Cinnamon display refresh rate setting?

[perdomot]

Just installed the Cinnamon 19.3 on a PC and noticed that there is no way to set the refresh rate manually in the display applet. Is there a way to do this in the system? I have an Nvidia card and can use their panel but wanted to ask if there is another option. Thanks.

[AZgl1800]

I never tried, on this particular laptop and 19.3 Cinnamon, there isn't any noticable flicker at all.

It also has NVIDIA graphics.

I don't see any way to change the refresh rate




I don't "refresh" in this list

[powerwagon75]

In Nvidia-settings, click on X Server Display Configuration, and you see it similar to below. Click on the monitor you want to adjust in the Layout section, then on the line "Resolution:", if the second dropdown box says Auto, click on it, and your available choices will be listed.

You'll have to save it with the "Save to X Configuration FIle" button, which will create /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, or it will edit it, to add your chosen setting if it already exists.

nvidia_refresh_param.png (113.74 KiB) Viewed 9536 times

[perdomot]

In Nvidia-settings, click on X Server Display Configuration, and you see it similar to below. Click on the monitor you want to adjust in the Layout section, then on the line "Resolution:", if the second dropdown box says Auto, click on it, and your available choices will be listed.

You'll have to save it with the "Save to X Configuration FIle" button, which will create /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, or it will edit it, to add your chosen setting if it already exists.

nvidia_refresh_param.png

Thanks, this is what I ended up doing. I hope the folks at Mint update their display app so you can do it there natively.

[powerwagon75]

Glad you got it sorted out, and hopefully achieved the result you wanted.

[perdomot]

Well, it looks like it didn't work after all. I realized something was wrong with the refresh rate when I was watching some videos that are normally very smooth at 60 fps and checked only to discover that the framerate was set at 30 fps. I tried changing it on the Nvidia panel to no avail as things did not improve and when I closed the panel and reopened it, the settings reverted. Haven't seen this with another distro before so I don't know what to do. Hope somebody has some experience with this.

[perdomot]

Just tried removing the Nvidia drivers and going with Xorg and that seems to improve the frame rate to its near correct level. Odd that the drivers from Nvidia don't seem to play nice with Cinnamon. Gonna check out how XFCE does and compare.

[AZgl1800]

Just tried removing the Nvidia drivers and going with Xorg and that seems to improve the frame rate to its near correct level. Odd that the drivers from Nvidia don't seem to play nice with Cinnamon. Gonna check out how XFCE does and compare.

I'm not seeing your problem on this laptop with 19.3 Cinnamon.

Code: Select all

Machine:   Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: TUF Gaming FX705GM_FX705GM v: 1.0 serial: <root required> 
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: FX705GM v: 1.0 serial: <root required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: FX705GM.301 
           date: 09/21/2018 
           
           Graphics:  Device-1: Intel driver: i915 v: kernel 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GP106M [GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile] driver: nvidia v: 435.21 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.5 driver: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,nouveau,vesa 
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 1060/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 435.21 

[powerwagon75]

Did you verify the /etc/X11/xorg.conf had your changes? Typically saves it to the "Screen" section and as a "option metamodes" line.

Should be a line in that file that appears similar to this:
Option "metamodes" "DVI-I-1: 1440x900 +2072+0, HDMI-0: 3840x2160 +3512+0, DP-0: 1920x1080 +0+0"
--but, has you defined refresh rate after the width/height numbers.

If Nvidia offered you 60Hz, it should honor that value when saving the file. You can search it, and find lots of anecdotal stories about people exclaiming they needed to open Nvidia-Settings as root to get settings to save...I've never experienced that issue myself, always saves correctly (it will ask if you want to overwrite or Merge with the xorg.conf file.) As far as I know it needs to save to that file...don't give it another name/location to save to.

[perdomot]

Near as I can tell, nothing happens when I hit apply on the Nvidia panel. I immediately tested the frame rate and nothing had changed. I tried all the different drivers without results. I've test the same hardware with Elementary OS and Manjaro Gnome images I have on my rig and there are no issues with the frame rate. No idea what is causing this.

[powerwagon75]

You have to go to the Xserver Display Configuration page where you changed the refresh rate to 60Hz.

Then, (presuming you've already selected 60Hz, and clicked "Apply"), at the bottom right of that page, you have to click on "Save to X Configuration FIle."

A small dialogue box will pop up. If you have an existing /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, it will show the name of the file, and then make sure the "X" is checked in the "Merge with existing file" box, and save it. You should get another pop-up box asking for your password to save it to file.

Just changed my DP-0 from Auto to 60Hz (1920x1080_60) and saved, as shown below:
Option "metamodes" "DP-0: 1920x1080_60 +0+0, DVI-I-1: 1440x900 +1920+180

After you've confirmed it has saved it to the xorg.conf with the refresh rate included, then restart the computer once and see if it helps.

Open terminal, and run glxgears. You should see some colorful gears turning in a small box, and terminal will start returning data, where the frame rate should very closely match your refresh rate.

example:

Code: Select all

 $ glxgears
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.097 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.880 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.889 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.889 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.898 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.877 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.891 FPS

Hit <Ctl+c> to end it.

[perdomot]

I did save the config and rebooted but didn't check to see what the file said. After the reboot, I opened up the Nvidia panel after noticing the frame rate was still off and it had reverted to the previous settings. It said it saved the config but didn't do it. Think I'm going to switch to the XFCE version as that was my first Mint and the one I used the longest without issue. I'm currently on Elementary OS which I restored from an image before installing Cinnamon so I can't check the config file now. Thanks for all the help and feedback. Appreciate it.

[roblm]

After the reboot, I opened up the Nvidia panel after noticing the frame rate was still off and it had reverted to the previous settings. It said it saved the config but didn't do it.

Set the refresh rate in Nvidia Settings. Then open the Display program and click Apply to save the setting to the monitors.xml file.