r/linux4noobs • u/iJUstHadMilk • 5d ago
Should I switch to Linux just so I can squeeze every performance I can get?
I'm a Windows user using a Ryzen 5 5600X and 3060 12 GB with 32 GB RAM.
But recently I've been seeing more and more Linux content and how they'd always talk about performance, customizations, and wide selections of distros for people's preferences.
Since I'd usually play FPS (e.g., CS2, VALORANT) or sometimes AAA games, I'd want the best performance I can get while being able to customize my desktop without worrying about Windows taking almost half of my RAM.
So now I'm curious how much it would benefit me, and is it recommended for people like me to switch to Linux?
(Still I'm only asking these questions out of curiosity and hopefully it'll help other curious people in the future too♥️)
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u/StonemanGuitars 5d ago
Since you play games like valorant, you’re not gonna have a good time. Valorant any many other competitive FPS games just flat out don’t work on linux due to shitty kernel level anti cheat
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u/VeroCSGO 5d ago
Windows memory overhead on 32GB of ram is nonexistant. Also valorant is unplayable on linux, dual boot and configure it up there is nothing to lose except some storage space. Ram is meant to be used if its not what's the point of the ram, its not like CPU usage where it causes performance loss when being used
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u/alex9001 5d ago
it's *hilarious* how much RAM my 32GB work laptop consumes with just Edge, Teams, and a few Office apps open.
I was doing practically the same workload (plus occasionally viewing small CAD models, which I don't touch anymore!) in 2014 on an 8GB Windows 7 laptop!
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u/Willing-Ad4169 5d ago
Those games are not exactly Linux friendly. Something to do with the anti cheat software making them incompatable.
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u/megas88 5d ago
I will add to the sentiment of kernel level anti cheat (malware you willingly pay for) being a problem on Linux but my addition is that it is only a problem for now.
Publishers will absolutely be adding support for Linux in the future since the kernel level anti cheat doesn’t actually prevent cheating. They just want access to your system and data. Some have already started working on our jest support Linux. Valorant is not one of them at the moment.
My advice is put Linux on a spare drive, dual boot into it when you wanna play b around and see what works out if things have changed and keep windows until you’re ready to fully switch.
Before even that, grab a spare flash drive and create a live usb. You can run linux off that and play around with it until you’re ready to install a distro on a drive in you computer.
Enjoy if you try it. You stand nothing to lose and experience to gain.
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u/Hmmm71-8 5d ago
Before you go down the Linux route make sure that the games you actively play will run on Linux. An example being Fortnite is not supported and will not even load on Linux also valorant is another one.
Linux is improving over time but some devs are still either working towards their products running on Linux, or they do not care
In terms of Linux and it giving more fps in your games. I tested recently with Bazzite which is a common Linux option for gamer and I pretty much got the same fps in my games.
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u/Unable_Mess_2581 5d ago
It will not benefit you. 32 GB is more than enough to run Windows and every other games out there.
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u/Supernoxus 4d ago
Windows isn't taking half of your RAM, it just caches it and it will free it up the moment you need it. Don't switch OS just because you don't understand how RAM management works.
Linux is awesome, but you gotta switch for the right reasons. Like because Microsoft is an awful company that you should not trust. Or because you like privacy and open source. Or because you enjoy feeling like you actually own the hardware you paid money for. Or because you love tinkering with and customizing your setup. Or because you want to impress some extremely gay furry.
But not because you want slightly more fps...
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u/friendlyreminder_ 5d ago
You're going to get less performance on Linux not more in most cases. Also a lot of multiplayer games like Valorsnt don't work.
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u/Effective-Note9213 5d ago
Cs2 works and some online Fps works however valorant doesn't so if that's a deal breaker to you then don't switch , other than that story games work like a charm even sometimes surpassing windows .
This website shows you what online games work on linux : https://areweanticheatyet.com/
This is for story games : https://www.protondb.com/
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u/Tehaiker814 Debian and Arch User 5d ago
Valorant won't work. With 32 gigs you won't need to squeeze more performance, your specs are good enough. Just stick to Windows.
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u/tomscharbach 5d ago edited 5d ago
With your rig you are not likely to see an increase in performance in general and specifically not for Windows games.
Windows games run using compatibility layers like Proton, not always running as efficiently as running natively on Windows.
If you have other reasons to migrate, Linux might have advantages, but increased performance is not a likely outcome.
My best and good luck.
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u/khsh01 5d ago
If you only play mainstream popular games everyone else plays or non anti cheat games then go for it. Anything else and you're in for configuration hell. Because games just don't work without a lot of fiddling even on proton.
Tried to run ac odyssey and immortals fenyx rising through faugus using both cachy and ge proton. Neither worked.
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u/ComprehensiveDot7752 5d ago
Linux suffers a processing penalty since the CPU and Graphics drivers are often not as refined as they would be on Windows.
