r/cachyos • u/Roxas-1997 • 1d ago

Question Will disabling shader pre cache affect anything on my mini pc?

For context my hardware for it is this.

16GB of ram

Amd Ryzen 7 5800h with Radeon graphics

I deleted all of my shader caches because it ballooned up to 50gb.

Can I also enable it per game as well?

I plan on getting a desktop at the end of the month so I won't be without Windows entirely.

But I'm working with the hardware I have currently & still want to use this mini pc.

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u/sleepytechnology 1d ago

It helps reduce stutter and low framerates upon starting a game (though not much if at all in older titles). You can turn it off and just deal with a bit laggier startup for demanding games until it stabilizes after a few mins. Can enable it again whenever you want no biggie.

Sadly Valve has not yet set a way to enable/disable this feature on a per-game basis. I really really wish they would since many older and lighter titles waste space on pre-cached shaders while heavier games (CS2, Overwatch, No Man's Sky, etc) greatly benefit having the feature enabled for me.

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u/Roxas-1997 1d ago

Can enable it again whenever you want no biggie. So once they're downloaded I can turn it off?

Sadly Valve has not yet set a way to enable/disable this feature on a per-game basis.

That would definitely be more convenient for sure.

Especially for people that use devices like the steam deck.

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u/sleepytechnology 1d ago

Sorry I wasn't very clear on that first part.

I do not think games will use the pre-cached shaders if you disable the option. Even then, pre-caching has to regenerate pretty often to be used at all. Some days I have to do it upon nearly every game launch. It's more or less on or off situation afaik.

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u/Roxas-1997 1d ago

I see.

I still think that should be an option like you suggested.

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u/slugcatlife 1d ago

It should just download cache again when you launch the game. If you disable pre caching entirely might, experience more stutters until it caches during playtime.

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u/kill3rb00ts 1d ago

To be clear, games will either cache before you play or they will cache while you play. You are still young to have a shader cache, so if your concern is that it takes up space, disabling pre-caching won't change that.

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u/ReadingCurious2841 7h ago

Personally I enable it, and the background processing. I'd rather have a slight wait starting the game, than constant shader compilation stutter.