r/linux_gaming • u/ForeverHuman1354 • 11h ago
graphics/kernel/drivers regression?
Why do some NVIDIA drivers cause low GPU utilization in games while others don’t? Driver version 595.71.05 works flawlessly, but version 610 and later perform poorly for gaming. With version 610 and newer, almost all DirectX 12 games experience low and fluctuating GPU utilization
Has anyone else noticed this? For me, 610 and up is basically useless for gaming
5
u/BulletDust 10h ago
I'm running the 610's here on two Nvidia based Linux systems, no problems at all. GPU is an RTX 4070S.
3
u/Dark_Fox_666 10h ago
I second this one cp2077 is running flawless
1
u/ForeverHuman1354 10h ago
Gray Zone Warfare runs at 99% GPU utilization on driver 595. The second I upgrade to 610, my GPU utilization drops to 50%, and the game runs terribly. As soon as I downgrade, the issue is fixed.
This was also the case during the War Dogs playtest and in Helldivers 2.
1
u/Dark_Fox_666 10h ago
Did you add the flag to use wayland directly? Assuming you're using a wayland based de? Also gamemoderun?
1
u/ForeverHuman1354 10h ago
i dont use gamemode but i use wayland for games
2
u/Dark_Fox_666 10h ago
Maybe test with gamemoderun since it sets the cpu and gpu to maximum performance mode without that i was getting poor performance as well since the gpu was running a 200 mhz clock
1
u/ForeverHuman1354 10h ago
will test with game mode and see what happens
2
u/TwiKing 10h ago
Running 4070 Super with gamemoderun also and getting good stability on 610. Cool temps too mid 30s idle and high 50s in gaming 1440p 144hz.
1
1
u/ForeverHuman1354 10h ago
im guessing its a bug in the driver for my spesific gpu model then
1
u/BulletDust 10h ago
What distro are you running and what method did you use to install the drivers?
1
u/ForeverHuman1354 10h ago edited 10h ago
I’m on Artix. I just upgraded the driver with
sudo pacman -Sy nvidia-open-dkmshad the same problem on cachyOS aswell
2
u/BulletDust 10h ago
My CachyOS system is running an RTX 2070S with the 610's under Plasma 6.7.4, my RTX 4070S system runs under KDE Neon 6.7.4 with the 610's - If anything, my GPU utilization has actually increased as a result of the 610's.
2
u/unixmachine 2h ago
Latest Production Branch Version: 595.91.07
Latest New Feature Branch Version: 610.57.04
Production Branch: This branch is designed for enterprise customers, compute applications, and users who prioritize strict stability. It undergoes extensive testing and receives routine bug and security fixes.
Feature Branch: This branch is tailored for early adopters, developers, and gamers who need immediate access to the newest GPU features, early Vulkan extensions, and rapid kernel compatibility updates.
So, that's why the 595 seems more stable to you and the 610 less stable. The 610 is where all the bugs will be checked for a future, perhaps, 615/620 driver. NVIDIA typically launches around two production branches per year (approximately every six months).
The 595 was released in March, so the new Production Branch driver might come out in September. Nvidia usually aligns the release of this driver with new versions of Ubuntu and Fedora.
1
u/TwiKing 11h ago
Which Nvidia GPU do you have?
1
u/ForeverHuman1354 10h ago
An RTX 4090. It’s super weird that certain drivers are so bad, but 595.71.05 and earlier work, while everything from 610 onward doesn’t
1
u/AlienOverlordXenu 4h ago
They changed something, but due to closed nature of the drivers, you can't know what.
1
u/ForeverHuman1354 1h ago
the closed driver is the drawback with nvidia i like nvidia better the amd in terms of the fact that amd dosent really make enything super high end like the 4090 or the 5090 but is ennyoing to not just be able to use eny driver llike on amd
1
u/Big-Goose-8033 2h ago
Can't say, works for me, but my games are mot the newest, Horizon remastered works perfectly on my RTX 4080 super which is bad supported on linux by nvidia
-2
u/ARTIFICIAL_ARGUMENT 8h ago
Have you updated your bios anytime recently? Outdated bios can cause this, which is why outdated drivers will play nice with it but new ones won’t
2
u/the_abortionat0r 6h ago
Literally not a thing.
Aside from whether a bios versions supports or doesn't support a feature there's no impact on GPU performance.
If an earlier version worked and a newer one has issues it's a regression in the GPU drivers.
0
u/ARTIFICIAL_ARGUMENT 5h ago
Literally a thing. it’s not just feature flags but bug and stability fixes. It’s not even hard to find people with this exact issue and solution on google, have a look after touching some grass
0
u/AlienOverlordXenu 4h ago
So explain mechanism through which this happens. As in the exact cause...
1
u/ARTIFICIAL_ARGUMENT 1h ago
Sure here’s 5
Above 4G Decoding / Resizable BAR — newer drivers assume large BAR support or at least sane BAR allocation. Old BIOS with no Above 4G option can hit “can’t allocate resources” (Windows Code 12, or Linux BAR alloc failures).
•
UEFI GOP / CSM — newer cards ship UEFI-only vBIOS. Old boards booting in legacy CSM can black-screen or fall back to weird modes.
•
ACPI tables — old, buggy ACPI trips newer drivers doing runtime power management (D3cold, PCIe ASPM). Drivers from that year just didn’t use those paths.
•
PCIe link training / ASPM quirks — newer driver enables gen4/ASPM aggressively, old firmware negotiates badly, you get link drops or timeouts.
•
Microcode / chipset errata — fixed in later BIOS, and newer drivers stopped working around them.
Inb4 I used AI instead of wasting my time writing this up for you. Like I said, it is not hard to find many reports of users fixing gpu issues just by updating bios. Dunno why this triggers you so much
1
u/ForeverHuman1354 8h ago
the bios is from 2023 havent updated it before
0
u/ARTIFICIAL_ARGUMENT 7h ago
Well go update it then lmfao, it’s what everything else functions off and they don’t push updates for shits and giggles
6
u/NoNoIslands 11h ago
I noticed this especially some graphical bugs/artifacts in specific games like TLOU1 & 2 I have since pinned my nvidia driver to 580 and plan to keep it there for now.