EDIT: The audio issue on Wayland seems to have magically resolved itself after several reboots, so while I never figured out why the option for VRR disappeared in the Xorg session, I’ve resorted to using Wayland and everything seems to be as it should.

OP: Howdy. I just installed a new graphics card in my gaming rig, and now the option for Variable Refresh Rate is gone from the Display Settings when I log into a Gnome Xorg session. I swapped out my trusty Vega 64 for a new PowerColor 6750 XT. Before the swap, I always signed into an Xorg session and the option for Variable Refresh Rate was there. After the swap, the option for VRR is there only in Wayland. So why don’t I just use Wayland, you ask? The problem is, on Wayland, the audio is distorted and I cannot figure out how to get clear audio. This audio issue seems specific to Steam b/c I can listen to music videos on YouTube crystal clear.

So now I have this dilemma where I have to choose between clear audio (Xorg session) vs variable refresh (Wayland).

Is this a known thing where Xorg doesn’t support VRR for newer graphics cards? Is there some trick for getting clear audio in a Wayland session? Do I need a newer kernel or something?

What I’ve tried so far:

  • I’ve tried all three DP outs on the new graphics card.
  • Double checked that VRR is toggled on in my monitor’s settings, and I can tell if VRR is working or not by turning on the monitor’s FPS overlay. I know it was working in Xorg sessions before I swapped out the Vega 64.
  • Updated my motherboard to the latest BIOS.
  • Searched the interwebs for nobara 38 xorg vrr option gone, but alas, not much is coming up.

Display settings in Xorg:

Display settings in Wayland:

System info:

yo_scottie_oh@nobara 
------------ 
OS: Nobara Linux 38 (Thirty Eight) x86_64 
Kernel: 6.5.9-201.fsync.fc38.x86_64 
Uptime: 29 mins 
Packages: 3122 (rpm), 10 (flatpak) 
Shell: bash 5.2.15 
Resolution: 2560x1440 
DE: GNOME 44.2 
WM: Mutter 
WM Theme: Adwaita 
Theme: adw-gtk3-dark [GTK2/3] 
Icons: Papirus-Dark [GTK2/3] 
Terminal: gnome-terminal 
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D (16) @ 3.400GHz 
GPU: AMD ATI Radeon RX 6700/6700 XT/6750 XT / 6800M/6850M XT 
Memory: 4726MiB / 32002MiB
  • yo_scottie_ohOPEnglish
    2·
    9 months ago

    Does it work if you enable VRR via xorg config?

    Confirmed VRR is enabled via the xorg config (terminal output below), but I’m still having the issue.

    yo_scottie_oh@nobara ~]$ cat /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-amdgpu.conf 
Section "OutputClass"
	Identifier "AMDgpu"
	MatchDriver "amdgpu"
	Driver "amdgpu"
	Option "HotplugDriver" "amdgpu"
EndSection

Section "Device"
     Identifier "AMD"
     Driver "amdgpu"
     Option "VariableRefresh" "true"
EndSection

    Oddly enough, I just accidentally discovered that when I Alt+Tab out of the game, the monitor’s refresh rate matches the frame rate in game; however, as soon as I Alt+Tab back in so the game is the active window, the refresh rate goes back to the monitor’s native refresh rate. So in the Xorg session, VRR works sometimes, but not when Steam is the active window. Have you ever seen anything like this before?

    Not sure if this video will play, but here’s what I mean. Look at the top left—the slightly larger FPS in the white box is my monitor’s overlay, and the smaller FPS under that is MangoHud. Notice how initially, my monitor’s refresh rate is fixed at 165 Hz, then as soon as I bring up the text document, my monitor’s refresh rate starts varying, and when I Alt+Tab back into the game, my monitor’s refresh rate goes back to fixed at 165 Hz again.

    Which xorg driver are/were you using, amdgpu or modesetting?

    I think amdgpu—does the terminal output confirm that? This is the first I’ve heard of modesetting.