Ubuntu – Terrible screen tearing on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS with Nvidia proprietary driver

14.04nvidiascreentearing

So I installed Ubuntu about a week ago after finally getting around to sorting out my partitions. Everything has gone great except that I get screen tearing on anything that goes fullscreen. I've searched around and tried loads of different solutions but none have worked. My GFX card is a nVidia GT 650M, I hope someone has a solution.

Best Answer

Screen tearing is a very annoying problem and can be caused by different things. Check if your vsync is enabled and check whether your monitor's refresh frequency is set to the same value as the software value. A quick search online shows that the NVidia 650 has this problem for quite a few people. I advise you to search around and see what works for you. Different people report different methods of dealing with it.

It greatly depends on the vendor of the GPU, what other hardware, drivers and settings you are using.

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Ubuntu – Have tearing (no Vsync) in movies (Nvidia proprietary driver)

Simple guide to solve this annoying problem :)

Create file:
```
/etc/profile.d/Tearing.sh
```
Insert this code:
```
export __GL_YIELD="USLEEP"
```
Then make it executable with:
```
chmod +x /etc/profile.d/Tearing.sh
```
Once that's done, reboot or press ctrl + alt + F2, login and run sudo service lightdm restart Or restart what ever your display manager is.

The GL_YIELD worked for me, and now vertical sync appears to be working as it should.

(https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showthread.php?63946-No-vertical-sync-with-NVIDIA&highlight=tearing)

Ubuntu – Screen tearing in Ubuntu with Nvidia/Intel graphics

Create /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf containing

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
   Driver      "intel"
   Option      "TearFree"    "true"
EndSection

That should fix everything.

Source is https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_graphics#Tear-free_video

Note: This only works if you're using bumblebee.

Note from comments: Since 10.10 the config file directory is now /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d

Starting from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS * you can use the following script to switch between NVIDIA and INTEL's graphics cards and besides it corrects the video/screen tearing on INTELs environment: https://github.com/bauca/graphics-switcher

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Have tearing (no Vsync) in movies (Nvidia proprietary driver)

Ubuntu – Screen tearing in Ubuntu with Nvidia/Intel graphics

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