Multiple monitors, bad performance on Ubuntu Mate

[Mort]

So I'm currently running:

• Ubuntu Mate 16.04.1
• 2x 1920x1080 + 2x 1280x1024 screens
• GTX 580 + GT 520 combo (520 mostly to allow 2 extra screens)
• 367.57 Nvidia drivers
• i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60GHz × 8
  
• 32GB RAM

Currently getting some really bad performance which I'm convinced is down to my multi screen setup. Everything just feels sluggish, typing, moving windows, etc.

My xorg.conf:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 310.19  ([email protected])  Thu Nov  8 02:08:55 PST 2012


Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" 1280 0
    Screen      2  "Screen2" 3200 0
    Screen      3  "Screen3" 5120 0
    Option         "Xinerama" "1"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL 1907FP"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Ancor Communications Inc ASUS VS247"
    HorizSync       24.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor2"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Ancor Communications Inc ASUS VS247"
    HorizSync       24.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor3"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL 1907FP"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 580"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 580"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device2"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GT 520"
    BusID          "PCI:3:0:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device3"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GT 520"
    BusID          "PCI:3:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0; DFP-0: 1280x1024_75 +0+0; DFP-0: 1152x864 +0+0; DFP-0: 1024x768 +0+0; DFP-0: 1024x768_60 +0+0; DFP-0: 800x600 +0+0; DFP-0: 800x600_60 +0+0; DFP-0: 640x480 +0+0; DFP-0: 640x480_60 +0+0; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {viewportin=1280x1024, viewportout=1280x720+0+152}"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-2: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen2"
    Device         "Device2"
    Monitor        "Monitor2"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"

# Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    Identifier     "Screen3"
    Device         "Device3"
    Monitor        "Monitor3"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: 1280x1024_60 +0+0; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Have been considering upgrading my screens, and getting rid of my 4:3s and adding some 1440+ in portrait or something, but unsure if pushing that amount of pixels would make it worse. Is it my GT520? Should I upgrade my card first to something with 4 heads?

If upgrading card, should I even bother with Nvidia and go AMD? Nvidia + drivers for linux has never been good / straightforward.

Any tips with your setups you can confirm works well?

 

[mortals]

Any tips with your setups you can confirm works well?

I don't use Ubuntu but ...

I have dual monitors on a single Nvidia card but I use xrandr

The best reference for this still seems to be the archlinux wiki

I think I tried xinerama when I first went from AMD to Nvidia GPU but never got on with it. (I had some problems with xinerama mapping my graphics tablet to a single display & also something to do with gaming performance)

I also use i3wm ( using compton with opengl vsync to stop tearing ) on Archlinux