntu as well, so it does not appear to be specific to Linux Mint.

One additional observation:

When I run the game with mangohud enabled, the stuttering becomes noticeably worse and frame times increase further.

Without mangohud, the stuttering is still present, but slightly less severe.

This suggests that the Arc B580 may be more sensitive to monitoring overlays or performance tools compared to my previous AMD RX 6600, where frametimes remained stable even with mangohud active.

The main scenarios remain the same:

Loki turning invisible in Arena mode (~100ms frame time spikes).

Thor’s ability #3 in Conquest mode.

Object spawns at the start of matches causing drastic frame time drops.

Since the issue is reproducible on Ubuntu LTS, I believe this points to a driver-level problem rather than distribution-specific behavior. .

Thank you for your support.

[Goutham_intel]

Hello oneone,

To further investigate the reported issue, we have requested a few additional details from affected users to help us analyze the behavior more effectively.

Kindly check your email associated with your support case and respond with the requested information at your earliest convenience. These details are important for us to proceed with the investigation and involve the relevant engineering teams if required.

If you do not see the email in your inbox, please also check your spam or junk folder.

We appreciate your cooperation and support.

Thank you.

Goutham 

Intel customer support technician

[oneone]

Hello, I have received the email request from Intel Support and already responded with the SSU log and recordings as instructed. I will continue to provide any additional information through the support case.

[Resolutions404]

Hello @oneone Testing on Ubuntu 24.04 was a critical step; since the issue persists on a validated distribution, we can formally rule out OS-specific configuration errors and address this as a driver-level synchronization bottleneck between the Intel Mesa stack and the Unreal Engine 4/5 backend used by Smite 2.

Technical Analysis of the Issue

The specific scenarios you described - Loki’s invisibility and Thor’s abilities -trigger rapid state changes in transparency and particle effects. On the Intel Arc architecture (particularly the B-series), these events currently suffer from two primary issues:

1. Pipeline State Object (PSO) Stutter: In DX12-to-Vulkan translation (via VKD3D-Proton), the Intel "Anv" driver is currently less efficient at asynchronous shader compilation than its competitors. When a specific ability like Loki's invisibility is triggered, the driver momentarily stalls the rendering pipeline to compile the required shader state, causing that ~100ms spike.

2. Monitoring Interrupts: Your observation regarding MangoHud is astute. The current Intel Linux driver architecture has a higher "interruption cost" when performance counters are polled. While AMD's drivers (RADV) have decoupled these metrics, the Arc driver’s performance monitoring path currently shares a synchronization lock with the main draw calls, explaining why overlays worsen the stutter.

---

Recommended Workarounds

1. Force Graphics Pipeline Library (GPL)

To mitigate the stutter caused by abilities and object spawns, you should force the Vulkan driver to pre-compile more aggressively.

• Steam Launch Options: RADV_PERFTEST=gpl PROTON_DXVK_CONFIG="dxvk.enableGraphicsPipelineLibrary = True" %command% (Note: While the first flag is common for AMD, the DXVK config specifically forces VKD3D to use the Graphics Pipeline Library which helps Intel drivers manage shader transitions more smoothly.)

2. Kernel Driver Transition (Xe vs. i915)

The Arc B580 (Battlemage) performs significantly better on the newer Xe kernel driver compared to the legacy i915 driver found in standard kernels.

• Action: Ensure you are using the Xe driver by adding xe.force_probe=[Your_GPU_ID] to your GRUB parameters.

• Warning: Switching kernel drivers is a low-level change. Ensure your system is backed up, as an incorrect PCI ID or kernel mismatch can result in a failure to boot to the GUI.

3. Eliminate "Observer Effect"

Until the Mesa performance counters are optimized for Battlemage:

• Action: Run the game with all overlays (Steam and MangoHud) disabled.

• Reason: This reduces the CPU-to-GPU synchronization overhead, allowing the driver to focus exclusively on the game's command stream.

