1y ago

Windows 11 scores dead last in gaming performance tests against 3 Linux gaming distros

www.notebookcheck.net Windows 11 scores dead last in gaming performance tests against 3 Linux gaming distros

Recent testing revealed that Arch Linux, Pop!_OS, and even Nobara Linux, which is maintained by a single developer, all outstripped Windows for the performance crown on Windows-native games. The testing was run at the high-end of quality settings, and Valve's Proton was used to run Windows games on ...

Linux @lemmy.ml

www.notebookcheck.net /Windows-11-scores-dead-last-in-gaming-performance-tests-against-3-Linux-gaming-distros.778624.0.html

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Cool that average FPS is better but:
The impressive FPS deltas aside, it should be mentioned that, with the exception of Arch Linux, average frame times (measured as 1% lows, in this case) on Linux were generally behind what Windows managed by up to 20%
I feel like worse 1% lows makes this title misleading. Hopefully with time this gap will close.
- 1 % lows are likely a driver thing (Nvidia calls it "Game Ready Drivers"), with Arch you'll get new drivers (or kernel versions) much earlier, similar to Windows.
  
  ... Then why did they get the results that they did in the article?

Death, taxes and this post on Lemmy
- i just saw this for the first time and it brought me joy

1 day cannot pass without this article getting reposted across various communities.
- Yeah, these are getting really annoying.
- I swear people just scroll through lemmy, see a post they like and then think to themselves, "this is cool, I should post this on lemmy!"
- It's okay. Lemmy isn't a wiki. Content is organized temporally. Imagine these conversations as bar conversations (just because one group had a conversation one night, doesn't mean another group can't repeat it the next). If you are annoyed that the algo keeps giving you the same stuff, sort by All and New Comments and you'll find niche communities to subscribe to.
- As someone on Linux, and who thinks performance is generally slightly better on my machine after switching, I totally agree. This post has been old for a while now. Get some more data and then post that new thing or stop posting it.
- A Lemmy option to hide posts of links already red in another post would be neat. (First time I see this one though)

Testing done on specific hardware and not a broad spectrum of machines is as relevant as asking one person their political opinion and saying that applies to their whole nation.
- Well sure but rephrased it's just "Three Linux distros that embarrass Windows 11 in gaming performance." which to me, is equally interesting.
  
  article title: windows DEAD LAST!
  also in the same article: "... When it comes to FPS, the overall leader in testing was Nobara Linux, with Arch Linux and Pop!_OS trailing by 1–5%. Windows 11, however, was only 6% behind Nobara Linux. So, **there isn't a massive performance delta here, **"
  
  "on that one specific machine."
  You're missing that part from your premise and it's the important one.
  Notice how they didn't use one with an Nvidia GPU... Or even hardware released this year either...
  Edit: Aaaw, I made you angwy and you downvoted me :(

What do the performance metrics look like for the games that won't run on Linux?
- About the same as Spiderman 2 or Ghost of Tsushima on Windows.
- you mean the rootkits that won't run on Linux?
  
  When did 'rootkit' come to be a generic term for invasive software? Rootkits are a specific type of thing.

...switching to Linux might be worthwhile for gamers on the move looking to eke out every last drop of performance from the ROG Ally or Lenovo Legion Go.
So they're talking about the ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go not a desktop PC or a laptop. Nice clickbait.
- I'm on a desktop running Pop and I bet my system performs better than an equal Windows system. These handhelds are actual PCs, bud.
  
  They are just PCs though...? It's just a different form factor.
  
  Okay. But it's still a clickbait title. Seeing how they said nothing handheld PCs in the title.
- They're literally just PCs. They aren't some mysterious thing. They're using the same architectures a laptop or desktop would.
- The article talks about those mobile systems, but the actual benchmark on Computerbase tested these on a desktop.
  Ryzen 7 5800X
  Scythe Mugen 5 cooler
  Asus ROG Strix B550-A Gaming
  32BG DDR4-3600-RAM (CL18-22-22-44)
  Sapphire RX 6700 XT Nitro+
  Tested @ 1080p 144Hz, Freesync Off
- Out of touch comment.
  Handheld PCs are PCs.
- Linux bros will take anything.
  
  Microsoft bros in denial.
  Linux runs windows software faster than Windows can run Windows software.
  You don't need to get upset by that. You don't owe MS anything. Be happy that more people can game.

