Lenovo ThinkStation P520 + RTX 5060Ti 16 GB - Games going in a "Bad state"

[rebelyouth.hacklab]

Hello,

I am posting this to see if someone can provide some help or some patch need to be include on the next release( or I am the only one with this issue).

I am trying to provide all the info that I have ( sorry if this will be a long post, I will summary a tl:dr at the end).

I am using Cachy OS , but I had similar issue with other distros , like Nobara and Mint and the problem that I have is :

When I got the card the driver between the 575.181 and 580.82.09 all 95% of all the game were not playable ( most of them were Windows + Proton, and some native ported games in Linux):

• low FPS (between 4 and 15 and High GPU utilization)
• broken audio ( screeching, out of sync)

To play a bit, I set the BIOS of the card to Quite mode and use the nvidia-smi and lower the speed:

nvidia-smi -lgc 1875,2650
nvidia-smi -lmc 13500

This helped a bit, but still had issue, and I tried to use X11 as was a bit better, tried to force some setting and also tried to disabled the HDMI audio ( blacklist was did not worked as the audio card use the same snd_hda_codec. Tried to use the install true as the Arch wiki suggested and I got some HDMI semi-working and the audio card, but it did not fixed the issue, so I did reverted the configuration)

---

After installed the 580.95.05 the situation changed game were finally playable even for hours ( played Control and Cyberpunk 2077 for almost all Saturday afternoon) with the following issue:

• Quitting the game to move to another or just to came back later ( see below) will result to the same problem above : low FPS (between 4 and 15 and High GPU utilization) and broken audio ( screeching, out of sync)

As I mentioned, I also discovered if I set the game on pause for more of 5 minutes, the game again behave as described above( not sure if the driver set the GPU to save mode and is not able to cameback after that).

Now with the installation of the new 580.105.08 the audio situation its better, no more broken audio ( screeching, out of sync) but issue the low FPS is still there. ( I have also Mint installed on another drive and is using the previous version 580.95.05 and the audio issue is still present)

Reboot is the only solution at the moment as I tried to restart the nvidia_drm driver but got a black screen as the system was not able to loading again the driver, so the solution was to reboot.

Btw I am using the integrated Audio card on the motherboard ( Azalia HD audio) and I also tested the HDMI out from the monitor, but I got the same results.

Never got black screen on the monitor as some post were complained and I also trying only one monitor configuration without any improvement , also the system is still working, as I can browse, also use audio for music and YouTube with the new 580.105.08 drivers , for hours, but game wise, any games that I will try to launch will present the same issues, same as any 3D application, I will just be not able to use them.

I also tried to change the pstate of the CPU set on Performance, as I was thinking that the the powersaving option) set to Balance_performance) was introducing gfx driver instability, but it did not help.

Want also to add that the video part ( Videos, Youtube) is pretty not stable as Firefox and Chrome have issue with the HW acceleration, and Smplayer have artifacts but works okyes , this will sometime ( 10 o 20% of the ) of the time corrupt the game at first start ( game will be corrupted already and reboot fixing the issue for a bit).

This is my configuration :

Host: ThinkStation P520
Kernel: Linux 6.17.8-2-cachyos
Display (ZOWIE RL LCD): 1920x1080 in 24", 60 Hz [External] *
Display (ZOWIE RL LCD): 1080x1920 in 24", 60 Hz [External]
DE: KDE Plasma 6.5.2
WM: KWin (Wayland)
WM Theme: Breeze
CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) W-2135 (12) @ 4.50 GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti [Discrete]
Memory: 2.62 GiB / 62.39 GiB (4%)

The BIOS of this PC has the above 4 GB option enabled, CSM is completely off now as Secure boot, Pcie is on Gen 3.

