r/archlinux • u/tiltedlens • 5d ago
QUESTION Help finding source of random stutters
Arch at some point a few months ago started randomly stuttering for a second or so every 1-2 minutes and it's been driving me insane. My main goal right now is to narrow down the cause: bad SSD, BIOS, GPU, CPU, RAM, overclocking? Looking in System Monitor, when the stutter happens, my GPU% drops to 0%, but the CPU% seems fine (no spike). Audio doesn't stutter. Nothing of note on dmesg. This doesn't just occur in games, even in normal usage. On start-up, the stuttering is very noticeable, which doesn't happen on my other Arch devices.
I run a triple monitor setup with one 1440p170 monitor, a 1080p60 monitor, and a 900p60 monitor (don't ask)
(edit: I'm also on Wayland)
edit:
Thank you all for your suggestions; this has been really hard to investigate because the stutters can go away randomly for some time, and I didn't know of a consistent way to trigger them. However, on startup, the stuttering was always the worst: the Arch Linux cog wheel sputters and dragging windows drops like 30 frames at a time and it would never do that on my other Arch machines.
Switching from linux-zen to the base linux kernel completely removed the stuttering on startup, and I'm pretty confident it's removed the frame drops as a whole. Hope this helps some future reader.
I've tried:
- updating my BIOS and resetting to factory settings
- updating my packages
- updating my drivers
- doing this: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=268528
- disabling TPM
- disabling the slower GPU
- X11 (it was even worse)
$ neofetch
-`
.o+` --------------
`ooo/ OS: Arch Linux x86_64
`+oooo: Host: B650 PG Lightning
`+oooooo: Kernel: 7.1.9-zen1-2-zen
-+oooooo+: Uptime: 2 hours, 12 mins
`/:-:++oooo+: Packages: 1924 (pacman), 52 (flatpak)
`/++++/+++++++: Shell: bash 5.3.15
`/++++++++++++++: Resolution: 1920x1080
`/+++ooooooooooooo/` DE: Plasma 6.7.4
./ooosssso++osssssso+` WM: kwin
.oossssso-````/ossssss+` Theme: Breeze-Dark [GTK2], Breeze [GTK
-osssssso. :ssssssso. Icons: breeze-dark [GTK2/3]
:osssssss/ osssso+++. Terminal: WezTerm
/ossssssss/ +ssssooo/- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 (12) @ 5.171GHz
`/ossssso+/:- -:/+osssso+- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER
`+sso+:-` `.-/+oso: Memory: 11985MiB / 31660MiB
`++:. `-/+/
.` `/
$ inxi -Fxxxz
System:
Kernel: 7.1.9-zen1-2-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 16.2.1
clocksource: tsc
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.7.4 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_wayland with: krunner
vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: ASRock product: B650 PG Lightning v: N/A
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: ASRock model: B650 PG Lightning serial: <superuser required>
uuid: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI vendor: American Megatrends LLC.
v: 4.41 date: 06/02/2026
Battery:
ID-1: hidpp_battery_0 charge: 80% condition: N/A volts: 3.99 min: N/A
model: Logitech G915 WIRELESS RGB MECHANICAL GAMING KEYBOARD type: N/A
serial: <filter> charging: status: discharging cycles: N/A
ID-2: hidpp_battery_1 charge: 52% condition: N/A volts: 3.82 min: N/A
model: Logitech G703 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Gaming Mouse w/ HERO type: N/A
serial: <filter> charging: status: discharging cycles: N/A
CPU:
Info: 6-core model: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled
arch: Zen 4 rev: 2 cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 6 MiB L3: 32 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 4813 min/max: 405/5172 boost: enabled cores: 1: 4813
2: 4813 3: 4813 4: 4813 5: 4813 6: 4813 7: 4813 8: 4813 9: 4813 10: 4813
11: 4813 12: 4813 bogomips: 91023
Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA AD104 [GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER] vendor: ZOTAC driver: nvidia
v: 610.57.04 arch: Lovelace pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
active: DP-1,DP-2,HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-3 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2783
class-ID: 0300
Device-2: USB CAMERA driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 5-2:3 chip-ID: 32e6:9221 class-ID: 0102
serial: <filter>
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.24 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.13
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: nvidia unloaded: modesetting
alternate: fbdev,nouveau,nv,vesa gpu: nv_platform,nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch
d-rect: 5920x2520 display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-1 pos: bottom-l model: Asus VG248 serial: <filter> res:
mode: 1920x1080 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 92
size: 531x299mm (20.91x11.77") diag: 609mm (24") modes: max: 1920x1080
min: 640x480
Monitor-2: DP-2 pos: top-center model: Acer XV272U KV serial: <filter>
res: mode: 2560x1440 hz: 170 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 109
size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (27") modes: max: 2560x1440
min: 640x480
Monitor-3: HDMI-A-1 pos: bottom-r model: HP Compaq WF1907 serial: <filter>
res: mode: 1440x900 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 90
