Ubuntu – Screen Tearing in Linux with Nvidia Graphics

driversgraphicsnvidiatearing

I have terrible screen tearing, and I don't know how to go about trouble shooting it. I would LOVE to switch to Ubuntu completely, but with this tearing, it's just too irritating. It's only present on Ubuntu based distros, (including element OS). On Manjaro (Arch fork), it does not suffer from tearing.

PC Configuration:
Motherboard: Aorus Pro Wifi z390
CPU: Intel i7 9700k
RAM: 32GB
GPU: Nvidia 1060 6GB DisplayPort output connects to monitor's HDMI

Monitor reported refresh rate 75hz, Ubuntu monitor settings reported refresh rate 74.97 (can change to 60hz, doesn't help).

Best Answer

As discussed in the comment, I post the answer.
To solve the tearing problem, add this following command to be run at startup:
nvidia-settings --assign CurrentMetaMode="nvidia-auto-select +0+0 { ForceFullCompositionPipeline = On }"
To do so, you can search for 'Startup Applications Preferences' and add the command to startup commands by pressing the Add button, pasting the command in the Command field (you can add the name you want in the Name section) then press Add.

Or you can add that command to your Crontab by:

  • Run crontab -e on the terminal.
  • If it is the first time you open Crontab, you'll be asked to choose an editor, choose nano for example (which is number 1) then press Enter.
  • Add the following line to the end of the file: @reboot nvidia-settings --assign CurrentMetaMode="nvidia-auto-select +0+0 { ForceFullCompositionPipeline = On }"
  • Save using Ctrl + O and exit.

In order to make the changes effective, you should reboot your computer (for both methods).

If the tearing problem still persists even after applying the steps above, please do the following:

  • Install compton using sudo apt install compton compton-conf
  • Add compton to be run at startup following one of the methods already described.

If it the screen is still tearing:

  • Add compton.conf to .config folder by running: touch ~/.config/compton.conf
  • Add compton --config ~/.config/compton.conf

And restart your computer.

CREDITS: Fix Screen Tearing in Linux with Nvidia Graphics

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