After system updates, steam games won't switch from integrated to dedicated GPU when playing games
After system updates, steam games won't switch from integrated to dedicated GPU when playing games
I have a Dell G5 SE 5505 laptop running Linux Mint
System Information
System:
Kernel: 5.15.0-82-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.4.0
Desktop: Cinnamon 5.8.4 tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin dm: LightDM
Distro: Linux Mint 21.2 Victoria base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Dell product: G5 5505 v: 1.16.0
serial: Chassis: type: 10 v: 1.16.0
serial:
Mobo: Dell model: 0M8C1F v: A02 serial: UEFI: Dell
v: 1.16.0 date: 04/21/2023
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 24.9 Wh (86.5%) condition: 28.8/51.0 Wh (56.4%)
volts: 11.5 min: 11.4 model: LGC-LGC4.474 DELL 415CG0C serial:
status: Discharging
CPU:
Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 9 4900H with Radeon Graphics bits: 64
type: MT MCP arch: Zen 2 rev: 1 cache: L1: 512 KiB L2: 4 MiB L3: 8 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1402 high: 1478 min/max: 1400/3300 boost: enabled
cores: 1: 1397 2: 1395 3: 1397 4: 1396 5: 1397 6: 1397 7: 1396 8: 1397
9: 1397 10: 1397 11: 1478 12: 1441 13: 1397 14: 1396 15: 1396 16: 1368
bogomips: 105404
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600 XT / 5700/5700 XT]
vendor: Dell driver: amdgpu v: kernel pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
active: none empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:731f
Device-2: AMD Renoir vendor: Dell driver: amdgpu v: kernel pcie:
speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-2 bus-ID: 07:00.0
chip-ID: 1002:1636
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,ati
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0
screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96
Monitor-1: eDP res: 1920x1080 dpi: 142 diag: 395mm (15.5")
OpenGL: renderer: RENOIR (renoir LLVM 15.0.7 DRM 3.42 5.15.0-82-generic)
v: 4.6 Mesa 23.0.4-0ubuntu1~22.04.1 direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Navi 10 HDMI Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab38
Device-2: AMD Renoir Radeon High Definition Audio vendor: Dell
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 07:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1637
Device-3: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor
vendor: Dell Raven/Raven2/FireFlight/Renoir Processor
driver: snd_rn_pci_acp3x v: kernel pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 07:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2
Device-4: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel pcie: speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 07:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-82-generic running: yes
Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Dell driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
port: 2000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
IF: enp5s0 state: down mac:
Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 vendor: Rivet Networks Killer
driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 06:00.0
chip-ID: 8086:2723
IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac:
IF-ID-1: moz0 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
bus-ID: 3-3.1:3 chip-ID: 8087:0029
Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address:
bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.2 sub-v: 237e
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 179.87 GiB (18.9%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Western Digital
model: PC SN730 NVMe WDC 1024GB size: 953.87 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4
serial: temp: 46.9 C
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 914.69 GiB used: 179.86 GiB (19.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0
mapped: vgmint-root
ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat
dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 976 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
dev: /dev/dm-1 mapped: vgmint-swap_1
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
GPU: device: amdgpu temp: 45.0 C mem: 48.0 C fan: 65535 device: amdgpu
temp: 45.0 C
Repos:
Packages: 2344 apt: 2308 flatpak: 36
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozillacorp-mozillavpn-jammy.list
1: deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/mozillacorp-mozillavpn-jammy.gpg] https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillacorp/mozillavpn/ubuntu jammy main
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
1: deb https://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/linuxmint-packages victoria main upstream import backport
2: deb http://ubuntu.mirror.rafal.ca/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
3: deb http://ubuntu.mirror.rafal.ca/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
4: deb http://ubuntu.mirror.rafal.ca/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
Processes: 433 Uptime: 2m Memory: 14.99 GiB used: 2.11 GiB (14.1%)
Init: systemd v: 249 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.4.0 alt: 11/12
Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.13
I'm currently running Linux without updates for a couple weeks now so I can continue to play. However, Any update I install causes any game to stay stuck on the integrated GPU instead of switching to the dedicated GPU. Some games will just close while others will run but it's super slow and choppy.
