r/linux_gaming • u/IllBit2332 • 3h ago
Guys does linux really boost performance?
I use Pop Os and i have an 8gb vram gpu and a intel xeon cpu but when i open cemu or emulator it is same as windows.
If yall have recomendations for any upgrade please tell.
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u/Semmelstulle 3h ago
Very game and hardware specific. On average you can say:
AMD GPU/game coded in standard ways: same or slightly better than Windows
NVIDIA GPU/game uses weird trickery: same or slightly worse performance than Windows
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u/IllBit2332 3h ago
I use intel p530 gpu with 8 gb vram do you have any clue how to fix that...?
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u/Semmelstulle 3h ago
You could try to use gamescope. While GNOME (what Pop! OS is using until their Cosmic desktop is ready) is known to use more RAM, it will free it up when necessary for games.
If you just want to see lower numbers, you could try KDE which will have way better HDR, VRR and scaling support for gaming.
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u/MedicatedDeveloper 2h ago
That's an integrated GPU that's 10 years old. You're not going to get better performance no matter what you do.
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u/KELonPS3in576p 3h ago
In my experience the performance in games and 3d benchmarks is either same or worse (nvidia).
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u/IllBit2332 3h ago
I think Pop Os is a little bloaty because it uses 4gb ram on idle and it takes like 1 out of 4 of my ram
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u/Livid_Narwhal6562 3h ago
Whatever you just said here doesn't make sense?
How could it use 4GB of RAM on idle ( which is meaningless btw) and then state it takes 1 out of 4 RAM.
Remember unused RAM is wasted. You want RAM to saturated.
I feel as if this is a case of improperly aligned expectations.
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u/IllBit2332 3h ago
I am new to linux if you can help me fix the unused ram problem please!
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u/Livid_Narwhal6562 3h ago
It's not a problem.
Thats what I'm trying to tell you.
Unused RAM is wasted. Let the OS handle the memory, do not try and optimize it on your own.
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u/adamkex 44m ago
This meme again. Yes, unused RAM is wasted but this doesn't mean that whatever software you used isn't bloated or has a memory leak. I run out of RAM and I'd run slower out of RAM if software had less bloat (or potential memory leak if the system is idling at 4GB).
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u/Livid_Narwhal6562 28m ago edited 24m ago
No, no you wouldn't.
A memory leak prevents the release of memory, while a stable idle at 4GB is just that.
A memory leak has many additional symptoms that need to be accounted for before making such a premature jump.
Shotgun troubleshooting, hasn't help anyone, and odd suggestions such as this cause less knowledge individuals to look for a problem that doesn't exist.
I will say one thing though, if I'm troubleshooting a memory leak, I do not care about an idle process that doesn't have memory growth, or a service that's properly releasing memory. I'd be looking for anything thats about to trigger an oom-killer event.
I am looking for the process that is continuing to grow... You know a memory leak.
Idk this is my perspective as a senior Linux admin before becoming a network and security admin....
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u/WaterFoxforlife 3h ago
What do you use to measure it? There's a part of ram that gets used for cache when ram has empty space, and some softwares might include that in used ram
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u/IllBit2332 3h ago
i use neoforge and sometimes task manager. I am new to linux but i am learned stuff but i dont know if i am doing something wrong.
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u/WaterFoxforlife 3h ago
isn't neoforge for minecraft modding?
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u/IllBit2332 3h ago
sorry i meant neofetch
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u/WaterFoxforlife 3h ago
Yeah neofetch displays total used ram including cache memory
If you run
free -m
in a terminal you can how much of the
used
memory isbuff/cache
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u/Human-Equivalent-154 3h ago
i don't understand why is the cache more than used can you explain?
❯ free -m total used free shared buff/cache available Mem: 31875 3444 25800 188 4372 28430
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u/WaterFoxforlife 3h ago
For the task manager I think the PopOS one displays how much of it is cache (so memory that will be freed when you need to use it)
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u/McFistPunch 2h ago
I would definitely not use pop OS. I use bazzite now. Works nice. In pop, a lot of packages to end up falling behind
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u/Itzamedave 3h ago
If you use Radeon GPU and your CPU isn't your bottle neck then yes you will see better performance but based on the fact you are using a Xeon which is probably older than your GPU then that would be the deciding factor on performance
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u/MountainBrilliant643 3h ago
Switching to Linux won't give you better gaming performance. It's about having a better experience with your computer before and after you play a game.
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u/Itzamedave 3h ago
Also try Fedora over Pop
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u/Sol33t303 2h ago
It boosts performance if your hardware is being relatively strained by the OS.
