BORE Scheduler

BORE Scheduler stands for Burst-Oriented Response Enhancer. It’s an alternative Linux CPU scheduler designed to make desktops feel more responsive, especially under mixed or heavy system load.

Since you’re using CachyOS with Hyprland, this is particularly relevant—BORE is one of the reasons CachyOS often feels very “snappy”.

What problem does BORE try to solve?

The default Linux scheduler (CFS – Completely Fair Scheduler) is excellent for servers and throughput, but on desktops it can feel less responsive when:

• a game is compiling shaders
• a browser tab goes wild
• background tasks spike CPU
• multiple apps wake up at once

CFS treats CPU time fairly, not urgently.

BORE asks a different question:

“Which task needs the CPU right now to keep the system responsive?”

Core idea of BORE

Short CPU bursts = interactive tasks = higher priority

Examples:

• moving a window
• typing in a terminal
• scrolling a webpage
• compositor (Hyprland) rendering
• game main thread

Long continuous CPU usage = background work

• compiling
• video encoding
• shader pre-caching
• AI workloads

BORE detects this automatically by tracking burst time.

How BORE works (simplified)

1. Each task has a burst score

   • short bursts → low score → high priority
   • long bursts → high score → lower priority

2. Scheduler dynamically:

   • boosts interactive tasks
   • gently pushes background hogs out of the way

3. No user tagging required

   • no need for nice, ionice, or manual tuning

Why BORE feels good on desktops

Compared to CFS, BORE typically gives:

• 🚀 snappier UI
• 🪟 smoother window animations (great for Hyprland)
• 🎮 more consistent frame pacing in games
• 🖱️ better mouse/keyboard responsiveness under load

Especially noticeable when:

• gaming + browser + Discord
• Steam shader compilation in background
• multiple Electron apps open

BORE vs other schedulers

BORE is not mainline yet, but is well-tested in desktop-focused distros like CachyOS.

Why CachyOS uses / offers BORE

CachyOS focuses on:

• desktop responsiveness
• gaming performance
• low-latency tuning

BORE pairs very well with:

• Hyprland
• NVIDIA drivers
• gamescope
• high-refresh-rate displays (your 144 Hz Philips fits perfectly)

On your i5-10400F + RTX 3080, BORE helps ensure:

• the game thread doesn’t get delayed by background CPU noise
• the compositor stays smooth even when CPU usage spikes

Downsides / trade-offs

To be fair:

• ❌ slightly worse for long batch jobs
• ❌ not ideal for heavy server workloads
• ❌ not upstream Linux (yet)

For a desktop / gaming machine, these are usually irrelevant.

TL;DR

BORE Scheduler is a Linux CPU scheduler that:

• prioritizes short, interactive CPU bursts
• improves desktop responsiveness and gaming smoothness
• works especially well on CachyOS + Hyprland