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[Diseased Yak]

About 2 weeks ago I got the itch to see what the current state of Linux gaming is like firsthand. I've been using *nix for both fun and work since the day I first logged into the "Internet" way back in the late 80s/early 90s, so I know my way around already. (Internet in quotes since it was only command line then for the most part and only for educational institutions or government). Anyway, wanted to see how gaming is now so away I went.

TL;DR - Only try gaming on Linux if you have a lot of patience and willingness to learn, plus love googling for answers. Things will break, games won't run properly (or at all) and you'll have to try figuring out why.

Mint - After doing almost no research, I started with Mint just to have something up and going. It was easy as pie to install and configure. Installed Nvidia drivers + Steam and I was gaming. Things ran just fine.... except screen tearing was rampant. After doing a lot of research, and jumping through hours of different hoops, I finally learn that Mint + VRR don't play together IF you have multiple monitors, which I do. I often game on my main monitor (Acer Predator 34" ultrawide) whist watching YouTube/Twitch on another monitor so this was a no go for me. Back to the drawing board.

Arch - This guy, this guy here, is the polar opposite of distros like Mint. You boot from the ISO like normal but are dumped to a prompt and have to follow and install guide. No problem, it's just entering commands, right? I rage quit after several hours because I got to the step for making Grub (the boot loader) work and just couldn't figure it out. Gave up.

Fedora - Here's where I finally landed. Fedora 41 was just as simple as Mint to install, does all the work for ya. Up and running in no time on the KDE Plasma 6 spin using Wayland instead of x11. VRR works, yay! I'm loving things at this point. Since I've dove way further into Linux, getting Lutris set up to run Battle.net, GOG, EGS. Steam works great (until last night that is) and I've been humming along. I even changed kernels, opting instead for CachyOS's kernel. I've changed schedulers, currently running Rusty. It wasn't all fun and games, though. One major problem is the scaling of things. Some windows, especially login/configuration windows from games that pop up before the game runs so that you can set parameters or login (think the Battle.net login/game selection) are SUPER tiny. I figured out the fix for this was forcing them to be bigger using gamescope via Lutris.

In the end, I'm enjoying myself. I have no doubt I could go back to Arch and make it work now, having gained a ton more insight after tinkering endlessly. I wouldn't recommend doing this at all to anyone unless you A) love hacking around, doing a lot of research and B) have a LOT of patience. For instance, the "until last night" reference above, early this am CachyOS released a kernel update so I figured why not? It promptly broke WoW Classic for me, I get only a black screen instead of the character select, and now Steam itself is having flickering texture issues in the library. Actual games seem ok, though, so far. It's stuff like this that you'll have to deal with. Windows 11, in comparison, just works.

 

[Hudo]

Running Fedora Silverblue for gaming. Had no problems whatsoever. When something doesn't work with Valve's Proton stuff, I try the Glorious Eggroll stuff. That usually works. And for older games, Lutris always worked. I even got World of WarCraft to run (via Steam), without much hassle.

 

[jshackles]

I've been curious about this a bit lately as well, spurred on by my love of the Steam Deck and how well it works. I'm kind of curious about things like DraugerOS.

Drauger OS - Home

Drauger OS is an open-source desktop Linux gaming OS.

draugeros.org

It claims, at least, to be pre-tuned for gaming.

Personally I was going to wait for Valve's official SteamOS release and give it a spin on my main PC.

 

[ReyBrujo]

Been on Ubuntu full time since 2004. I am more of a nostalgic player and have been able to play HoMM3 without problems. I also launched several other DirectX 6 in the past using wine. I guess there are better ways but then again I have my computer set up in my home office and it's synonymous with work so unless I'm programming (for work or leisure) I no longer associate that computer or room with gaming.

 

[joeygreco1985]

I've dabbled in Bazzite on my ROG Ally. Says its running Fedora and Universal Blue. Seems ok as far as a handheld interface goes but I wouldn't use it as a daily driver.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Last year I tested various Linux distros for gaming. Some cool stuff, but in the end, yeah, "Windows 11, in comparison, just works."