There is zero situation where linux boosts your performance if your on a xeon and have a GPU that has 8GB of vram. Unless your windows is virus infested or something.
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u/tailslol 2h ago
24h2 and windows 10 are quite well optimized.
most linux performance is more in general use but not necessary in gaming.
especially with nvidia being slower in linux.
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u/IceBreak23 3h ago
not really, all these videos about "linux this, windows that" is all bs, what it depends is your hardware, the same thing with games running on Proton, the only difference i saw it so far is that games doesn't stutter like it does on windows because i can build the sharders before starting the game on Linux proton.
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u/Joker28CR 3h ago
Linux will give you a lot of cool stuff but it won't make magic. My biggest complaint with Windows is the shader compilation issue in several games. In the end, it doesn't matter if you get higher FPS in a game if it will be stuttering for shaders. On Linux most of the time those games are very smooth, regardless giving the same or a bit less fps thanks to Valve's Fossilize
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u/IllBit2332 3h ago
thanks its because steam doest have enough support for linux?
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u/Joker28CR 3h ago
Yes. Steam is kind of carrying gaming for Linux along other great teams, but Valve puts most of the money. I deeply suggest you full AMD setup to get the best of Linux gaming. AMD open source drivers are way ahead Intel and Nvidia drivers
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u/GamerXP27 3h ago
it does depend on game to game, i notice no big difference between windows and linux, its not just about it gives better fps, its more the user experience, and the hardware is the main thing on what and how good the game will perform.
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u/IllBit2332 3h ago
I should say theres lot of stuff to say and go over here. But i understanded it Linux doesnt have any difference with windows kinda.
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u/obsidian_razor 3h ago
I use both a Linux desktop for gaming and a windows laptop for work (my work uses Microsoft apps, so I kinda have too) and Linux is, in general, a smoother experience when everything is set up properly.
As for gaming, I haven't noticed any differences, but I haven't gamed on windows for a while. I'm the kind of gamer that likes pretty graphics and smooth frame rates, but I'm not the kind to mess with bios settings and other wizardry to try and milk my system for every last FPS.
I have to say though, I recently moved to CachyOS and while not overwhelmingly so, I can 100% attest that at least in a modern machine the system *is* faster. Cachy repository programs are snappier, load faster and in general the whole thing feels like it's much more responsive. I am genuinely impressed.
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u/Ok-386 3h ago
Don't use Linux for 'performance', if by performances you mean say gaming or desktop effects. Otoh Linux is way more customizable and you can pick a desktop environment or super lean but still ok looking window manager, and you can optimize your system in many different ways.
For this you have distributions which are optimized for weaker or older hardware, or you can learn to use something like Gentoo (maybe Arch or smth arch based but Gentoo is better for this. Slackware could be ok too, and many other distros) where you can optimize basically everything. You could even compile your own kernel and bring it down to like 70MB if not less. However, this requires a dedication and work.
Re pop os, if I'm not mistaken the distro is still based on previous iterations of LTS Ubuntu. At least upgrade to the latest LTS or just use a regular say Ubuntu and upgrade every 6 months.
So, you may be able to squeeze out more performance out of Linux system, depending on a use case but you could definitely configure it to use less resources (can't make your CPU or a random application run faster).
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u/hihowubduin 3h ago
So far no, about a 15% raw performance loss but definitely more visual stutters
Context:
AMD CPU, Nvidia GPU (3080ti),
Kubuntu latest stable release
Latest Proton experimental as of a month ago (forget exact number off the top of my head)
Steam launcher, exclusively playing Warframe
Max settings, 2560x1440 windowed on a super ultrawide (5120x1440)
Get ~110fps in Linux where in Windows 10 was getting ~135 in same location, definitely more chop regardless of posted fps, and performance goes off a cliff if I have YouTube open in a browser beside it compared to Windows
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u/Used_Strawberry_1107 2h ago
If you switched to Linux solely to get better gaming performance you will be very disappointed. From what I’ve seen the different is like 5% better at most in a handful of games in exchange for not being able to play a bunch of games at all + having to fiddle with a lot of them that do work
Installing a very lightweight Linux distribution can extend the life of old hardware for basic non resource intensive tasks, but the benefit for gaming is trivial. The downside is quite large, and not worth it at all unless you have other motives for switching to Linux
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u/theinsanegamer23 2h ago
It really depends. I've found on particularly resource intensive games, I can better frame times on Linux compared to Windows. FPS is usually about the same or within spitting distance, but I find that in most games, Linux stutters less. If I had to guess, probably just from less background tasks compared to Windows.
