By skyforbes couldn't find any tech solution answers online for this, but every flavour of ubuntu 25.10 ended up with visual stuttering using the default drivers that install. messing on with v-sync on/off or adjusting monitor refresh from 60hz up to 144hz native or any combination in between didn't help.
downloading 580.105.08 directly from nvidia and installing via the .run fixes this.
hardware is GTX1080, no issues on 24.04