Here are some tips and tricks to get better performance out of your Nvidia card that I have researched and tested. Every time you change or add something in the config file you need to restart.
Anyone that has other tips and tricks to help the performance of Nvidia cards, can feel free to post.
First, open the config file from the terminal.
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Before changing anything else you need to unlock everything under Nvidia X Server Settings gui including fan control and overclocking. Add this under both āDeviceā and āScreenā sections.
Option "Coolbits" "31"
To reduce screen tearing you want to go to the advanced setting of each of your displays in the Nvidia X Server Setting gui and enable Force Full Composition Pipeline and Save to X Configuration File at the bottom by merge with existing file.
Also, enable TripleBuffer under the āDeviceā section.
By default TripleBuffer is disabled. This even in some cases can help load times with the driver and games.
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Nvidia cards have what is called āAdaptive Cockingā. This makes the card throttle itself up or down based on the load it is experiencing.
To bypass PowerMizer and Adaptive Clocking add this under the āDeviceā section.
Option "RegistryDwords" "PowerMizerEnable=0x1; PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x1"
- PowerMizerEnable=0x1 turns on PowerMizer.
- PerfLevelSrc=0x2222 tells the video card to operate at full on both AC & battery.
- PowerMizerDefaultAC=0x1 tells the card to behave as if AC power is connected.
PerfLevelSrc=0x2222 is for desktops. So If you are running on a laptop then use this.
PerfLevelSrc=0x3322;
Also, you can use this terminal command to enable Prefer Maximum Performance. This can be put in a script or as a startup command.
nvidia-settings -a ā[gpu:0]/GpuPowerMizerMode=1ā
If you have multiple gpuās, just change gpu:0 to whatever card it is.
Under the Nvidia X Server Settings gui you canāt change the power limit like you can in Windows with MSI Afterburn or your manufacturerās utility.
First, you need to look up your default power limit and max In the terminal by typing this.
sudo nvidia-smi -q -d POWER
Now to increase the default power limit to max or whatever you want to by typing this in the terminal. Canāt go over max.
sudo nvidia-smi -pl (base power limit + number = power limit of card)
Now to check if the changed worked.
sudo nvidia-smi -q -d POWER
The power limit has to be applied everytime you restart or log out. You can make a script that runs on startup.