I just tried out Linux Mint XFCE for the first time and noticed something odd. My RAM usage is at 30% on the desktop, whereas on Windows 10, it's only around 10-12%. Plus, in games, I'm seeing FPS drop dramatically—like three times lower than on Windows! I've heard from some folks (and even AI) that switching to Linux can boost performance, especially on weaker hardware, but I'm not seeing that at all. Here's my setup: Intel i5 4590, Intel HD Graphics 4600, and 10 GB of RAM. People suggested trying a lighter distro like Puppy OS, but my processor isn't great, so I'm skeptical. Why is performance so noticeably worse on Linux?
3 Answers
You might not really need Linux if Windows does the job for you. It seems like the folks who told you Linux has double the performance were misinformed. In my experience, FPS can be similar or fluctuate depending on the specific hardware and games you're running. Your Intel HD 4600 GPU might not be optimized for Linux, leading to those performance hits you’re seeing.
It’s possible your RAM usage is high because you ran Linux from a live USB instead of a full installation. Live environments can consume much more memory than installed systems. As for FPS, if games aren’t natively supported on Linux and are running through Proton or a compatibility layer, they might not perform as well as on Windows. Native Linux games can perform better; for example, games like Factorio run notably smoother on Linux!
Honestly, if you don’t need Linux, there’s no reason to switch. Linux uses RAM differently, caching a lot of stuff which might make it look like it’s using more, but it can free up RAM as needed. For your old graphics setup, gaming on Linux might not offer the performance you're hoping for since it lacks Vulkan support like newer hardware does. The claims about Linux performing better on older machines can sometimes be exaggerated.
I’m really interested in exploring native Linux games too! I'm considering trying CachyOS to see if there’s a difference.