---

inxi -GxxxZ
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GB206 [GeForce RTX 5060 Ti] vendor: Gigabyte driver: nvidia
v: 580.105.08 arch: Lovelace pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 8 ports:
active: DP-3,HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2 bus-ID: b3:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2d04
class-ID: 0300
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.20 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.9
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: nvidia
gpu: nv_platform,nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch d-rect: 3840x1080 display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-3 pos: right model: BenQ ZOWIE RL LCD serial: NA
res: mode: 1920x1080 hz: 60 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 92
size: 531x299mm (20.91x11.77") diag: 609mm (24") modes: max: 1920x1080
min: 640x480
Monitor-2: HDMI-A-1 pos: primary,left model: BenQ ZOWIE RL LCD
serial: NA res: mode: 1920x1080 hz: 60 scale: 178% (1.78)
to: 1080x1920 dpi: 92 size: 531x299mm (20.91x11.77") diag: 609mm (24")
modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 640x480
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2
drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland: drv: nvidia
x11: drv: nvidia inactive: device-1
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 580.105.08
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
display-ID: :0.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.4.328 layers: 9 surfaces: N/A device: 0
type: discrete-gpu driver: nvidia device-ID: 10de:2d04
Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
wl: wayland-info x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr

cat /etc/enviroment
QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland
VDPAU_DRIVER=nvidia
NVD_BACKEND=direct
LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=nvidia-drm
MOZ_DISABLE_RDD_SANDBOX=1
__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1
__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia
KWIN_DRM_ALLOW_NVIDIA_COLORSPACE=1
GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm
NVD_MAX_INSTANCES=2
NVD_LOG=1
__GL_SHADER_DISK_CACHE_SIZE=12000000000
PROTON_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1
CUDA_DISABLE_PERF_BOOST=1

cat /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf
options nvidia-drm fbdev=1 modeset=1
options nvidia NVreg_TemporaryFilePath=/var/tmp
options nvidia NVreg_PreserveVideoMemoryAllocations=1
options nvidia NVreg_EnableMSI=0
options nvidia NVreg_EnablePCIeGen3=1
options nvidia NVreg_UsePageAttributeTable=1
options nvidia NVreg_InitializeSystemMemoryAllocations=0
options nvidia NVreg_DynamicPowerManagement=0x02
( this config look ok but idk if I introduced some options that contradict each other)

---

Here the log from yesterday session when I was playing with Control and screenshot before and after ( before good GPU and FPS and after high GPU between 70% and 99%, moat o the time at 99%, and 10 to 15 FPS, or even less)

nvidia-bug-report.log.gz (525.0 KB)

TL:DR

The card goes in a bad state and the FPS dropping and the GPU to 99%.

In the previous driver version also the audio was corrupted but with new ones that one looks fine now.

Need to reboot the PC to get the game work again, but can use the PC if I don’t want to use the 3D acceleration.

Also use HW acceleration ( video, Youtube) is causing something to get the game corrupt from the start.

---

Want also to congratulate the Nvidia team for the good work on the driver, as I can see the improvement and I hope that this ticket can improve further the stability of the drivers.

Thanks for you time and consideration,

Sincerely

Rebelyouth

[vrachatte]

I have created bug 5694850 to work on this issue.

[rebelyouth.hacklab]

Thank you

[vrachatte]

Hello @rebelyouth.hacklab, I am working on replicating this setup locally meanwhile can you just give a try on latest release driver 580.126.09 or 590.48.01. Is it possible for you to share video of this issue to understand how bad game is going. I hope this shouldn’t be system specific as on 580 we have not heard of any issue where FPS is dropping this bad or could be corner case. Lets see!!

Can you also share exact Graphics setting you have used in games? After how much time you are getting this frame drop issue?

[victor.buscsei]

Hello @rebelyouth.hacklab, Hello @vrachatte!

I also have similar if not the same issues as well in this type of PC.

