Hey everyone, I'm new to Linux and just installed Linux Mint on my old PC, which also has Windows 10 installed for dual booting. I'm having some trouble getting Steam to run. Here's some info about my system: I'm on Linux Mint 22.1 Xia with a quad-core AMD Phenom II X4 850 CPU and a GeForce GTS 450 GPU. I've been trying to launch Steam, but the terminal outputs a bunch of errors related to the nouveau driver and Vulkan support. Any ideas on how to get Steam working or if it's even possible on my hardware?
3 Answers
Another option is to try using distros like Nobara or Bazzite; they usually have better support for older hardware and drivers.
Yeah, that's pretty much the consensus. Your GPU is from an era before Linux gaming really took off. You could try installing the proprietary Nvidia driver via the Driver Manager, but since your card doesn't support Vulkan, add `PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1` to your game launch options. It might let you play some DirectX 8-11 titles, but it'll likely be a subpar experience, and you'll struggle to maintain good frame rates.
Your setup might struggle a bit. The GeForce GTS 450 with the nouveau driver isn't going to give you the best performance for gaming on Linux. The driver has its limitations, especially for older cards, and running games at decent performance on Linux compared to Windows can be tricky without Vulkan support. You might want to consider keeping Windows for your gaming needs and use Mint for everything else you want to do.
Haha, that's good to know! I was hoping to switch fully to Linux for gaming, but I guess I can keep Windows for Steam and use Mint for everything else.
Thanks for the tips! I might give those a shot, but honestly, I think I'll stick to Windows for gaming.