I still can't get anything to run consistently in Linux after 10 years, and many, many distros. Timber born and Raft currently never open, no matter what. I a huge Linux user but the gamin experience has always been so finicky for me and no matter how much I try it's still unattainable. And even when they run its with a lot of configution and tinkering unless it has native support. I have no issue with that but I'm so frustrated my experience with this seems so diffent than what everyone else is having. I want to delete my windows partition and it still feels so far away.
- I'd be happy to help if you'd like I can play 90% or more of my library on Linux. Basically, if its in steam it's a cake walk. I recommend something like Mint cinammon or pop_os all you need is proton really. I can't run games with certain anti cheat like tarkov cause the anti cheat devs don't support Linux
  
  Running mint right now, went back to basics after a stint with majaro. I appreciate the offer but for now the windows distro stays and every few months I will try again. I know so many people have such a seamless experience. That is what makes it way more frustrating.
- What have you been doing. Cause for me it's just install steam enable proton and install pretty much any game on my library. Or install lutris login to my accounts and play epic games / gog games. It literally just works
  
  Let me know when you get Witcher 2 to run on Linux. With some tinkering and magic settings, it can run. But it crashes so often it is bordering unplayable, using several different versions of Proton in Steam and Pop! Os.
  
  I know this is a very common experience, but for me it fails. The list is too long but belive me I've tried it. It's probably some weird driver issue or some thing I use for x y or z that conflicts. Who knows.
- YMMV of course but I was playing Timberborn just the other day on Mint, on an Nvidia card, through Heroic. Proton seems to have been a gamechanger. I have just made my first steps into switching my daily driver myself. I may have been lucky but all the games I have wanted to play have worked so far. I also have a Steam Deck, which is what has encouraged me that it may be possible.
  
  Heroic
  This. While the experience for Gaming on linux is still not perfect, or as easy as install and play, Heroic is a good start. It still requires configuration and many hidden configs are not always obvious for the user, but I managed to run every game I threw at it flawlessly so far. All AAA games, and games from 2000 (Hitman, C&C games, Jazz Jackrabbit etc..), GoW, Cyberpunk, Hogwarts, etc. On a RTx 2070.
- Damn, I was thinking about switching but I play alot of Timberborn.
  
  I play quite a bit of timberborn, worked just fine. Had some sound issues but changing to proton experimental fixed them.
  
  I've got >500hours in Timberborn on Ubuntu. Runs flawlessly and never had an issue.
  
  this game is actually fun? what would you compare it to?
- Nvidia GPU?

I’ve been out of the industry for a while, but unless Windows was completely rewritten from the ground up in the last 5 years, this doesn’t surprise me. That OS has always been a hot, bloated mess. And no, I’m not a Linux bro. I use another heavily commercialised OS that doesn’t run Windows because I no longer have the energy to care.
An OS written on Unix can outperform Windows? I’m shocked.

I wonder if they did these tests using ray tracing or not. On my AMD 7900xt in Cyberpunk, ray tracing under linux is practically unusable levels of performance compared to windows .
- Safe bet, they didn't. Seeing they're talking about the ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go.
- radv is gradually catching up with amdvlk in terms of rtrt perf. could be worth using amdvlk for raytacing for now, though

windows is overbloated garbage

News flash, Windows is garbage.
- Jawohl, jawohl.
  CC: @OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.world

expect more and more of these headlines as linux gaming matures in the next few years.

This has been reposted enough to where I'm going to start blocking accounts that continue to post it 😎
- I think it's a combination of reposting on Lemmy, multiple communities posting similar stories, and news sites regurgitating results from other sites like it's fresh news.
  
  Agree. My gripe with this article is that I've seen it posted on ~6+ communities. I love that Linux is beating windows in gaming benchmarks, but I think the title sensationalizes it the out performance a slight bit.
- Aww I'm sorry you're stuck in Windows, bud.
  
  Lol, you might misunderstand my issue with the constant repost. I get it. Reading comprehension is hard!
  
  Well shucks, bud

I recently switched to Linux this year (finally), and my experience has been the same.
Not only that, but in some cases, playing a Windows version of a game with Proton seems to work better than the native Linux runtime.
Edit: I use Arch, btw. (lol jk I use EndeavorOS, which is based on Arch)
- amen, i love EndeavorOS. i've jettisoned all Windows support in my house and anything that needs Windows gets put into an isolated VLAN that can't talk to anything else. and for the archaic business crap that only has a Windows release, CrossOver is a godsend. same CodeWeavers devs that made Proton and is essentially Wine Premium.
  
