I'm considering switching from Windows to Cachy OS for gaming, but I've got some concerns. I use an NVIDIA RTX 4060 and I've heard mixed things about how well NVIDIA graphics cards perform on Linux. I want to know if I'm likely to experience major performance drops, especially when using features like DLSS and frame generation. Also, does using ray tracing heavily impact performance? I don't play many anti-cheat games except for Counter Strike, which I've heard runs natively on Linux and performs well. I've dual booted before with Cachy OS just for testing, and it worked fine for that. Usually, I set my games to max settings with ray tracing, only dialing back if my FPS drops below 45-50, at which point I'd use DLSS to boost performance. I'm curious if switching to Linux can yield similar performance, or if I should stick with Windows. What's the general consensus? Am I likely to lose more than 10 FPS?
5 Answers
I’ve been gaming on Manjaro with an RTX 4070, and honestly, it’s been smooth sailing. I didn't measure FPS, but I didn't notice any drops compared to Windows. It's been great overall!
It’s usually fine with a Debian-based distro (like Ubuntu or Mint), especially if you have older hardware. Just note that NVIDIA’s closed-source drivers can mean longer waits for driver updates, so keep that in mind when picking your distro!
Sounds like sticking to stable releases is the way to go. Thanks for the tip!
You'll probably be alright! It's not that NVIDIA cards can't game on Linux; it’s more about how slow NVIDIA has historically been to update their drivers. The community can't really fix issues directly because the drivers are closed source, but that doesn't mean you won't have a decent experience. Just keep in mind that things might not always work perfectly out of the box.
But what about performance drops? I’ve heard people say they can be significant depending on the game.
In my experience, it varies. Newer distros like Fedora gave me some trouble, making games unplayable. You might want to dual boot to test first, just in case!
That’s smart! I’d hate to go all in and lose performance. Any recommendation on which distro works best?
I've played some native Linux games like X-Plane and Skyrim on my Xubuntu setup with an RTX 3060, and it worked perfectly. No issues at all. People seem to blow the NVIDIA problems out of proportion.
Just a heads up, though, make sure you're using the latest drivers or switch to Wayland; that can help with security issues.
That’s awesome to hear! Have you tried DLSS or ray tracing? Do they still run well?