I recently switched from Windows 11 to Bazzite on a PC with an RTX 4070 Ti Super, an Intel CPU, an MSI motherboard, and an NVMe SSD. My TV is set to 144 Hz. Games initially run extremely well, often above 100 FPS, but after two or three minutes I start getting severe stutters every 10–30 seconds. The issue appears in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Elden Ring, and Cyberpunk 2077. MangoHud suggests that frame times are spiking rather than the average FPS dropping.
I have tried several Proton and Proton-GE versions, different launch options, disabling Bluetooth, and disabling GPU firmware from the terminal. I am wondering whether the cause could be shader compilation, a background process, BIOS memory-voltage settings, or interference from the motherboard's built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth adapters. Would switching to an X11 session, changing shader-cache settings, or using another Linux distribution help identify or fix the problem?
3 Answers
Before changing BIOS voltages or hardware settings, gather a little more information while a hitch occurs: GPU and CPU usage, temperatures, VRAM and system RAM usage, frame times, and disk activity. If one of those spikes every 10–30 seconds, it should help distinguish shader compilation from a background process or device issue.
You could also test the games inside an X11 desktop session, such as an XFCE session, rather than changing the whole operating system. That isolates whether Wayland, the compositor, or NVIDIA’s display handling is contributing to the frame-time spikes.
The timing sounds consistent with shaders compiling when new areas, effects, or objects appear. In Steam, enable both shader pre-caching and background Vulkan shader processing. You can also temporarily add DXVK_HUD=compiler %command% to the game’s launch options. If a compiler indicator appears during a hitch, shader compilation is likely the cause.
NVIDIA shader-cache pruning can also lead to repeated compilation. As a test, try increasing the cache size with environment variables such as __GL_SHADER_DISK_CACHE=1 and __GL_SHADER_DISK_CACHE_SIZE=10737418240. Make sure the games are installed on a Linux filesystem rather than being run directly from a Windows-formatted drive.
The stutters may happen when new content loads, so shader compilation seems worth investigating. I’ll check the cache settings and confirm where the games are installed.