I'm considering dual booting Linux alongside Windows 11 for gaming and testing purposes. My hardware setup includes a 9800X3D processor and a 9070XT graphics card. I'm torn between using Bazzite and Nobara as my distribution, but I'm looking for something that works smoothly without a ton of tweaks. I prefer the GNOME desktop environment. Any recommendations?
5 Answers
You should definitely check out CachyOS! It's pretty user-friendly and works well for gaming.
Have you looked at the distro selection page from the linux4noobs wiki? It can really guide you in making a choice. Also, it's a good idea to try running distros in a virtual machine and back up your data regularly before making any big changes.
Honestly, just try both Bazzite and Nobara for a week. Their performance is quite similar and you can see which one you prefer personally.
If you're using an AMD GPU, you won't need to mess with any proprietary drivers; they're open-source and included with most distributions. I would recommend going with either Fedora Workstation or openSUSE Tumbleweed, especially for gaming on GNOME. Tumbleweed is a rolling release that provides automated snapshots, so you can easily revert to a previous state if something goes wrong.
I was also eyeing Fedora Workstation but wasn't sure about its gaming performance since it's labeled a 'workstation.' However, since Bazzite and Nobara are based on it, choosing Fedora might actually be a safer bet.
Agreed! Plus, if you like KDE Plasma as your Desktop Environment, CachyOS has you covered!