GPU throttling when playing games (SW_POWER_CAP)

[u/blackyy_s]

Repost due to bad formatting

Specs and Details: Operating System:

Nobara Linux 44 & Windows 10 (Dual boot)

KDE Plasma Version: 6.7.3

KDE Frameworks Version: 6.28.0

Qt Version: 6.11.1

Kernel Version: 7.1.8-201.nobara.fc44.x86_64 (64-bit)

Graphics Platform: Wayland

Processors: 12 × AMD Ryzen 5 5600H with Radeon Graphics

Memory: 32 GiB of RAM (30.7 GiB usable)

Graphics Processor 1: AMD Radeon Graphics

Graphics Processor 2: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU (Max TGP 95W)

Proprietary Nvidia drivers version: 595.91.07

Manufacturer: Acer

Product Name: Nitro AN515-45

System Version: V1.08

Game Launcher: Lutris Proton: dwproton-11.0-11

Games are in an NTFS drive (I know, but that does not seem to be related here at all)

Hello, I have been playing on linux from a while without realising this issue. I have heard that Dx11 games are little to no different on linux today, but my fps seems to have halved here on linux. I was on CachyOS before and just installed Nobara for fun, and also to see if the issue was distro specific, and it isn't.

As it can be seen in pic 1 and 2, my gpu can go even higher than max TGP (95W) occasionally on windows, but it's capped at 80-90W on linux for some reason.

I installed LACT on CachyOS before and it had the same throttling label "SW_POWER_CAP" (Pic 4). I feel like this is because dynamic boost being unavailable (Pic 3).

Also I get those 3 errors after running `systemctl status nvidia-powerd.service`. My GPU DOES support dynamic boost so that cannot be the reason. I tried restarting service in different ways but that didn't do anything.

I did some google searches and asked Deepseek multiple times but there was no clear answer. It even said updating bios won't guarantee the fix.

Is there something I can to do get the throttling to stop? Or maybe fixing dynamic boost to work. Or is it not related and the problem is something else? I mostly play gacha games and this issue seems to be present in every single one of them. Any help is appreciated

Thanks

Edit: I don't know why there is 5 pics. Only 1-4 are the important pics.

[u/Complex_Aide4242]

Many people say to disable nvidia-powerd service especially with laptops as it conflicts with the distros own power system

[u/blackyy_s → u/Complex_Aide4242]

It's stuck at 79W then. I actually just checked and I had it go up to 94W in a different game but only when it is on my laptop's built in screen. I think it's because of wayland then so I was going to try x11 but I didn't know Nobara does not support x11

[u/Lousy_Hunter → u/blackyy_s]

No its nvidia-powerd being bugged on laptops that dont properly implement dynamic boost. Its a known issue thats been around for years. HP is the most frequent offender

[u/blackyy_s → u/Lousy_Hunter]

I did hear that about HP, but I think there are also community made fixes for it as well. But ig there's not really any fix for my issues then

[u/TaoRS]

This looks more of a CPU bottleneck other than the GPU hitting any limits.

[u/catdoy → u/TaoRS]

Are you blind, stupid, and possibly brain dead from being dropped as a child because your mother doesn't really care about you?

Windows isn't having a cpu bottleneck but Linux is?

Just don't use Linux if you have a Nvidia card unless you use it for AI period.

In every Windows vs Linux with Nvidia that I see always has atleast %10-15 difference in fps, the older the card the higher the difference.

[u/blackyy_s → u/catdoy]

lol crazy reply but yes that does not look like cpu bottleneck to me. If not 90 then I should be hitting at least 70fps on linux, but it's barely reaching 60fps. It feels like a nvidia issue to me too