I also have this Thinkstation P520 with the same Xeon W-2135 cpu and with the same amount of ram (64Gb).
The only difference is that I have a asus 5060ti DualOC.
The interesting part is that I have also experienced this similar stuttering/ laggy audio but on Win11.
This first happened after a lengthy (1-1,5 hour, with high/ultra settings) session when I played Cp2077.
The thermals were normal nothing out of ordinary and I also got this same behavior right after when I closed the game. When viewing the windows desktop the stuttering have died down but if I played a video in youtube or if I started to move the windows the stuttering have occured with sound also lagging. (Also after multiple reloads)
I have consulted with chatgpt to troubleshoot and it have recommended a few things for me:
Disable HAGs, Usual power settings change to performance with advanced power settings pcie Link State Power Management turned off.
But that still not solved it.
I also captured the latency:

Well it does not look great. So I did DDU so I will start with a clean slate, and with that (and the other mentioned settings above) did the trick.
I only installed the basic latest gameready driver (591.59) without any physx, nvidia hd audio and geforce experience. (I did not wanted to experiment installing those back or changing the hags/power settings)
Currently in win11, (with above mentioned setting changes) I do not experience such stutters and lags. Works perfectly. (Under load and also when idling)

But in the other hand, I have a dualboot with Linux mint and this is where I had more issues.
Mainly with drivers at first.
Right after I started using the 5060ti and I have booted for the first time my old linux mint OS (with kernel 5.x and probably an old driver for a 3060) I got an interlaced like output (in my second monitor only, the main monitor was in power saver mode, I guess no output was sent to that one):

Now this did not looked great :D
So I started to troubleshoot with on my side chatgpt copiloting every action:
I have booted with live usb and chroot to fix some stuff.
The old kernel to a newer 6.x one, delete the old driver and install a new one. (Also purging any xorg configs, nvidia configs, etc…)
I started with open 580.95.05 and I have stayed on that because it was displaying properly.
So with these changes I thought I was in the clear, but recently I started to notice (not exactly the same stutters what I had under win11 but similar) some video and sound stutters. For me it is frequent, every 2-5secs a stutter when idling or when under load. Also when I tried to use ai (mostly under linux I only use it for inferencing, not gaming) it have stuttered hard. So this is where I am stuck at.
What I know currently is that in my linux for some reason it downgrades the pcie to Gen2 instead of gen3.

sudo lspci -s 65:00.0 -vv | egrep -i 'LnkCap|LnkSta'
		LnkCap:	Port #0, Speed 32GT/s, Width x16, ASPM L1, Exit Latency L1 unlimited
		LnkSta:	Speed 5GT/s (downgraded), Width x8 (downgraded)
		LnkCap2: Supported Link Speeds: 2.5-32GT/s, Crosslink- Retimer+ 2Retimers+ DRS-
		LnkSta2: Current De-emphasis Level: -3.5dB, EqualizationComplete+ EqualizationPhase1+
nvidia-smi -q -d GSP_FIRMWARE_VERSION
==============NVSMI LOG============== 
Timestamp : Sun Jan 18 19:21:20 2026 
Driver Version : 580.95.05 
CUDA Version : 13.0 
Attached GPUs : 1 
GPU 00000000:65:00.0 
GSP Firmware Version : 580.95.05

Well obviously the gen2 speeds are explaining the stuttering in my understanding, and I also like to mention that I have older version of MB bios (09/19/2023) for this type of PC so multiple variables (bios, open driver, etc..) are still unknown in my case.
I know that problem is not exactly the same as what rebelyouth have shown here, but I think it still could be relevant and point to some things with our systems.
In my (not expert) opinion the pcie could be the main troublemaker. I think this motherboard (or at least mine) does not handle any pcie gen changes gracefully under linux.
In win11 I saw that during load it will upgrade the connection to gen3 and when idling it will go to pcie gen 1.1 or gen2.
Now I don’t want to point to some things. I am not an expert here and I also don’t want to deviate the discussion about rebelyouth problem, but I still think that these cases somehow could be linked.

Please vrachatte, do what you need to do and if you think that my issue is not connected in any way possible, I will create a new thread.
I just wanted to add some additional information from my experience with the same HW.
(At least this comment maybe, could help someone who is in the same shoes)

Thank you in advance for your work vrachatte and also thank you rebelyouth for creating this thread.

