Which Linux distro is best for a gaming PC with an AMD GPU?

You don’t strictly need a gaming-specific distro. Fedora KDE, Nobara, Kubuntu, or even a lightweight general-purpose distribution can run Steam and Proton very well. KDE Plasma and GNOME currently offer the strongest Wayland support for features such as HDR, VRR, and multiple monitors. If download size matters, most conventional distributions are around a few gigabytes, while Bazzite is considerably larger.

The distro usually isn’t what determines FPS. The kernel, Mesa graphics stack, drivers, game settings, and how well the particular game runs under Proton matter more. Gaming-focused distributions can provide useful defaults and tweaks, but you may still need to tune things yourself. With a 7900 XTX, AMD support is generally excellent on current Linux releases, so choosing a distro with a recent kernel and graphics stack is a good idea.

For dual-booting, install Linux to the secondary SSD and be careful to select the correct drive during setup. Keep a Windows recovery option and back up anything important first. Your slow connection mainly affects downloading the installer and updates; it isn’t something the distro can completely solve. After installation, test your main games before changing lots of settings, since jumping between distributions rarely improves performance by itself.

Bazzite is probably the most turnkey option for someone coming from Windows. It comes with gaming software and sensible defaults, and its immutable design makes the base system harder to break. The tradeoff is that it’s a much larger download and can be less flexible when you want to change system-level settings or install software outside the usual Flatpak and container-based approach.

CachyOS is a solid fit if you want a more traditional, flexible desktop and don’t mind learning a little more. It’s Arch-based, has access to the Arch User Repository, and focuses on current packages and performance. It’s more hands-on than Bazzite, but it gives you greater control and is still a reasonable choice for gaming on AMD hardware.