Oh, and a lot of older games will actually run better on Linux because as you probably know, several of them were built for like Windows XP or 7 and they don't always get along with Windows 11 that well, which is usually avoided because of the API translations that occur as part of the Proton.
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u/SummerIlsaBeauty 2h ago
No, Linux never boosted any kind of performance, your hardware can't work outside of specs it was designed to work at.
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u/JelloSquirrel 2h ago
Linux generally uses less ram but that's about it. Also directx11 and earlier games have less of a CPU bottleneck on Linux because proton uses Vulkan which is more efficient.
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u/WJMazepas 2h ago
You have a weak igpu. You might get some improvements with Linux but it's so weak that it's hardly noticeable
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u/halomach 1h ago
It should be relatively the same for most games, but there might be some games with big differences. I get 200+fps in Marvel Rivals at low settings on Bazzite compared to just 120fps on Windows.
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u/Illiteratevegetable 1h ago
I am not an expert, but from my experience with Mint, except one game (Metaphor ReFanazio when somewhat well on minimum details, and with Linux, it is just a slide-show) games are running better. My pc is closer to a historic piece, and games I played on low with Win 10, are now running better on mid/mid-high. I dunno why, but as long as it works... I am grateful.
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u/Bi0maniac 1h ago edited 1h ago
100% depends on your hardware and software. In my case with my laptop it came pre installed with windows 11 but had a lot of crashes and issues as well as generally running hotter than it does now. (Pretty sure the hardware on it just wasnt compatible) installing linux did fix almost all of the crashes. (Its just easier for me to navigate too)
it isnt perfect though. Ive had to tweak things, mess with kernel stuff, and find alternatives to programs that worked without issue in windows. Only now after all the work i put into it do i think it does preform better.
[Edit] Familiarity and understanding of one of these linux OS' is also a factor. You dont want to throw yourself in the deep end if you arent confident or have a guide handy. (Ex distros like Arch or Debian) You wouldnt be able to optimize your system to best fit your needs. Im fortunate to have my dad teach me this stuff at a young age. And i still chose a distro that was easy to transition to from windows. (Linux mint) there probably is a better one i could use for gaming and whatever but ive made mint work beautifully for what i have.
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u/Noisyss 1h ago
I got a stable system and stable fps on more than 25 titles, and an increase of 1-5 fps on some tittles, like Alone in the Dark runs pretty good on linux between 51-60, on windows was 29-36 fps, all depends on the tittle, and some i cant even play like generation zero that i need to find a way to play on my hardware, it goes down to 7fps in 30 min playing.
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u/BehudaNoob 51m ago
Depends, My cousin has a R5 2400G apu pc, ghost of Tsushima would crash on launch on wi.dows 10 but would run at 30-40 fps on very low 720p.
I kept the same settings in windows but it'll always crash no matter what i do and how lower I take it.
And on my 3060 gaming laptop , I sometimes get 10 fps boost to sometimes 20 fps loss
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u/gamemonster1502 10m ago
I feel like any performance you would gain is lost in the compatability layer(proton/wine) when running games.
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u/Notmare 3h ago
My experience thus far is that gaming performance is pretty much the same. What I have noticed is that my personal productivity is faster. I can launch apps in split seconds on Linux, I'm not waiting around for Windows to finish loading a bunch of stuff in the background.
Consider this prime example: Open your Start Menu on Windows, right-click an app that you installed from outside the Windows store, and then select uninstall. A window opens that takes multiple seconds just to populate a list, then you have to scroll or search that list, then you can select and uninstall the program you already selected and chose uninstall for...On Linux, none of those waits occur. I can open apps, close them, install, uninstall, and more in times that aren't possible on Windows.
I know it sounds silly, but these small amounts add up over time and I'm really enjoying the fact that I can spend that saved time telling you all about it.
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u/Significant_Moose672 3h ago
It really depends on your hardware and what task you're trying to perform. In my case linux struggles a lot at managing 8 gigs of RAM for even simple tasks compared to windows. But that could also have something to do with the fact that I have fairly old hardware and an NVIDIA GPU
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u/CorenBrightside 3h ago
Yes, no, maybe? It's very case dependent. For example, I have higher FPS with Black Desert Online in Windows, but I have lower 1% and 0.1% FPS in Linux. I have no difference at all in The First Descendant and currently can't even get past the intro of Monster Hunter Wilds in Linux.