I've tried running steam with the dedicated GPU option but that causes steam to launch, attempt to open the library window several times before the system freezes for a moment. After the system unfreezes, I can move the mouse but nothing on the desktop is responsive.
I also get the freezing issue without running with the dedicated GPU when I launch steam but found that launching directly to the steam settings window from the menu reduces the chances of freezing.
Any help would be appreciated.
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Add
DRI_PRIME=1 %command%to the game's launch option in steam. That will make the game run using the dGPU.Also dont run steam using the dGPU. There is some bug in some ubuntu or ubuntu based amd+amd systems where the steam client crashes when opened with the dGPU. Open the client with the iGPU and use the command mentioned earlier to make the game run using the dGPU
I won't have a chance to try it out soon but that sounds like the solution I am looking for. I'll give it a try when I can.
If it's an ubuntu issue, I may switch over to a different distribution when I have the time to set it up properly.
Thanks for the info.
Adding the command seems to work quite well. All of my games are launching just fine now with all the system updates applied. Which is great because the graphics and fps have improved considerably too.
I did some searching around and it seems the Dell G5 SE line seems to have issues in general with Linux. I tried installing Pop!_OS and the live USB would lock up constantly.
I'll have to be patient and hope things get sorted out down the line. For now it's tolerable with Mint, maybe I'll try some other non-ubuntu distributions later when I'm in the mood and see how stable they are.
Actually i dont think ubuntu or their derivatives are to blame here. The issues started after the big new ui update to steam. Somebody did raise the issue with valve and there is a thread on the bug but it seems they arent particularly interested in fixing the issue(maybe because it does not affect that many users?). Also once the command has been added, the experience should be just as smooth as normal. Why do you characterise it as just tolerable?
My system still freezes outside of Steam and gaming. My best guess based on searching around for issues related to my system is that Linux doesn't handle switching from integrated to discrete graphics that well with amd+amd systems. Other users who have Dell G5 SE systems have had the same issue for at least 3 years now.
It's tolerable because it doesn't freeze while gaming and that's the most intensive thing I do on my system. If I was writing or editing and it froze and I lost work constantly, I'd be more upset and annoyed.
Occasionally it will freeze just from opening discord or steam but the load up time is significantly shorter than a windows hard reset. It's tolerable for me, for now.
I should also add, I can't start steam normally. It still freezes constantly unless I start directly opening to steam Settings from the start menu.
https://lemmy.one/post/151466 - This post may help you with issues you face with launching steam.
I too have have an amd+amd laptop(MSI bravo 15 with 5600h+5500m) and I don't have any issues with switching from integrated graphics to dedicated graphics. The kernel decides itself(with help from the program running I am guessing) whether the iGPU or dGPU needs to be used. I face absolutely no freezing issues or issues in general related to graphics switching.
What might be possibly causing your random freezes and stutters is the AMD fTPM. It's random number generator function is known to cause stuttering and freezing on both windows and Linux. AMD made several futile attempts at solving the issue before Linus ranted about it and then AMD disabled the RNG functionality. But almost all these patches are part of kernel 6.x series so maybe they have not made it downstream to the lts kernel you are running on(not surprising considering how much of a burden it seems supporting old kernels is). If possible, you could disable fTPM from the bios and see if that fixes your general freezing issues. Though I have to warn you that TPM is needed for secure boot(I think) and is used by some password managers for secure password storage so you might lose functionality by turning off the fTPM. Moving to a more modern distro which uses a newer kernel(6.4.7 and above iirc) may also help.
Also out of curiosity, why is your GPU being shown as 5600 or 5600xt. I am assuming that you have a 5600m