I am noticing a consistent smoothness difference between Fedora KDE 43 and NixOS/Ubuntu KDE, and trying to figure out if it’s expected or a config issue on my end.
Setup is same across all three:
same performance mode, correct refresh rate 165hz, same KDE/kernel versions (roughly). On Fedora KDE animations and scrolling feel almost perfectly smooth. On both NixOS and Ubuntu I get noticeable frame skipping/stutter in comparison.
Is there a known reason Fedora’s stack tends to be smoother here ?
Thanks!
P.S sorry i did not bring any evidence from terminal this time.
GPU is AMD Radeon 680M, using the in-kernel amdgpu driver on all three.
What I’m specifically trying to determine is whether Fedora carries different Mesa/KWin/Xwayland patches or defaults affecting frame scheduling/presentation, rather than just whether Fedora packages are newer.
I don’t think it’s just the newer kernel/Plasma stack. Fedora has consistently felt smoother for me across older kernel and Plasma versions too, while Ubuntu/NixOS on the same hardware still showed more visible frame skipping. That’s why I’m wondering whether there’s some Fedora-specific difference lower in the graphics stack or defaults.
ubuntu kde? there is no ubuntu kde, there is kubuntu, but afik is made by a different team, the kde on ubuntu, i tried to use it, it was horrible, old, slow
fedora with opensuse and kde neon are using kde latest version with the latest kernel that is stable enough
the only distro using the bleeding edge of kde like kde 6.7.8 or newer is kde linux but that distro is not ready yet for daily use
in particular, fedora does put mesa updates very often and is really focused on deliver the latest of kde with the best stability possible