I’ve been using Gnome for about 2 years (on Ubuntu, then Fedora, then Nixos), also tried other DE’s (XCFE, KDE) and always encountered issues regarding my multi-monitors setup, on both X11 and Wayland.
Device is an Asus TUF FX506HM (with Nvidia GPU).
I’m technically able to use 3 displays at the same time as followed at max 144hz:
- laptop display
- monitor through HDMI
- monitor through Thunderbolt / USB-C to DP (up to 4k60fps according to manufacturer)
(1920x1080 on all displays)
Issues encountered with mentioned DE’s are:
- plugging / un-plugging a monitor causes the system to freeze, needs to shut it down then reboot
- changing display’s layout position (e.g which to left, center, right) and refresh rate from e.g
gnome-control-centercauses system to freeze as well - only able to run laptop display at 60hz, HDMI at 120hz and DP at 60hz => higher on any display’s will also freeze the system
- only able to to confiture monitors through
.config/monitors.xmlon X11, e.ggnome-control-centerwill not take any settings into account - works on Wayland BUT 1 change = 1 freeze = 1 reboot - some games would just freeze randomly
- suspend issues
Tried a bunch of possible fix over time (different Nvidia driver, different kernel, different cables and adapters, play with DE’s and Nvidia’s configs, etc) but none worked so far.
This week I’ve un-installed my DE and set up Hyprland instead for my daily.
I’m now able to run laptop display at 144hz, HDMI at 144hz and DP at 120hz.
I can plug and un-plug monitors, system still runs fine and won’t freeze.
That makes me wonder, is the issue actually DE related and not from e.g Nvidia driver or else?
Are there some “common” factor(s) on Gnome, XFCE, KDE, etc which somehow doesn’t support multi-monitors setup?