Summary

The performance delta you see between Windows and Linux is due to the Intel Anv (Mesa) driver's current maturity level regarding DX12-over-Vulkan translation. The "yellow tint" and frame spikes indicate that the driver is struggling with specific lighting and physics shaders used in Smite 2.

Hope this might help you @oneone  and @Goutham_intel .

Your Friendly Neighbourhood User

[oneone]

Thank you @Resolutions404 for your detailed insights.

I wanted to share what partially helped in my case:

Editing GRUB to force the Xe driver probe:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Replace
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

with
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash xe.force_probe=8086:e20b"

This change gave me a slight improvement in stability.
Forcing the Intel ICD instead of the generic Mesa ICD also helped reduce stuttering:

VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/intel_icd.json %command%

With these tweaks, frametime spikes are still present, but the overall experience is a bit smoother. I’m not entirely sure if other adjustments made a difference, but these two steps were the most noticeable. Hopefully this helps future users facing similar issues.

[Tharun_Intel]

Hello oneone,

I hope this email finds you well.

Thank you for reaching out to us and for your patience while we looked into your concern.

We understand you've been experiencing an issue with Smite 2 on your Ubuntu system, and we want to assure you that we take your experience seriously.

After thorough investigation on our end, we were unable to reproduce the issue in our testing environment. Upon further review, we found that Smite 2 does not currently have official support for Linux/Ubuntu, as confirmed by the game's developer, Hi-Rez Studios. You can verify this directly on the official Smite 2 website: https://www.smite2.com/

Since this is a game developer-side limitation — and the title is still in Early Access — the most effective path forward would be to report this issue directly to Hi-Rez Studios. Their development team would be best positioned to add official Linux support or address compatibility concerns at the source. You can submit feedback or a bug report through their official site or community channels.

We truly appreciate your enthusiasm for gaming and your patience in working through this with us. We hope to see Smite 2 gain full Linux support soon!

Should you have any other questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out — we're always happy to help.

Thank you for support and time.

Tharun

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Manas_Intel]

Hi @oneone,

I hope you’re having a wonderful day!

I wanted to quickly follow up on our previous conversation regarding Smite 2 on Ubuntu. Since the game is still in Early Access and doesn't officially support Linux/Ubuntu just yet, reaching out to Hi-Rez Studios is truly the best way to get your voice heard. Game developers love hearing from enthusiastic players during Early Access, and your feedback could help push Linux support higher up their priority list!

Quick Tip: You can drop them a line or submit a bug report directly through the official Smite 2 Website or their community Discord/forums.

We are going to go ahead and close this thread for now, but we want to make sure you're completely taken care of. If you have any other questions, need help with Intel drivers, or face any other hiccups on your Ubuntu system, please don't hesitate to start a new thread. The community and our team are always here to help you out!

Thank you so much for being such an awesome part of the Intel Community. Happy gaming, and I hope to see you around the forums!

Warm regards,

Manas

Intel Customer Support Technician

[oneone]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a reproducible visual issue I’m seeing in Smite 2 when using the Intel Arc B580 on Linux. This might be related to the stuttering problem I reported earlier.

To reproduce: from the main menu → Gods → Sol → Customize → Skin “The Magnificent” → Prism “Grand Noir”. On Intel Arc, the colors show a strong tint (not only yellow, but exaggerated lighting across multiple tones). On AMD RX 6600, the same scene looks normal without this effect.

I’ve attached two screenshots:

smite2_skins_sol_the_magnificent_grand_noir_arc.jpg → shows the tint issue with Intel Arc.

smite2_tint_arc_vs_rx6600.jpg → comparison highlighting that the problem only appears on Arc, not on RX 6600.

This visual glitch seems to be tied to lighting/shader rendering and could be connected to the frametime spikes I’ve been experiencing. Hopefully this helps future users and gives more context for troubleshooting.