  I'm not an expert in networking stuff... If I am using a Windows 11 laptop (owned by my work) on the same network as my personal laptop while working at home, am I putting my privacy/data/etc. at risk? Should I be sequestering the work laptop in some way?

I keep hearing and seeing from seemingly everyone that Linux gaming is better basically every month, how it keeps improving and stuff (like the article here)
But for me personally it never did in the last 5 years, whenever I try to step out if emulation and back to windows exlusove games? Its like 5 bullet Russian roulette, if it works at all and doesn't stop working for inexlicitly no reason
What are yall doing to actually make things work somewhat reasonable (default lutris, proton, or ge has never even renowtly worked how well for me, at all)
- Modern Linux kernel and steam with proton, and in a few instances lutris with wine. Unless it has anticheet, it’ll play pretty well.
  
  what black magic are you using to make them work
- For me default proton "just works" usually. But I play a lot of indie games
- The only issues left with Windows-Only games is their crippeling-for-purpose anti-cheat code. Anything else works better on Linux.
  So the question is whether to support those BDSM anti-cheat games, or get a better gaming experience.

Anyone have a good explanation on 'Frame Time'? This is the first time I've heard of this term and after some quick googling I feel like I'm not understanding why it's worth caring about.
- It's how long it takes the system to render the next frame. High frame times are no good. Equates to lower average fps, and poor player experience. You also want stable frame times. This equates to smooth gameplay and less "stuttering". Anything under 20ms is considered good. 10ms and less is great. Anything over 50ms will be perceived by the player in a negative way.
- I interpret it as the time taken to render a frame. Unlike FPS which is basically a moving average (or rather 1 divided by the average frame time), frame time is a single data point. Collecting frame times allows you to do things like compute the median or, in this case, the lowest 1% of the frame times. That can give you a better idea of how smooth performance appears to the player, and what the worst-case performance is like.
- I'm not surprised at the confusion, because they're using it... not wrong, but very confusingly.
  Frame time is literally the time to render a frame. So you'd expect that to be a number of miliseconds per frame and so for lower to be better.
  But they're not looking at frametimes, they're looking at 1% lows and expressing that in fps, not in frametimes. So yeah, confusing.
  For the record, the reson why the term is becoming popular is that there are now widespread visualizations that will give you a line of your frametimes in a graph so you can see if the line is flat or spiky. You've probably seen it on the Steam Deck or performance analysis videos or whatever. The idea is that all frametimes being consistent is better than high fps but low 1% or 0.1% low. So stable 60fps can look better than spiky 90fps and so on.

Maybe. But it does so in ALL OF THE GAMES!!!
- Unless you’re super into Fortnite or CoD, Linux plays virtually all of them too.
- Linux has all the games I care about. So no need for windowd
- I can't get Spiderman 2 or Ghost of Tsushima to run on Windows. What am I doing wrong?

I've heard that Linux's task scheduler is just much better than windows', so it kinda makes sense that all would beat Windows.
- A scientific judgement for sure.

the linux wars!! lets see who wins. also, its a friendly war, microsoft loves and will support linux
- It's probably more cost effective to run Azure Services on Linux machines than Windows machines.
- Microsoft has a how to for Installing Linux on the desktop.
- They... accepted that they're not killing Linux, yet. Back in the 2000s, before Azure, they felt quite threated by Linux and 'Microsoft Linux' was a joke. The then-CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux a 'cancer'.
- Embrace. Extend. Extinguish.
  Pick the bones clean.
  CC: @OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.world

OP I love your username

I dual boot arch and windows 11 at home. In World of Warcraft arch is behind, and I haven't figured out what the problem is. Something just feels off with it. With any luck they'll continue to improve compatibility. (likely Nvidia driver diff)

I'm not deep on how the core of an OS works, but to my understanding, the kernel of linux should be more robust and reliable, shouldn't it always be performing better than windows on the same hardware?
Where could I read information on the things that hinder performance on linux, does anybody have any educational resources?
- On Linux, you run windows programs through wine, which is an additional layer that can theoretically slow down the program.
  Also, windows supports certain constructs like io completion ports or WaitForMultipleObjects that historically haven't been emulated efficiently on Linux since it lacked comparable primitives, although those specific ones have been greatly improved in recent years with io_uring and FUTEX_WAIT_MULTIPLE.
  There have been similar issues with direct3D since wine used to have to emulate it in OpenGL, but with vkd3d, wine has more opportunities to efficiently implement the d3d apis.
  Basically wine being slower was the norm until quite recently.
  
