Massive performance regression in Dota 2 (maybe others) on Linux 6.10.2 compared to Linux-LTS 6.6.42
Performance in dota 2 (and maybe others, see benchmarks below) seems to have regressed substantially (~82% performance loss) in kernels newer than linux-lts.
Hardware description:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (PBO tested on and off)
- GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (0c:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Navi 31 [Radeon RX 7900 XT/7900 XTX/7900M] [1002:744c] (rev c8)
- System Memory: 32GB (4x8GB 3600Mhz, XMP on and off)
- Display(s): 1x DP 3840x2160@60Hz, 1x DP 2560x1440@360Hz, 1x HDMI 2560x1600@120Hz
- Type of Display Connection: DP,DP,HDMI
System information:
- Distro name and Version: CachyOS Linux x86_64
- Kernel version: 6.6.42 AND 6.10.2
- Custom kernel: N/A stock Linux and Linux-LTS tested.
- AMD official driver version: Mesa 24.1.5
I used a script built into my distro to gather hardware configuration and journalctl for each boot:
linux-lts kernel: https://paste.cachyos.org/p/39bb3f9
linux kernel: https://paste.cachyos.org/p/961478c
(if you are unable to access the links above I can provide the data elsewhere).
How to reproduce the issue:
Download Dota 2 and launch any in-game rendering on Linux 6.10.2
Extra information:
Below I have benchmarked Dota 2 (linux native vulkan build), Rise of the Shadow of the Tomb Raider (linux native build), Cyberpunk 2077 (Proton 9.0-2) and Geekbench6 single/multicore, with the aim of finding out if it is gpu or cpu issue, and a variety of graphics APIs.
The benchmarks are as follows (with settings for reproduction):
Dota 2: Settings and camera position: https://imgur.com/a/2hmuYFi I selected the hero Ancient Apparition (issue occurs with all heroes), selected "Demo Hero", and did not move the camera.
| kernel | fps |
|---|---|
| linux-lts | 490-530 |
| linux | 80-100 |
Cyberpunk 2077: I selected the Ultra preset, no raytracing, and ensured it was set to 2560x1440 with vsync disabled, and used the built-in benchmark.
| kernel | run 1 | run 2 | run 3 | average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| linux-lts | 157.36 | 156.69 | 157.11 | 157.05 |
| linux | 156.00 | 156.69 | 155.68 | 156.12 |
Rise of the Tomb Raider: I selected the Very High preset, set anti-aliasing to SMAA, ensured it was set to 2560x1440 with vsync disabled, and used the built-in benchmark.
| kernel | run 1 | run 2 | run 3 | average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| linux-lts | 134.12 | 154.19 | 176.85 | 155.05 |
| linux | 87.88 | 126.88 | 158.43 | 124.40 |
Geekbench6: I closed all programs except my single firefox tab with google sheets to store the results. Single-core:
| kernel | run 1 | run 2 | run 3 | average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| linux-lts | 2435.00 | 2402.00 | 2418.00 | 2418.33 |
| linux | 2458.00 | 2344.00 | 2409.00 | 2403.67 |
Multi-core:
| kernel | run 1 | run 2 | run 3 | average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| linux-lts | 16277.00 | 16426.00 | 16268.00 | 16323.67 |
| linux | 16238.00 | 16289.00 | 16379.00 | 16302.00 |
As can be seen above, the results for Dota 2 on Linux 6.10.2 are dramatically worse than on Linux-LTS 6.6.42. Rise of the Tomb Raider also seems to be underperforming, but not nearly to the same extent. Cyberpunk 2077 and Geekbench scores are close enough that I would say the issue does not apply to these tests.
Log files (for system lockups / game freezes / crashes)
| linux-lts | https://paste.cachyos.org/p/39bb3f9 |
|---|---|
| linux | https://paste.cachyos.org/p/961478c |