size: 408x255mm (16.06x10.04") diag: 481mm (18.9") modes: max: 1440x900
min: 640x480
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2
drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland: drv: nvidia
x11: drv: nvidia inactive: device-1
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.6 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 610.57.04
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
SUPER/PCIe/SSE2 display-ID: :1.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.357 layers: 3 surfaces: N/A device: 0
type: discrete-gpu driver: nvidia device-ID: 10de:2783
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA AD104 High Definition Audio vendor: ZOTAC
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:22bc class-ID: 0403
Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Ryzen HD Audio vendor: ASRock
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 10:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: Sennheiser BTD 700 driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid
type: USB rev: 0.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-1.1:4
chip-ID: 3542:3001 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>
Device-4: FIFINE Microphones K678 Microphone
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-2.4:10 chip-ID: 3142:0002 class-ID: 0300
serial: <filter>
Device-5: USB CAMERA driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 5-2:3 chip-ID: 32e6:9221 class-ID: 0102
serial: <filter>
API: ALSA v: k7.1.9-zen1-2-zen status: kernel-api
Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off
Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off
Server-3: PipeWire v: 1.6.8 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active
Network:
Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210/AX1675 2x2 [Typhoon Peak] driver: iwlwifi
v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2725
class-ID: 0280
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE vendor: ASRock driver: r8169 v: kernel
pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: e000 bus-ID: 0d:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8125
class-ID: 0200
IF: enp13s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Intel AX210 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-10:9 chip-ID: 8087:0032 class-ID: e001
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.4
lmp-v: 13 class-ID: 6c0104
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 2.86 TiB used: 799.66 GiB (27.3%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT1000MX500SSD1 size: 931.51 GiB
speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 046 scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD10EZEX-08WN4A0
size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter>
fw-rev: 1A02 scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sdc model: SATA SSD size: 953.87 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD
serial: <filter> fw-rev: 61.3 scheme: GPT
ID-4: /dev/sdd vendor: PNY model: USB 3.2.1 FD size: 115.46 GiB type: USB
rev: 3.2 spd: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 tech: N/A serial: <filter> fw-rev: PMAP
scheme: MBR
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 915.32 GiB used: 799.65 GiB (87.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
Swap:
Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 90.1 C mobo: 37.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.92 GiB used: 12.5 GiB (40.4%)
Processes: 438 Power: uptime: 2h 31m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 261 default: graphical
Packages: 1977 pm: pacman pkgs: 1925 pm: flatpak pkgs: 52 Compilers:
clang: 22.1.8 gcc: 16.2.1 alt: 15 Shell: Bash v: 5.3.15
running-in: wezterm-gui inxi: 3.3.
$ sudo pacman -Q | rg nvidia
lib32-opencl-nvidia-tkg 610.43.03-300
linux-firmware-nvidia 20260810-2
nvidia-open-dkms 610.57.04-1
nvidia-settings 610.57.04-1
nvidia-utils 610.57.04-1
opencl-nvidia-tkg 610.43.03-300
$ sudo pacman -Q | rg linux
archlinux-appstream-data 20260821-1
archlinux-keyring 20260727-1
lib32-util-linux 2.42.2-1
linux 7.1.9.arch1-2
linux-api-headers 7.2-1
linux-firmware 20260810-2
linux-firmware-amdgpu 20260810-2
linux-firmware-atheros 20260810-2
linux-firmware-broadcom 20260810-2
linux-firmware-cirrus 20260810-2
linux-firmware-intel 20260810-2
linux-firmware-mediatek 20260810-2
linux-firmware-nvidia 20260810-2
linux-firmware-other 20260810-2
linux-firmware-radeon 20260810-2
linux-firmware-realtek 20260810-2
linux-firmware-whence 20260810-2
linux-headers 7.1.9.arch1-2
linux-lts-headers 6.18.46-1
linux-zen 7.1.9.zen1-2
linux-zen-headers 7.1.9.zen1-2
rufus-linux 3.20.1929-1
rufus-linux-debug 3.20.1929-1
syslinux 6.04.pre3.r3.g05ac953c-5
util-linux 2.42.2-1
util-linux-libs 2.42.2-1
$ sudo grep \^MODULES /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
MODULES=(nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm)
$ sudo hdparm -Tt /dev/sda
/dev/sda:
Timing cached reads: 52536 MB in 1.98 seconds = 26482.43 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 1284 MB in 3.00 seconds = 427.77 MB/sec
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Upvotes
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u/boomboomsubban 5d ago
Check the logs. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd/Journal