this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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After system updates, steam games won't switch from integrated to dedicated GPU when playing games (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 year ago by alwaysconfused@lemmy.ca to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.ml
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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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[–] Sentau@lemmy.one 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

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

[–] alwaysconfused@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Sentau@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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?

[–] alwaysconfused@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] Sentau@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

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

[–] alwaysconfused@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] SavvyBeardedFish@reddthat.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've tried running steam with the dedicated GPU option

What exactly are you running to choose the dedicated vs integrated GPU?

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.

Hmmm, whenever this happens, it might be worth looking at the kernel logs, see if something crashes. You can check them with either

journalctl -k -xef or dmesg

Kernel: 5.15.0-82-generic

In general it's recommended to stay on newer kernels/mesa when using the open source GPU drivers, could be worthwhile trying to update that (think there's a PPA you can pull from)

[–] alwaysconfused@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Mint, from the start menu you can right click on the app you want to run and from the drop down menu you can select to launch with dedicated GPU. Otherwise left clicking will launch with the integrated GPU as normal.

From the other comments, it looks like it may be an ubuntu issue so I'll consider another distribution and maybe things will run a bit smoother in general.

You indirectly answered another question that got lost in my head. I'll add those commands to my cheat sheet so I can attempt to diagnose problems myself in the future.

[–] SavvyBeardedFish@reddthat.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

From: This thread

Seems like you can try and debug the execution by running switcherooctl launch *application*, which should (manually) do the same as when you right click and click Launch with dedicated GPU, because I think Mint is using switcheroo, same as Gnome is.

But would then hopefully log some debug information for you in the terminal itself

[–] Peafield@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I had the exact same problem with Ubuntu trying to get steam games to run. Unfortunately I could not resolve it and was advised to move to another distro. I chose Fedora and now everything works perfectly without having to make any adjustments. I know it's not the answer you're looking for, but it is a solution.

[–] Privatepower42@fosstodon.org 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@Peafield @alwaysconfused how does one uninstall an OS and install a new one?

[–] Peafield@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

I'm not sure if mint is completely the same, but on Ubuntu you can easily make a bootable USB of another distro using this method: https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu#2-requirements

You'd then back up your data, and restart your computer and then, depending on the computer, it might either start the distro installation or you'll need to go into bios and configure your computer to boot from USB.

It sounds more complicated than it is, but there are lots of online tutorials to show you how to do it. Just make sure to back up your data first just in case.

[–] alwaysconfused@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I may just switch to another distribution in the future when I have the time. I think I'm also traumatized by windows.

Usually I have to schedule an entire day reformatting and updating windows. Compared to setting up Mint the first time which took maybe a couple hours. A lot of that time was going through the settings just to set things to my preferences.

Still can't shake the feeling of dread about installing a new OS when deep down inside I know it's not so bad hahaha

[–] Peafield@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

I had this dread too! I thought it would be incredibly time consuming but it ended up being a 30 min job (when I'd spent at least 4 days trying to make steam work on Ubuntu). Distro hopping is definitely one of the best features of Linux.