EDIT: Problem found. Use the newest driver (nvidia 530 series, just released). These aren't available in all distro repos yet though, and are not in the ubuntu 23.04 package managers yet, so when I installed the 'newest' 525 ones, they were not new enough.

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Ok, so this is going to be a little bit long, so I'll try and summarize at the top here without all of the details first:

Part 1: New system, new fast Ryzen 7000 series CPU. No GPU first, using the iGPU while shopping for GPUs. Everything works great, 4k@120 with crhoma 444 over HDMI 2.0 working flawlessly, even with FreeSync on an LG CX OLED. Of course, the iGPU is very slow.

Part 2: Locate and try an RX 6800. Works great except that it is completely incapable of 4k@120 with chroma 444. Stuck at HDMI 1.4 speeds. Not the cable. Not the OS. I installed Windows on a partition to test -- same exact symptoms there. iGPU can run 4x@120 chroma 444 w/FreeSync. RX 6800 can not. Gaming on Linux was actually higher performance than windows on FFVII Remake. If it wasn't for the monitor compatibility ...

Part 3: Worried that no RDNA 2 card will ever work with my monitor. This is enough for me to cough up the cash for a 4070, hopeful that it works and I can also benefit from DLSS 2/3 down the road and I will toy with pyTorch / etc (I'm a software developer) so there is some extra benefit anyway. Linux gaming performance is AWFUL, often 4x slower than the RX 6800, even if I run at 1080p it can't top 45fps consistently in any 3D game I tried. Yes, I'm using the proprietary drivers and not noveau. Seems driver / CPU bound somehow.

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Details:

1. Fresh install of Kubuntu 23.04 (yes, beta, but also days away, so the packages now are essentially the same as 23.04 GA will be).
2. Windows 11 on small partition for testing, stress testing, etc.
3. LG CX 48, positioned flush on my wall behind my desk so its comfortably spacious for work, but a bit large for gaming, so I usually run gamescope to 'shrink' the screen, e.g. a common setting is to have the game run at 3200x1800 or to 1440p ultrawide style depending on the game. I have used this for 2.5 years with a Linux laptop, but it could only drive it to 4k@60 via HDMI 1.4
4. I installed the latest Nvidia linux 525 drivers via `apt install` -- the hardware is not detected by ubuntu automatically for some reason.
5. Wayland for all IGPU and RX 6800 cases. Wayland effectively broken for NVidia, so all below is with x-windows on KDE Plasma 5.27 for the 4070
6. FFVII Remake (DX 12) RX 6800 got 80 to 120 fps, usually 95fps or so, never dipping below 80 that I saw, at 3200x1800 with gamescope. 4070 can not top 50 fps and is often 20fps even at 1080p. Forcing DX11 makes it even slower.
7. PoE: RX 6800 locked 120fps at title screen and starting a new character at the start of the game at 3200x1800. 4070 struggles to maintain 45 fps at the character selection screen or start of new campaign no matter what resolution, no matter whether I select Vulkan, DX11, or DX12.

At this point, I could try other games, but since two games are this awful (one that I'm actively playing now, another that I'm not but that this GPU should crush), I figure its not worth testing more, and I don't have access to the RX 6800 anymore anyway.

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Question: do NVidia's drivers often have problems with newer kernels or OS variants? I suppose I can install 22.04 on another partition to test.

Question: does KDE not work as well with NVidia? I was giving Plasma a shot since its VRR support is baked in. I am comfortable customizing Gnome to my liking (it is on my laptop, with dash-to-panel), so I could try that with x-windows and wait out NVidia's wayland support for the time being.

Question: Ubuntu does not show the NVidia hardware as available for custom drivers in the UI. I had to manually use `apt install` to install the drivers. Is that common?

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Next steps I'll take:

Try the 4070 on Windows. I haven't done that; the hope is I don't need windows at all for anything but a couple stability tests and never use it again. But I'm fine using it for hardware debugging. My guess is that the performance will be fine here, but if it is not then clearly I've got a hardware issue.

Try a fresh install of Ubuntu/Kubuntu that is not 23.04. I assume 22.04 is recommended as it is the current LTS release. What NVidia linux gaming users have experience with 22.10 or 23.04? Should I give up on running the latest kernels and/or versions with an NVidia GPU? Never really had issues using the latest/greatest with AMD GPUs, but I understand why NVidia's proprietary drivers might not like that.

Any other tips for someone moving from AMD to NVidia for Linux Gaming? (well, this machine is 75% for work purposes and software development, the GPU is mostly for gaming, though there is some irony that the NVidia GPU is better for work purposes but has busted gaming).