I run XFCE4 on arch linux on a Dell Precision 7710. lspci reports:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 07)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor PCIe Controller (x16) (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 530 (rev 06)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 07)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 31)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Thermal Subsystem (rev 31)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 31)
00:17.0 RAID bus controller: Intel Corporation SATA Controller [RAID mode] (rev 31)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #2 (rev f1)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev f1)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation CM236 Chipset LPC/eSPI Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Power Management Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family HD Audio Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family SMBus (rev 31)
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-LM (rev 31)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Venus XTX [Radeon HD 8890M / R9 M275X/M375X] (rev 83)
01:00.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Cape Verde/Pitcairn HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7700/7800 Series]
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 8260 (rev 3a)
03:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)


Here is a snatch of journalctl --follow; when running XFCE.



Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: [drm] PCIE gen 3 link speeds already enabled
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: [drm] PCIE GART of 2048M enabled (table at 0x00000000001D6000).
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: WB enabled
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 0 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c00 and cpu addr 0x0000000030f06385
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 1 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c04 and cpu addr 0x0000000095c9ebc9
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 2 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c08 and cpu addr 0x00000000bde04402
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 3 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c0c and cpu addr 0x00000000283a3851
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 4 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c10 and cpu addr 0x0000000095834e0e
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 5 use gpu addr 0x0000000000075a18 and cpu addr 0x00000000f51f7fd6
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 6 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c18 and cpu addr 0x000000001fdca925
Dec 05 14:23:15 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 7 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c1c and cpu addr 0x00000000a6e7009c
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 0 succeeded in 1 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 1 succeeded in 1 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 2 succeeded in 1 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 3 succeeded in 9 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 4 succeeded in 3 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 5 succeeded in 2 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] UVD initialized successfully.
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 6 succeeded in 13 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 7 succeeded in 5 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] VCE initialized successfully.
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 0 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 1 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 2 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 3 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:16 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 4 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:17 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 5 succeeded
Dec 05 14:23:17 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 6 succeeded
Dec 05 14:23:18 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 7 succeeded
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] PCIE gen 3 link speeds already enabled
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] PCIE GART of 2048M enabled (table at 0x00000000001D6000).
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: WB enabled
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 0 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c00 and cpu addr 0x0000000030f06385
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 1 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c04 and cpu addr 0x0000000095c9ebc9
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 2 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c08 and cpu addr 0x00000000bde04402
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 3 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c0c and cpu addr 0x00000000283a3851
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 4 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c10 and cpu addr 0x0000000095834e0e
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 5 use gpu addr 0x0000000000075a18 and cpu addr 0x00000000f51f7fd6
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 6 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c18 and cpu addr 0x000000001fdca925
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: radeon 0000:01:00.0: fence driver on ring 7 use gpu addr 0x0000000080000c1c and cpu addr 0x00000000a6e7009c
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 0 succeeded in 1 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 1 succeeded in 1 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 2 succeeded in 1 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 3 succeeded in 9 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 4 succeeded in 3 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 5 succeeded in 2 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] UVD initialized successfully.
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 6 succeeded in 14 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ring test on 7 succeeded in 5 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] VCE initialized successfully.
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 0 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 1 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 2 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 3 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:29 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 4 succeeded in 0 usecs
Dec 05 14:23:30 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 5 succeeded
Dec 05 14:23:31 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 6 succeeded
Dec 05 14:23:31 zwingli kernel: [drm] ib test on ring 7 succeeded


At 14:23:15 and 14:23:29, the video side of the machine experiences a video freeze. The mouse continues to be rendered, but everything else freezes. Everything catches up when the freeze is over, so the effect of Alt+Tab and typing is registered after the freeze.

I just booted adding the following kernel parameters:

radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1

and the problem does not manifest.

Please let me know what other information would be helpful. Thank you!