Why does my mouse become sluggish when my RX 9060 XT is idle on Linux Mint?
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VelvetPine47
After installing an AMD RX 9060 XT 16GB, my mouse pointer becomes sluggish whenever the GPU is idle. Interestingly, starting a YouTube video immediately makes the pointer feel normal again, which makes me suspect a power-management or display-compositing issue. I have already tried different kernel versions and switching to Wayland, but neither helped.
System: Linux Mint 22.3, Cinnamon 6.6.9, Ryzen 5 2600, RX 9060 XT 16GB using the amdgpu kernel driver and Mesa 25.2.8. I'm running two 1920×1080 displays, one at 75 Hz and one at an unspecified refresh rate. The system currently uses X11, although Wayland was also tested.
Answers
This sounds like an aggressive GPU power-saving state. As a test, try forcing the GPU or system power profile to performance and see whether the pointer becomes smooth. If that fixes it, you can experiment with a less aggressive profile afterward. Some desktop environments only expose balanced and energy-saving modes, so you may need a separate power-management tool or driver setting.
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It may be worth checking for USB or wireless interference too. One person with a Logitech wireless mouse saw the lag improve after moving the receiver from a rear motherboard port to a front-panel USB port, particularly after installing a newer graphics card. That may not be the same issue, but testing a different USB port, using a short extension cable, or keeping the receiver away from the GPU can help rule it out.
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Variable refresh rate or the desktop compositor could also be involved, especially with multiple monitors using different refresh rates. Try disabling VRR/Adaptive Sync in the monitor’s settings or graphics configuration, and test with both displays set to the same refresh rate. Cinnamon and X11 can sometimes behave oddly with mixed-refresh multi-monitor setups.
VelvetPine47: I couldn’t find a VRR setting in Mint’s normal system settings, so I’m not sure whether it is enabled or where it would need to be changed.
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VelvetPine47: I only see balanced and energy-saving profiles, not a performance option. I may investigate other power-management settings, although I’d prefer to stay with Mint if possible.