I will let you know here if I experiment with some stuff and if that has any affect to the issues I have experienced.

Kind regards,
Viktor

[victor.buscsei]

Hello,

I am back with some updates.
Unfortunately not with good ones.
So I have updated my bios to the latest, all the other things as well (intel me, chipset, etc.) and on the windows side everything have worked normally. No issues, no weird stutters or anything. Smooth normal working card.
But on the linux side where I had most of the issues nothing have happened. The same behavior.
After that I have upgraded my linux mint from 21 to 21.3.
Nothing have changed.
After that from 21.3 to 22 (which based on ubuntu 24.04 with kernel 6.8.0-90-generic).
Same, nothing have changed. Maybe a little because it could stay normal for half an hour or maybe an hour but after that it will go to this gen2 and stays there with stutters and everything.
At this point I am with 590.48.01 drivers but the issues still appear.
After that I have upgraded to the latest 22.3 version of linux mint.
Everything is the same. I also tried to change my kernel to 6.14 but that did not change anything.

I tested also a little bit and it seems that it needs some kind of a load and after the load a little bit it will stay in gen 3 or switch to gen 2 and back to gen 3 but it will eventually go to gen 2 with some random spikes in the gpu util.:

Also after this gen2 stuck state it will eat 10w plus what should have been baseline without load ( around ~20w or so)

I also disabled secure boot, but nothing have changed.

So I am out of options really. I tried everything but nothing works.

The earlier capture is from the linux mint 22 and the latest one from 22.3.
Both with 590.48.01.
I also captured some other outputs with some which was continous with timestamps when the swithes from gen2 to gen3 and vice versa happens.
nvidia_pcie_drop_2026-01-25_125817.tar.gz (565.1 KB)
nvidia_pcie_drop_2026-01-25_184459.tar.gz (2.4 MB)

@vrachatte could you take a look at it?
What options would you recommend?

Thank you in advance.
Kind regards,
Viktor

[verjoz]

Hi Victor, Rebelyouth and Vrachatte,

I just purchased 2x5060 Ti 16GB, and having the EXACT SAME issue:

• after some time, the card slows down a LOT, and only reboot helps
• same symptom that instead of max Gen3 (that initially I have) goes only to Gen2 max

Config:

• Same ThinkStation P520 (same CPU + same 64Gb Ram)
• Ubuntu 24.04
• driver 580.95.05 (open)

Usecase:

• AI infer small LLM (NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Nano)
• For some time runs OK, then slows down 10x :(

vrachatte Your help would be really appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

[vrachatte]

@rebelyouth.hacklab can you please check and update on above asked query?

[yonnibanin]

Hi,

I am reporting the exact same issue on a Lenovo ThinkStation P520 (Xeon W-2135) with an ASUS Prime RTX 5060 8GB (Driver 581.57 / Studio).

I’ve attached an HWiNFO64 log that clearly captures the “Bad State” mentioned in this thread.

Key observations from my logs:

• PCIe Link Speed Anomaly: The card frequently struggles to maintain Gen 3 speeds and exhibits severe stuttering (low FPS/high latency) when VRAM usage nears 7.7GB.

• VRAM Saturation Trigger: Even in “Low” settings in MSFS, once VRAM hits the 7.8GB-8GB threshold, the system latency spikes to 140ms+ and FPS drops to single digits.

• Temporary Recovery: In some cases, once VRAM allocation drops back to ~7.3GB, the card “wakes up” and performance jumps from 15 FPS to 45 FPS instantly.

• VR Instability: The issue is catastrophic in VR (Oculus Link), where the frame delivery completely breaks down regardless of in-game settings.

I see that Bug 5694850 has been created for this. If you need any specific tests or BIOS/VBIOS dumps from a P520 user, please let me know. I am happy to assist in resolving this compatibility issue.

Thank you!

The HWiNFO CSV File:

HWiNFO afterstartup.CSV