I've recently switched to KDE Plasma, trying it on various distros like Ubuntu, Arch, and Fedora, but I'm running into frustrating issues. Windows get stuck during closing animations, and the hover menus for applications are either cropping or stretching strangely. I've already installed the necessary drivers for my Nvidia graphics card. I used to run Ubuntu with GNOME without these problems, so I'm puzzled why KDE is performing so poorly, especially since I've heard it's supposed to be lighter than GNOME. Any ideas on why this is happening?
5 Answers
Honestly, I’ve been using KDE for a while, and it can be tricky with certain setups. Sometimes the focus on being 'lightweight' doesn’t translate well, especially with Nvidia cards. You might find better performance using other environments. Have you tried something like Hyprland or going back to GNOME? It could save you some headaches.
Maybe switch to Nobara, it's based on Fedora but focused on providing a better gaming experience and might work better with your graphics card. Just a thought!
It might be worth checking your hardware. What are the specs of your PC? Sometimes certain combinations can lead to issues with graphics performance.
I’d say it’s likely related to your Nvidia drivers. I had similar problems with my 2060 on KDE, especially trying to run Wayland sessions. Switching to X11 solved a lot of my issues. You might want to ensure all drivers are up to date or consider switching to a different desktop environment that plays better with your hardware, like Cinnamon or XFCE.
Be careful if you've installed KDE on top of GNOME in Ubuntu; that can cause conflicts. I started with Kubuntu and had a pretty good experience until one update broke my video output. Switching to Arch with KDE worked perfectly for me after that! You might want to try a fresh install of Kubuntu directly instead of layering it over GHENOME.
I did a fresh install of Kubuntu after wiping the previous OS, but I still ran into graphical issues right away, which was really frustrating.
I've got an Nvidia 2060 for the GPU, an Intel i5 CPU, 32GB RAM, and an AsRock B450 motherboard with 500GB and 120GB SSDs.