Ubuntu – Very poor desktop performance in Ubuntu 20.04 on Dell XPS 7590

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Just recently bought a Dell XPS 7590 for everyday use. I've been meaning to give Linux an honest shot since I've worked with it before.

I installed regular Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and let the installer take care of everything. It grabbed the appropriate Nvidia drivers as well which was nice.

After the install completed and the system booted in, I immediately noticed that the desktop environment seemed to be running very slow. Just about every application felt sluggish and animations were definitely struggling. I tried all the options provided by the Nvidia settings for graphics switching and restarted each time. Nothing seemed to help.

My best guess is that the rendering performance just isn't there in Linux yet for 4K displays. I could be wrong but running the display at lower resolutions helped a lot. Only issue is the reduced visual clarity even at integer scales.

I ended up just restoring Windows considering I have work that needs to be done. Hopefully there is a solution as I'd really prefer Ubuntu as my main OS.

Just for reference, here are the general specs of the laptop:

  • Intel Core i7-9750H 6c/12t
  • 32GB DDR4 2666MHz
  • Nvidia GTX 1650 4GB GDDR5
  • 3840×2160 (4K) 60Hz IPS Display
  • Generic 1TB NVMe SSD

Everything runs fine in Windows and there doesn't seem to be any thermal issues. Im fairly certain there's nothing wrong with the device itself.

Best Answer

Old question, but here we go anyways. I have the exact same Dell laptop and had the exact same issue you've been facing. It performed terrible. Laggy, screen tearing, and even mouse input lag for me. Tried every single "solution" out there, but nothing worked.

I ended up reinstalling Ubuntu, but this time use previous LTS (18.04.5). It works out the box. No need for additional third party drivers or anything. My guess is that there are some incompatibility issues with Nvidia and Ubuntu 20.04.

The only "issue" is that fractional scaling isn't a feature in 18.04, but I resolved that by using Gnome Tweaks -> Fonts -> Scaling Factor (mine is at 1.30). Works like a charm!

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