 

[HogIsland]

Congrats on taking the plunge. Ive been a Fedora daily user since ~2013. The pace of improvement on gaming in just the last 3 years is crazy. I know "year of desktop Linux" is a joke, and only a small portion of people will ever replace the OS that came with their computer, but it's at least getting close to the point where a lot of people should try it.

 

[Wolzard]

I believe you took the thorniest path

Linux Mint is a good recommendation for general use, as it is very similar to Windows. However, to maintain stability, it is somewhat outdated technologically, major updates occur every 2 years. It is comparable to Windows LTSC. You can get newer packages, but you need to make some modifications. Its interface, Cinnamon, is a bit old too, hence the lack of resources.

If you want an environment that has all the resources for games, such as VRR and HDR, it has to be KDE Plasma, which is the same environment that SteamOS uses. Valve pays KDE Plasma developers to accelerate their development.

Arch requires more knowledge of Linux, it is a DIY distro. There are some shortcuts, if you want to use them, but they are easier to install. You can use Archinstall or a distro with a graphical installer, such as EndeavourOS and CachyOS. But its maintenance requires knowledge. I use Arch and I find this distro more performant.

I personally don't like Fedora, both because I think they update it too much (even more than Arch) and they prioritize open-source software, Nvidia ends up being a little disadvantaged in this distro. In fact, it breaks a lot with kernel updates. They update and you need to wait a while for the Nvidia module to compile along with the kernel. This is done in the background, so it's common for you to forget and turn off or restart your computer and when you return, you see that your system has crashed.
In Arch, this process is done during the update, so it is much more difficult to cause problems.

Fedora also uses Gnome by default. This environment is very polished, similar to MacOS. But developers take longer to implement features. Fractional scaling, HDR and VRR are present, but on an experimental basis and you need to activate them in a secret menu.

For those just starting out, a good option is to use Bazzite, NobaraOS KDE, Kubuntu and EndeavourOS with KDE (maybe CachyOS too).

And finally, AMD GPUs have better performance and quality of life than Nvidia. Complete opposite of Windows.

 

[Doom_master1122]

Arch - This guy, this guy here, is the polar opposite of distros like Mint. You boot from the ISO like normal but are dumped to a prompt and have to follow and install guide. No problem, it's just entering commands, right? I rage quit after several hours because I got to the step for making Grub (the boot loader) work and just couldn't figure it out. Gave up.

Quick tip for this, don't bust your balls on the install guide from the wiki. On the live image run "archinstall" as the command it it will give you an installation script that will let you select what you need and handle everything to get you up and running with a working DE by the time it reboots from an install. I've ran the install guide twice and at this point I just can't be asked to run it again on any subsequent installs. Outside of bragging rights, installing by hand is just too much of an annoyance than just using archinstall.

Been daily driving and gaming on Linux Since maybe 2018? 2019? I lose track these days, but I haven't looked back. I dabbled in the early 2000s with Ubuntu but never daily drove Linux until now. When they first announced Windows 11 and axed Windows 10X I decided to jump ship from the impending disaster of the OS. It definitely takes time to adjust to Linux, but based on what you said that you've been familiar already with navigation of it, so you will be ok.
My experience has had ups and down, more ups than anything. Most of my games just work, I don't play much with Anticheat, brand new games just work right out of the box. Launching Stalker 2 day one for example gave me better performance than windows users of similar configurations.

Some things to check into is Heroic Launcher for your Epic games and GoG needs. Of course you can Lutris them in if you need to but Heroic does a good job and also will use Proton with games as oppose to Lutris' own runners. I also recommend looking into Bottles for running applications as it makes dependency set ups WAY easier for stuff that needs to run through Wine.
Also Protonup-QT is great for controlling your Proton installs both official and GE.

EDIT : I stick with Arch as it works best for me, and the AUR is amazing. Anything Debian based has always caused me the most issues. While things like Mint and PopOS are very cool starting points for Linux users, I found that the OS just gets clunky to use over time for me.
I have minimal Fedora experience. I have it installed in a VM at the moment but I haven't spent much time with it.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Quick tip for this, don't bust your balls on the install guide from the wiki. On the live image run "archinstall" as the command it it will give you an installation script that will let you select what you need and handle everything to get you up and running with a working DE by the time it reboots from an install. I've ran the install guide twice and at this point I just can't be asked to run it again on any subsequent installs. Outside of bragging rights, installing by hand is just too much of an annoyance than just using archinstall.

Been daily driving and gaming on Linux Since maybe 2018? 2019? I lose track these days, but I haven't looked back. I dabbled in the early 2000s with Ubuntu but never daily drove Linux until now. When they first announced Windows 11 and axed Windows 10X I decided to jump ship from the impending disaster of the OS. It definitely takes time to adjust to Linux, but based on what you said that you've been familiar already with navigation of it, so you will be ok.
My experience has had ups and down, more ups than anything. Most of my games just work, I don't play much with Anticheat, brand new games just work right out of the box. Launching Stalker 2 day one for example gave me better performance than windows users of similar configurations.

Some things to check into is Heroic Launcher for your Epic games and GoG needs. Of course you can Lutris them in if you need to but Heroic does a good job and also will use Proton with games as oppose to Lutris' own runners. I also recommend looking into Bottles for running applications as it makes dependency set ups WAY easier for stuff that needs to run through Wine.
Also Protonup-QT is great for controlling your Proton installs both official and GE.

Ok, awesome, I had read about Bottles and even installed it but ended up sticking with Lutris for some reason, I guess because it was what I used first. I'll give it a go.

 

[Tams]

tl;dr: If making your OS run smoothly sounds like a fun hobby to you, you'll enjoy it.

You will learn some computing skills too in the process, but even then, choosing a stable OS and specifically learning computing would be a much better use of your time.

 

[Topher]

I've jumped in and out of Linux several times. Just has never been fully there for me. Hopefully when Steam OS releases then it will come with a number of advances in the OS including full Nvidia GPU support. Really do not want to sacrifice any features when I'm spending so much for the GPU.

 

[M1chl]

Imagine not being able to install Arch

j/k, but maybe not

 

[Hudo]

If you don't compile your kernel from source, don't even talk to me.

 

[Doom_master1122]

Ok, awesome, I had read about Bottles and even installed it but ended up sticking with Lutris for some reason, I guess because it was what I used first. I'll give it a go.

Both are fine, personally for games I prefer Heroic over Lutris as I can use Proton and ProtonGE.
Bottles I tend to use more for launching Windows applications instead of games. You can absolutely install games and run it through Bottles, but I tend to just use Heroic for any of that as its quicker for a set up on there.

 

[Topher]

If you don't compile your kernel from source, don't even talk to me.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Both are fine, personally for games I prefer Heroic over Lutris as I can use Proton and ProtonGE.
Bottles I tend to use more for launching Windows applications instead of games. You can absolutely install games and run it through Bottles, but I tend to just use Heroic for any of that as its quicker for a set up on there.

You can use both on Lutris too, afaik.

 

[Hudo]

You can use both on Lutris too, afaik.

That is true.

 

[ThatPolishGuy]

Arch - This guy, this guy here, is the polar opposite of distros like Mint. You boot from the ISO like normal but are dumped to a prompt and have to follow and install guide. No problem, it's just entering commands, right? I rage quit after several hours because I got to the step for making Grub (the boot loader) work and just couldn't figure it out. Gave up.

Check out CachyOS - Arch gaming distro. No need to use prompts, all is done via the installer and you can choose desktop environment you like, pacman manager is pretty quick. All of my programs did install in 2s or so.

CachyOS — Blazingly Fast OS based on Arch Linux

🚀 CachyOS is an Arch Linux-based distribution that offers an easy installation, several customization options to suit every user, and special optimizations for improved performance while remaining simple.

cachyos.org

Download here.

Gaming with CachyOS Guide

It covers essential package installation, Steam gaming with Proton, various Proton version options, Lutris as a central hub for all games, and script installers for popular games.

wiki.cachyos.org

Wiki on how to download Native Steam, Heroic Launcher, Lutris with one command and modified Proton to use in Heroic for example.

Neat distro, one of my favorites. Modified kernel for fast booting and gaming.

All commands you need to know with this disto are:

sudo pacman -S <app name>

It searches apps in database and insta install them.

sudo pacman -R <app name>

Uninstall the apps.

sudo pacman -Syu

Updates the OS and all the apps.

That's about it.

I like GNOME desktop environment a lot - just make sure to install GNOME Extensions but not plugin in web browser, native app. Install dash-to-dock extension to have Mac like dock at all times.

I also recommend to install the extension for tray icons for apps similarly to Windows for GNOME, through the app.

I currently game on Win10 but when it reaches end of life. No hell I am jumping to Win11. I will jump ship to Cachy since I tested it and everything just works. Except supersampling, I couldn't figure it out with gamescope at all. But by then I will switch to 1440p monitor, I presume and I won't need it.

OBS Studio can record vids like AMD Adrenalin / Radeon ReLive or Nvidia ShadowPlay, you just have to set it for local recording and recording to RAM instead of SSD by setting Replay Buffer, so even with graphics drivers without the overlay - you can record if funny stuff happen in games and not degrade your SSD with unnecessary rewrites of big video files - that is if you have RAM to spare.

I will live without Win11 and even without Radeon ReLive features thanks to OBS Studio, I'm sure of it.

 

[Doom_master1122]

You can use both on Lutris too, afaik.

Last time Ive used it, it was Lutris' own runners. Its been a while so its possible its different now. I just remember we were locked out of using Proton on it without configuration.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Last time Ive used it, it was Lutris' own runners. Its been a while so its possible its different now. I just remember we were locked out of using Proton on it without configuration.

You just can't download the runners directly from Lutris. But you can download them with other program(s) and Lutris will see them as options.

 

[poppabk]

Have messed around with Bazzite, but windows is just easier and I always end up defaulting back to it.
I do have RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.

 

[Quasicat]

I started playing on a Steam Deck last year which is probably “Linux Light” for most people. Although I do have a lot of Windows based games, I really enjoy playing the games that are native to Linux or SteamOS.

 

[ThatPolishGuy]

You just can't download the runners directly from Lutris. But you can download them with other program(s) and Lutris will see them as options.

Good to know, will come in handy on October 14 .

Have messed around with Bazzite, but windows is just easier and I always end up defaulting back to it.
I do have RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.

I saw Bazzite has SteamOS like desktop. Haven't tested it yet.

I also tried to install PikaOS - Debian based gaming distro but couldn't get it to boot the installer even, not a great first impression.

There is also Nobara Linux, if I remember right - gaming Linux based on Fedora. Haven't tested this yet.

But so far from everything I tested or tried to test, I like Cachy the best.

 

[HogIsland]

I started playing on a Steam Deck last year which is probably “Linux Light” for most people. Although I do have a lot of Windows based games, I really enjoy playing the games that are native to Linux or SteamOS.

imo it's more akin to like ChromeOS or Android. Linux kernel under the hood. Linux skills open up features to power users. But most users shouldn't have to care or even know that it's linux.

 

[Magister]

Will Pop_OS work on a computer with Nvidia GPU (GTX 1650 Laptop GPU)? I'm planning to turn my old laptop into a Linux one when I buy a new one and since it is a gaming laptop, will I have any disadvantages using Proton and all the other fun stuff if I have Nvidia GPU?

I also tried Virtual machine (VirtualBox) today. What a terrible experience, Youtube is lagging, choppy audio, etc. And I allocated 4GB ram (max recommended amount) for Lubuntu, one of the most lightweight distros ever.

 

[rodrigolfp]

imo it's more akin to like ChromeOS or Android.

??

It's a full Arch with KDE Plasma environment.

 

[poppabk]

Good to know, will come in handy on October 14 .

I saw Bazzite has SteamOS like desktop. Haven't tested it yet.

I also tried to install PikaOS - Debian based gaming distro but couldn't get it to boot the installer even, not a great first impression.

There is also Nobara Linux, if I remember right - gaming Linux based on Fedora. Haven't tested this yet.

