I've wanted to move away from Windows 11 for a while. I mainly use my PC for browsing, gaming, studying, writing Python, and data analysis, and gaming is the main reason I've stayed on Windows.
I recently installed Ubuntu and got the drivers working for my RTX 5070 and Steam running. However, The Witcher 3 performed much worse than it does on Windows. At 1440p with ultra settings, Windows gives me a steady 144 FPS, while Linux reached roughly 70 FPS. Windows also managed around 85 FPS with ray tracing enabled, but ray tracing did not work properly for me on Linux.
I tried switching between DirectX 11 and other settings, and I checked compatibility reports to see which Proton versions worked for other users, but nothing made a meaningful difference. I then tried CachyOS because it includes several gaming-focused tweaks and tools, but the performance was essentially identical.
After about three days, I went back to Windows because getting roughly half the frame rate was too disappointing. I understand that performance may not be exactly the same, but I was hoping it would be reasonably close.
Did I give up too quickly? Is similar performance unrealistic with an NVIDIA card, especially in demanding games or DirectX 12 titles? Could a different Proton version, kernel, driver, or distribution such as Bazzite make a substantial difference? I also bought the RTX 5070 partly because I want a good environment for learning deep learning and running smaller LLM workloads, so Linux would be useful for work as well as gaming.
3 Answers
NVIDIA can still have larger performance differences than AMD, particularly with some DirectX 12 games and ray tracing. A 20–30% loss is possible in certain titles, although losing roughly half the frame rate is still unusually large. The Witcher 3 may simply be a poor match for your specific driver and Proton setup, so testing a few other games would help determine whether this is a system-wide problem or a title-specific one.
A different distribution probably will not magically double performance. Gaming-focused systems can make setup easier, but they still rely on the same NVIDIA drivers, Vulkan stack, and Proton compatibility layer. Bazzite may be worth trying if you want a smoother, more preconfigured experience, but first check driver versions, Vulkan support, GPU utilization, and whether ray tracing is actually enabled. For your data-science work, Linux is a strong choice, but keeping a Windows installation or dual-boot setup may be the most practical compromise while Linux game support continues to vary by title.
That kind of performance gap usually points to a configuration or driver issue rather than Linux gaming in general. Depending on the game and hardware, Linux can sometimes be within a few percent of Windows, but you should verify that the correct NVIDIA proprietary driver is installed, that the GPU is actually being used, and that the game is running through an appropriate Proton version. Also compare identical resolution, upscaling, shader compilation state, frame limits, and ray-tracing settings before drawing conclusions.
I did try different Proton versions and DirectX 11, but I didn’t test many other games before switching back. I’ll need to compare more titles if I try Linux again.