  Thanks to the one crazy guy valve contracts making proton... It's crazy how his work basically made gaming on Linux a thing. But yeah the other major thing, which you mentioned, is games/game engines using directX9, directX10 and directX11 (the windows 3d graphics libraries) have their API/rendering calls mapped directly to Vulkan. Those APIs were easier to use but from my understanding (I'm no graphics expert) didn't have the ability to use the full potential of the hardware, and basically had a single channel/thread to the GPU. DirectX12 and Vulkan are much more difficult to use, and some games have used them horribly such that DX11 performs better than DX12, but a good implementation can take advantage of multichannel/multithreaded communication to the GPU allowing much faster and efficient data transfer. They allow the engine programmer to have much more control of the hardware. So vkd3d/proton gives that massive performance impact by mapping the graphics calls from an older API to a newer one. I have not looked into how it's implemented but it's basically magic. This was the main reason why wine kinda sucked for gaming before proton.
  The Windows scheduler is actually pretty decent, it's been a few years since I looked into it but I think Windows soft-real time scheduling was better than the one Linux used, though idk if games even use that.
  The thing holding Linux back, mostly just for online games with anticheat, is anticheat developers reluctance to port to Linux. I believe do to the differences between users pace and kernel space on Windows VS Linux makes bypassing the anticheat on Linux much easier, or the anticheat can use the same tricks that it does on windows.

windows 11 able to play games that linux distros cant*
- Only because the publisher or developer specifically don't want their games played on Linux. And it's mostly because of anticheat
  
  Yeah, same story like beeper and apple

It actually works flawlessly, except for those windows only games of those ones with anticheat bullshit. Especial on AMD, as all the drivers are baked into the kernel and it's literally plug and play.

Since Steam stops working on Win7 in january I was forced to update the OS and I went with Ubuntu since the newer windows seem like plain garbage and spyware. Installing the OS was a huge hassle and getting DayZ to run on it wasn't without an issue either but it works now and the performance seems to be about the same. I only use the Linux machine for occasional gaming so it'll do but I'm not sure if I could daily drive it. Everything seems to need you to do something in terminal which I understand nothing about and aren't interested in learning.
- Installing it was a hassle? May I ask how? In my experience it's windows that's a hassle to install. The non-descript error messages, it randomly rebooting like 6 times during installation was pretty jarring, it takes ages even for an NVME drive.
  On Linux it's generally next next username password next next and we're done. Maybe on a laptop you'll need to install WiFi drivers manually if it's a crappy Broadcom WiFi adapter, but that's not been an issue for years I don't think.
  And as for needing to do stuff in terminal I don't really see that either. Everything seems to be accessible in the GUI, I can't really think of any normal task that requires the terminal
  
  Every time I tried installing, it failed in some new way. It wasn't consistent so I had no idea how to troubleshoot it. It wasn't asking which hard drive to install it onto, the installer was being extremely slow and unresponsive, the non-safe graphics option wasn't working at all.. I basically just had to abort the installation and start again like 10 times. What finally made it work was putting a different version of Ubuntu on the boot USB and using a different USB port and stick along with the safe graphics istallation. Even now it's still giving me some TOCBLOCK error on boot, but everything seems to work fine anyways.
  I can’t really think of any normal task that requires the terminal
  This was the quide for installing drivers for my wifi adapter for example. Maybe there is easier way but each one I found needed you to use terminal. Even the manual that came with the wifi stick.
- You may be more interested in the Steam Deck, a ready-to-go Linux gaming system that doesn't require terminal proficiency. Just turn it on and play like a Nintendo Switch.
  
  I don't feel like buying yet another device when I already have a decent gaming rig. I've got a PS4 too but I never use it because I prefer using a mouse and keyboard.

Did NixOS join the party against Windows in performance tests?

Thats awsome

Is fantastic

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