But so far from everything I tested or tried to test, I like Cachy the best.

I've tried Nobara as well, but I couldn't get it to do 4k120 over display port to HDMI2.1 on the TV.

 

[Skifi28]

I'd really like to abandon windows, but it's just no there for me.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Will Pop_OS work on a computer with Nvidia GPU (GTX 1650 Laptop GPU)? I'm planning to turn my old laptop into a Linux one when I buy a new one and since it is a gaming laptop, will I have any disadvantages using Proton and all the other fun stuff if I have Nvidia GPU?

I also tried Virtual machine (VirtualBox) today. What a terrible experience, Youtube is lagging, choppy audio, etc. And I allocated 4GB ram (max recommended amount) for Lubuntu, one of the most lightweight distros ever.

It will.

For Virtual Box you need to enable Hardware acceleration for stuff like Youtube to be better, but you will still never get full performance vs "native" installation.

 

[ThatPolishGuy]

Will Pop_OS work on a computer with Nvidia GPU (GTX 1650 Laptop GPU)? I'm planning to turn my old laptop into a Linux one when I buy a new one and since it is a gaming laptop, will I have any disadvantages using Proton and all the other fun stuff if I have Nvidia GPU?

I also tried Virtual machine (VirtualBox) today. What a terrible experience, Youtube is lagging, choppy audio, etc. And I allocated 4GB ram (max recommended amount) for Lubuntu, one of the most lightweight distros ever.

Current Pop_OS release on Gnome is pretty far behind, minimal security updates, I think - I haven't tested it just yet on my new PC but I did in the past on my old laptop.

System76 works on a new Cosmic Desktop Environment, written on Iced Rust - this will be the way forward with Pop_OS and I've been eyeballing it pretty hardly and eagerly awaiting any updates, I am curious if it will beat Arch distro like CachyOS in gaming, when it will be in a release candidate phase I will probably test it.

So far there is a Alpha 4 version but I haven't dared to try it and don't know if I should:

COSMIC

system76.com

I will jump ship on October 14th from Win10 to CachyOS if by then Cosmic DE won't be a release candidate. And then I'll see.

You should maybe check out Zorin OS 17 Core and Ubuntu Budgie, if you don't want to go with Arch based distro. These were my favorites on my old laptop, when Pop_OS was laggy - and I wanted to use an Ubuntu based distro.

I'd really like to abandon windows, but it's just no there for me.

Did you try Zorin OS?

 

[Allandor]

It is like it is. In special cases Linux really rocks, but if the computer should just work with the newest features and games it is much easier just to use Windows. As worse as windows got with time, the really important features normally work quite will without editing some configuration files or use the command prompt to activate some mystery boxes that again need effort to get them running.

Steam OS could be a game changer when it is available for all and still developed by valve. Not for the pro users, but for the 90% of Windows users.

 

[Quasicat]

imo it's more akin to like ChromeOS or Android. Linux kernel under the hood. Linux skills open up features to power users. But most users shouldn't have to care or even know that it's linux.

I’m a big fan of it only because Windows has so much going on under the hood, it really kills the performance for gaming. Linux doesn’t seem to have all of that.

 

[ThatPolishGuy]

I’m a big fan of it only because Windows has so much going on under the hood, it really kills the performance for gaming. Linux doesn’t seem to have all of that.

Yeah, when I see that Win10 is approaching end of life and MS just breaks thing after thing with Win11 updates. It doesn't spawn confidence at all .

I saw some posts about breaking older games, auto HDR feature, some sound drivers and killing Intel and AMD CPU performance if your update installs incorrectly and you don't really have any control over it - seems like a lottery.

And a lot of bloat and telemetry and AI features, saw something worse than Recall hidden deep in OS settings lately on youtube short.

I'm gonna stick with CachyOS moving forward from Win10 thank you very much. Gonna miss Game Pass app but that's about it.

Everything else just works, I have similar apps as in Windows. And as of other things there are open source solutions as OBS Studio and many other apps, github even.

If you're on Ubuntu based distros just download .deb files or use .appimage files (don't forget to right click on it and select to run it as a program).

