Performance with 2+ monitors is low

Thoughts & Feedback
1

Hello everyone,

after using Ubuntu Mate 16.10 for a few days, I want to talk about Ubuntu Mate’s performance with more than one monitor. I use my 17" laptop monitor and sometimes either a 32" TV plugged in with HDMI or a second 19" monitor plugged in with VGA.

Every time I go with the mouse cursor from one monitor to another, there appears a grey square of 7*7cm in the top-left corner of every monitor for a few milliseconds. This happens with both external monitors.

When I use my VGA monitor, it sometimes happens that this monitor has a “blackout” for a few seconds (it seems like Ubuntu cuts the connection for a short time, because the monitor shows it’s ‘no connection’ dialog then).

Also, when I’m watching a YouTube video on one screen and browse the web on the other, the Youtube video freezes sometimes for approx. 1/2 second.

Does anyone else experience these performance issues on Ubuntu Mate?

For me it’s really annoying because I’m happy to use UM and want to quit Windows…

Best regards,

Leon

2

Hi @Leon,

it would help if you tell us what GPU you are using and if you installed any drivers for it?.

See also:

3

I’m using an Intel Core i5 6200U with internal Graphics and a nVidia
GeForce GTX 950m. I already installed the alternative driver via that
additional drivers program in Ubuntu Mate, so I think I’ve already
installed the right driver…

Leon

4

Hi Leon,

I assume you installed the package “nvidia-340”?, try dropping down to “nvidia-304” and see if that helps?:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get remove nvidia-340 && sudo apt-get install nvidia-304

THE ABOVE COMMAND IS WORKING ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT YOU HAVE THE HIGHER NVIDIA PACKAGE INSTALLED!.

RESTART AFTER RUNNING THE ABOVE COMMAND!. :thumbsup:

5

So, now I'm at home. In the program, it seems like there's the 367 driver installed.
"NVIDIA binary driver - version 367.57 from nvidia-367 is in use"

So, perhaps I should first try nvidia-340 and then nvidia-304 if it doesn't work?

6

Go for it Leon, you have nothing to lose!. :smiley:

7

I’ve tried nvidia-340. With this package, I wasn’t able to login (UM booted, but before login-screen, it stucked in a black screen).

nvidia-304 is not even better than nvidia-367 so that I’m back on nvidia-367 package again.
Hopefully, this is fixed in a future update, but at the moment, I can work with these problems at least :sweat:

8

So, I just found out that this is a problem with the integrated Intel HD 520 Graphics.

When I activate the Nvidia Graphics (how stupid could I be :joy:), these problems do not appear.

The solution of the problem is at the moment: only use the NVIDIA Graphics :slight_smile:

1 Like
9

Hi Leon,

I have marked this as solved as you seem to have solved your own Problem!. :smiley: