# Persistent ~33ms frametime spikes in Gaming Mode (Gamescope) on bazzite-nvidia-deck **URL:** \ **Category:** Bazzite\ **Created:** [October 3, 2026, 9:06am UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/persistent-33ms-frametime-spikes-in-gaming-mode-gamescope-on-bazzite-nvidia-deck/12560 "2026-10-03T09:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AsuranRyu](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/asuranryu/32/10474_2.png) [@AsuranRyu](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/AsuranRyu)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 9:06am UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/persistent-33ms-frametime-spikes-in-gaming-mode-gamescope-on-bazzite-nvidia-deck/12560/1 "2026-10-03T09:06:48Z")
Hi. I’m getting constant 33ms frametime spikes in Bazzite Gaming Mode using an NVIDIA GPU (1650S) and a Ryzen 5 3600. The issue i think is global to the Gamescope compositor, as stutters happen even while navigating the Steam UI, as well as in any game or emulator, despite reporting 60 FPS/16ms most of the time. I tried changing resolutions and refresh rates, enabling “Allow Tearing”, testing different limiters with Steam, MangoHud and Game Specifics/emulators limiters/vsync, but nothing removes the 33ms spikes in Gaming Mode. However, running everything in KDE eliminates the issue. (I’m not really sure at all because i don’t have gamescope there, but that’s what my eyes tell me. It could be placebo) Is there any way or environment variable to fix this decoupling between Gamescope and NVIDIA without having to abandon Gaming Mode? I’m using the nvidia-deck image. ![IMG_20261002_204334_150](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/univeral_blue/original/2X/8/83e0ff3f1376103f986677c1d5264194231209b2.jpeg) ![Screenshot_20261002-213141](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/univeral_blue/original/2X/f/f7c9572a2759c04e476ca7dfab8080eb7bec3ba7.jpeg) ![IMG_20261002_013821_274](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/univeral_blue/original/2X/a/a6cb97463d49eab545c38765b56e54c8a09051a2.jpeg) ![IMG_20261002_220224_248](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/univeral_blue/original/2X/b/b3f97ee5a38f423582c6aba6c9f9a9ce75fb5f75.jpeg) Thanks for reading. ---
**Author:** ![AsuranRyu](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/universal-blue.discourse.group/asuranryu/32/10474_2.png) [@AsuranRyu](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/u/AsuranRyu)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2026, 11:46am UTC](https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/persistent-33ms-frametime-spikes-in-gaming-mode-gamescope-on-bazzite-nvidia-deck/12560/2 "2026-10-04T11:46:45Z")
Hey guys, quick update on this. I’m no expert on this, but it seems like the issue was actually Gamescope’s performance overlay itself. From what I can tell, when you enable the performance HUD in Gaming Mode (specifically the visual frametime graph, that green line/bar that appears on Level 3 and above), it seems to force Gamescope into multi-layer composition instead of Direct Scanout. On Nvidia GPUs, that appears to completely desynchronize Vulkan’s presentation queue and trigger those 33.4ms spikes. Basically, drawing that frametime graph on screen seems to be what was actively breaking performance. Level 1 (just the basic FPS counter) doesn’t seem to trigger it as badly or at all, but turning the overlay off completely (Level 0) gives a locked 16.7ms / 60 FPS experience. (I still need to do a bit more testing on Level 1 to be 100% sure, though). Also, if you want to use internal overlays (like MangoHud or RPCS3’s built-in graph) to see what’s actually happening, you need to add this to your game launch options: `LD_PRELOAD="" ENABLE_GAMESCOPE_WSI=0 %command%` If you don’t add this command, in-game or emulator overlays will give you misleading readings. They’ll report a “perfect” 60 FPS / 16.7ms from the app’s internal perspective, but that won’t reflect what Gamescope is actually rendering on your screen. This command bypasses Gamescope’s WSI layer and clears background hooks so you get accurate readings without triggering the desync. Leaving this here in case anyone else with an Nvidia card runs into the same weird issue!