If you're on Arch you could always use Yay (or any other AUR helper), it auto compiles github source codes and installs it if app is not available in Arch respiratory with pacman -S.

I use a few github apps on my Windows myself, like fancontrol to control my Grand Tornado and Wonder Tornado fans from Scythe and Libre Hardware Monitor - nice apps.

I also use ImDisk app to set an RAM Disk for Steam Captures, that's another Github app I think or it started as one - since my AMD Adrenalin capture soft has a system memory option so it makes it's own Ram Disk and Steam can only record on Disk Storage - so I make my own Ram Disk and set the path in Steam to record captures there. Should be available on Linux too, I think or some equivalent - edit: yup you don't even need app for that there are tmpfs or ramfs commands.

As of Tidal native app I use it on Windows but Linux has wrappers or I just use web player on my Vivaldi Browser, since they marge tiers I can use HiRes FLAC in-browser, so no biggie .

 

[Diseased Yak]

I worked on my current issues at lunch, to no avail. It looks like the Nvidia driver got updated for the latest CachyOS kernel, perhaps that is what's causing my problems.
Doing a list of the current kmod-nvidia drivers I have installed lists 4 or 5 different ones, but I can't so far figure out how to say "make this certain older drive the one I use!". It looks like the previous dnf had the ability to do a --set-enabled <driver you wanna use> but that's been deprecated in dnf5, seemingly without a way to make up for it. I'm sure there's a way, so, more research...

I also use ImDisk RamDisc app to set an RAM Disk for Steam Captures, that's another Github app I think or it started as one.

Ok that's a bad ass idea, ThatPolishGuy I was wondering what I could use a ramdisc for. With 64 GB of RAM, surely there are many things I could shove in there!

 

[Korranator]

Been using GarudaOS (gaming version) its Arch based for the past 6 months. I haven't has any gaming issues.

 

[Shifty1897]

I use Linux all day at work, the last thing I want to do when I get off is grep something.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

I use Linux all day at work, the last thing I want to do when I get off is grep something.

I have never used Linux professionally, but I am dual-booting it at home. Linux is great in that it lets you do anything, but it's also terrible in that it lets you do anything!

Its so fragile, it borked itself after a power surge, so I had to look up how to run the fsck command, and luckily I had another distro flashed to a USB stick in order to do so!

Like, it's great that Linux has a powerful recovery option, but why is it so complicated to acess?

 

[ThatPolishGuy]

I worked on my current issues at lunch, to no avail. It looks like the Nvidia driver got updated for the latest CachyOS kernel, perhaps that is what's causing my problems.
Doing a list of the current kmod-nvidia drivers I have installed lists 4 or 5 different ones, but I can't so far figure out how to say "make this certain older drive the one I use!". It looks like the previous dnf had the ability to do a --set-enabled <driver you wanna use> but that's been deprecated in dnf5, seemingly without a way to make up for it. I'm sure there's way, so, more research...

Yeah, I had zero issues on my RX 6700XT but I have read about Nvidia problems lately and there was a solution which even was suggested by Nvidia to use other open sourced driver but I can't think what it was from the top of my head.

Check out https://youtube.com/@mattscreative

He has been using Nobara, PikaOS and CachyOS is his main OS, he even did his own Arch implementing stuff from CachyOS so he can compile his own kernel.

Dude has tons of vids on CachyOS gaming and emulation.

He has been playing Stalker 2 on Cachy with no issues and he has RTX 4070 so Nvidia card and he also recently did run a gameplay of God of War Ragnarok without issues....

You might find something there for your problem - just go through comments maybe. He has also tutorials for installing Nexus Mods on Linux for Windows games, I have this guy bookmarked for future reference when I fully switch.

I'm thankful I have found his channel, he did nudge me in the right direction.

I wouldn't have found CachyOS without him. I was all in on Ubuntu based distros before I have found his channel.



His 3 weeeks old video about kernels and why Cachy is his main. You might find something there.

Edit: hmm https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/details/237587/ dec 5, 2024 pretty fresh driver .run file (btw dunno if its the open sourced driver it was mentioned - you have to google it yourself)

How to install .run files on linux, download it. Go to the same directory, right click choose "open terminal".

