I recently started using Solus for the first time. I installed Steam from the Software Center, which is a flatpak I think (?). I noticed while downloading some games, when a Steam notification would pop, my whole system would slow down (youtube video would stutter, text input would lag, sometimes audio from discord crunches down. And my audio to discord friends gets crunchy). I have experienced this before in other distros, but my solution was to move away from the flatpak and use the deb file from Steam. Is this an issue other Solus users have solved? I assume I can't install the deb package. Though even if I can, do other users have to do that or is there a simpler fix?

Which DE?
What's your computer specs?
When you say downloaded from Software Center, did you you use the default one or are you using Discover or Gnome Software Center? Solus Steam is by default not Flatpak.

sudo eopkg install steam

    SethStorm666 I just installed the Budgie desktop Solus. And I installed Steam using the default "Software Center" app that's pinned in the bottom left on fresh install. I searched "Steam" and found one app (doesn't actually say whether it's a flatpak or not).

    If I run sudo eopkg install steam it says its already installed and does nothing.

    My computer is using an Intel Arc A750 GPU (though that has not been an issue before).
    And an Intel i5 12400 CPU. Just installed Solus 4.7 Endurance.

        sadnehs

        Try switch from Wayland to Xorg and see if it improve.

        Otherwise can you give the output of;
        inxi -Ga

          best I can tell there is no Wayland support in Budgie in Solus yet. I don't see a way to switch anywhere on Solus posts.

          Worth noting I'm able to play games just fine (games use the GPU and run well, not using the iGPU). Haven't played enough to see what happens if I get the slowdown while playing a game.

          Graphics:
          Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-S GT1 [UHD Graphics 730] vendor: Micro-Star MSI
          driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Xe process: Intel 10nm built: 2020-21 ports:
          active: none empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2, HDMI-A-3,
          HDMI-A-4, HDMI-A-5 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:4692 class-ID: 0380
          Device-2: Intel DG2 [Arc A750] driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Xe-HPG
          code: Alchemist process: TSMC n6 (7nm) built: 2022+ pcie: gen: 1
          speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 ports: active: DP-4 empty: DP-5, DP-6, DP-7,
          HDMI-A-6, HDMI-A-7, HDMI-A-8 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:56a1
          class-ID: 0300
          Device-3: MACROSILICON ShadowCast
          driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
          speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-5:5 chip-ID: 298f:1996
          class-ID: 0300
          Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.15 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.4
          compositor: budgie-wm driver: gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
          Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x381mm (26.65x15.00")
          s-diag: 777mm (30.58")
          Monitor-1: DP-4 model: Samsung Odyssey G50A serial: HCJTC00866 built: 2022
          res: mode: 2560x1440 hz: 144 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 109 gamma: 1.2
          size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (27") ratio: 16:9 modes:
          max: 2560x1440 min: 720x400
          API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris platforms: device: 0 drv: iris
          device: 1 drv: iris device: 2 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris surfaceless:
          drv: iris x11: drv: iris inactive: wayland
          API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.3.3 glx-v: 1.4
          direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel Arc A750 Graphics (DG2)
          device-ID: 8086:56a1 memory: 7.75 GiB unified: no
          Info: Tools: api: eglinfo,glxinfo x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr

            sadnehs

            OKay, thought Budgie had switch to Wayland, my fault.

            So my guess is that's a bug in the Budgie DE, but before you report it - you should try and see if the flatpak version of Steam have the same behavior.