Type:

ls

It will show you file names.

Type:

chmod +x <name>.run

You can start with a few letters then hit TAB key on your keyboard it will automatically type the rest of the name .

Type

./<name>.run

You can also start with a few letters and hit TAB. It will run the installation.

 

[Wolzard]

Will Pop_OS work on a computer with Nvidia GPU (GTX 1650 Laptop GPU)? I'm planning to turn my old laptop into a Linux one when I buy a new one and since it is a gaming laptop, will I have any disadvantages using Proton and all the other fun stuff if I have Nvidia GPU?

I also tried Virtual machine (VirtualBox) today. What a terrible experience, Youtube is lagging, choppy audio, etc. And I allocated 4GB ram (max recommended amount) for Lubuntu, one of the most lightweight distros ever.

If you don't do GPU passthrough in the virtual machine, you will be running everything on the CPU, so performance will be worse, as the virtual machine cannot use hardware acceleration, even if it is an integrated GPU.
It is necessary to test directly to get an idea of performance. Try using a separate disk or partitioning a part of the current disk. Research how to dual boot.

Nvidia has around 10 to 20% less performance with DX12 games. In DX11, Vulkan and others, performance is similar.



It's a curious fact, with AMD GPUs there are even performance gains in some cases.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Yeah, I had zero issues on my RX 6700XT but I have read about Nvidia problems lately and there was a solution which even was suggested by Nvidia to use other open sourced driver but I can't think what it was from the top of my head.

Check out https://youtube.com/@mattscreative

He has been using Nobara, PikaOS and CachyOS is his main OS, he even did his own Arch implementing stuff from CachyOS so he can compile his own kernel.

Dude has tons of vids on CachyOS gaming and emulation.

He has been playing Stalker 2 on Cachy with no issues and he has RTX 4070 so Nvidia card and he also recently did run a gameplay of God of War Ragnarok without issues....

You might find something there for your problem - just go through comments maybe. He has also tutorials for installing Nexus Mods on Linux for Windows games, I have this guy bookmarked for future reference when I fully switch.

I'm thankful I have found his channel, he did nudge me in the right direction.

I wouldn't have found CachyOS without him. I was all in on Ubuntu based distros before I have found his channel.



His 3 weeeks old video about kernels and why Cachy is his main. You might find something there.

Edit: hmm https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/details/237587/ dec 5, 2024 pretty fresh driver .run file (btw dunno if its the open sourced driver it was mentioned - you have to google it yourself)

How to install .run files on linux, download it. Go to the same directory, right click choose "open terminal".

Type:

It will show you file names.

Type:

You can start with a few letters then hit TAB key on your keyboard it will automatically type the rest of the name .

Type

You can also start with a few letters and hit TAB. It will run the installation.

Thanks so much for the help, I'm sure I'll figure out out hah.

I've been watching that guy's channel already, in fact I used his tips on how to use the CachyOS kernel in Fedora 41, pretty awesome.

I really need to learn to leave good enough alone and not knee-jerk into updating just because there are updates

 

[ThatPolishGuy]

Thanks so much for the help, I'm sure I'll figure out out hah.

I've been watching that guy's channel already, in fact I used his tips on how to use the CachyOS kernel in Fedora 41, pretty awesome.

I really need to learn to leave good enough alone and not knee-jerk into updating just because there are updates

No problem, dude.

Happy to help, the more of us switch to Linux gaming the more I will have to talk about here at the end of this year besides games and audio equipment and occasional anime here and there.

Hmm, that might be the best option with Nvidia GPU.

I went with RX 6700XT because of the price got it for like $340 here in Poland on sale, like a year ago - and it sat in a box until I managed to fully build a PC on AM5 platform. No issues with mesa drivers here, works like a charm.

Used RX 6700XTs go for like $270 bucks here so I'm waiting for new GPUs to hit.

Maybe I will sell it after I grab something else, I don't really have to switch to the newest GPU whatsoever - just best price wise.. Maybe there will be a sales on RXes 7800XT, 7900 GRE, 7900XT or XTX, or RX 4070 Super/Super TI - I could always look on an used market, saw a year old RX 4070 Super with a warranty for like $400.

I don't have to go with RTXes 5000 or RX 8000 or 9000 if you go by the rumors and Nvidia naming scheme in AMD products .

I've been eyeballing prices from time to time patiently, maybe soon we will have the same problems if I switch teams....

I do not care about Ray Tracing that much but DLSS seems tempting.

Anyways I haven't been gaming at all today... So I'm gonna go play some Indiana Jones And The Great Circle now. My base PS5 is collecting so much dust now I have got into PC gaming . I'm glad I didn't go with PS5 Pro.

And I have tried my first 8bitdo controller, gosh that D-Pad is amazing on Pro 2. Still waiting for my Ultimate 3 Mode controller - it's weird going for a Xbox layout controller when I did game only on PS layout all my life + mouse and keyboard (in the past) and only just started now again to use mouse and keyboard.

 

[Kazdane]

Been using GarudaOS (gaming version) its Arch based for the past 6 months. I haven't has any gaming issues.

Oh, good to know about this, because my laptop is still running Windows 10 and isn't eligible for Win 11, so it seemed like a good moment to try Linux and I was eyeing Garuda because I'm already familiar with Arch thanks to Steam Deck

 

[Wildebeest]

It's a curious fact, with AMD GPUs there are even performance gains in some cases.

Never seen a real Linux person who doesn't spit every time nvidia is mentioned.

 

[Trilobit]

My only experience gaming in Linux:

 

[Crayon]

 

[ThatPolishGuy]

Since we post memes.

 

[Crayon]

 

[Wolzard]

Never seen a real Linux person who doesn't spit every time nvidia is mentioned.

Not surprisingly, Nvidia offers much less than AMD and Intel on Linux. There was always a lot of friction, including with Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux.



Nowadays he has changed his mind, because the company has changed.

So, when AI people came in, that was wonderful, because it meant somebody at NVIDIA had got much more involved on the kernel side, and NVIDIA went from being on my list of companies who are not good to my list of people who are doing really good work.

KubeCon China - at 33-and-a-third, Linux is a long player. So, why does Linus Torvalds hate AI?

Linux prime mover Linus Torvalds travelled all the way to Hong Kong to explain his dislike of AI hype. We should be grateful for him.

diginomica.com

Whenever someone has some kind of problem in Linux, the Nvidia driver is to blame. With the growth of AI, there are many more people using Linux, because it is the ideal platform for its development and this forced Nvidia to take some action and make part of its drive open-source (in 2023), although not completely like AMD and Intel. So it will always compete with years of open source development. AMD made its driver open-source in 2015!

NVIDIA Releases Open-Source GPU Kernel Modules | NVIDIA Technical Blog

The first open-source release of GPU kernel modules for the Linux community helps improve NVIDIA GPU driver quality and security.

developer.nvidia.com

Even in this case of loss of performance in DX12, the people at Proton (specifically VKD3D) do not know why this occurs, because they cannot verify it given that the driver is proprietary.

Question about poor performance in Cyberpunk 2077 and Horizon Zero Dawn (d3d12) on older Nvidia cards · Issue #465 · HansKristian-Work/vkd3d-proton

System: Arch linux 5.9.13, gtx 1070 (455.46.02), Ryzen 9, latest git build of DXVK and vkd3d-proton, wine staging 6.0rc2. vulkaninfo.txt When i run mentioned games on windows i get stable 60fps wit...

github.com

DirectX12 performance is terrible on Linux

DirectX 12 games ran through Proton/Wine on Linux perform so much worse compared to Windows. This can’t be just the overhead from the translation as AMD GPUs perform just fine, but I think it’s due to a lack of proper driver optimizations. DXVK and VKD3D developers have acknowledged this and...

forums.developer.nvidia.com

 

[El Muerto]

I use Pop OS on my AMD htpc that i use for emulation and light steam games, but still keep my main gaming rig on windows. Pop OS has been great. Havent had to do anything to jump in and play games.