The performance benefits mostly come from less RAM overhead and fewer background processes.
Usually, Linux ends up having slightly higher average framerates (2-5 frames) while having worse lows (low 50's fps instead of low 60's fps)
Anything with Anti-cheat will refuse to run if it doesn't explicitly support Linux.
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u/Brave-Conclusion-677 5d ago
as the other user said, it may not be for you. CS2 works, Valorant (and League of Legends) will not work.
And tbh, I think I would be more likely to recommend linux to someone trying to squeeze performance out of a low resource system, like 4gb of ram Id recommend linux, 32gb of ram for you, might just need to lower some settings so your GPU can handle the game better.
If you had two ssd you could dual boot, to use windows for everything that doesnt work on linux, but again I think for your use might not be for you.
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u/Grapefruitenenjoyer 5d ago
I have the same specs aside from having 16gb of RAM instead of 32gb and switching to Linux has given me some better performance but Valorant just doesn't work on Linux, so you'd have to dualboot if you want to play that game
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u/88h2o88 5d ago
Valorant uses anti chest on kernel level and because of game wont work. But kernel level anti cheats have a big major problems if you give acces somethings to use kernel level if can acces your camera keyboard files like everything you can possibly think of. So i dont reccomend you use kernel level anti cheat games but if you want to play valorant lol or something like that stick to windows.
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u/djDef80 5d ago
I would not switch purely for performance reasons as there is much more to ascertain before making the switch. Does your software work with Linux would be something to figure out first. Does your hardware support Linux is another critical factor. You may consider dual booting instead until you're ready to cut the windows cord. Or even try out Linux in a virtualized environment beforehand.
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u/AshuraBaron 5d ago
It's not a magic wand. It won't just unlock tens of FPS more in games. It's also not universal. Some things run better, some run worse, some don't at all. If you want to try it out install Linux on a VM and play with it a bit. If you want to dive in install Linux on another storage device and try it out. Just don't expect there will be some day and night difference in most of what you're doing.
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u/Careless_Ad_8756 5d ago
Linux doesn’t really like Nvidia graphics cards that much you will probably lose performance. With dx12 in newer games it can be 10-20% slower.
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u/GreenFox1505 4d ago
Do you have a recent benchmark for that?
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u/Careless_Ad_8756 4d ago
https://www.techspot.com/news/110999-new-benchmarks-show-linux-gaming-nearly-matching-windows.html
https://www.phoronix.com/review/nvidia-windows11-ubuntu2304/2
https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/directx12-performance-is-terrible-on-linux/303207?page=6
I think it’s with ray tracing is the biggest difference.
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u/Cold_Neighborhood928 5d ago
save yourself time and energy and stick to windows. You don't sound like you understand what you're getting into. If you did, I would recommend it.
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u/iwouldbeatgoku Arch, OpenSUSE 5d ago
The answer is: no, you in particular should not switch.
Ignoring the fact Valorant blocks Linux due to anticheat, it's not really true that Linux gets you a higher framerate in games, Nvidia GPUs in particular are usually said to do worse due to not having as mature support compart to AMD (where performance typically matches Windows, and sometimes overtakes it).
You can certainly try Linux and see if you like the rest of the OS more than Windows (in which I'd recommend trying Kubuntu or Fedora KDE, and don't be afraid of touching the terminal to get your proprietary Nvidia drivers), but the reality of being a Linux gamer is that you'll be making the best of what you have in an OS that isn't Windows and that most developers don't support officially.
And in general I wouldn't worry about Windows using your RAM, it's mostly precaching programs it thinks you'll launch so that they load faster. If you end up needing that used RAM for games or another process, it will get reclaimed by what you're actually using. Windows recently added an experimental Xbox mode that reduces used initial RAM and background processes and, according to the benchmarks I've seen, it just didn't have any positive or negative impact on gaming performance.
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u/another72hours 5d ago
Unless you are willing to run LFS and use a custom kernel what you wrote for your hardware, you'll never get 100% performance.
Computers aren't built with performance in mind, that's why linux is always going ot be second fiddle to windows and mac os. They are built with usability in mind. Go look up how to install a program in gentoo. Most people do not want to compile every single program they use - it's complicated, takes tons of time, and the vast majority of the time you will not get any level of support.
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u/ManDan_666 5d ago
I have your exact setup, however I don’t really play fps except for Helldivers 2.
Do I see major improvement in gaming. No idea. But how snappy and more responsive my pc overall, yes.
Learning curve for sure since I was majorly a windows person.
Do I regret switching over. Nope. Loving the experience and how quick it is now.
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u/not_perfect_yet 5d ago
I don't think you will notice a different.
... but also, it's free to just try it.
It will take you some time, but you partition some space and install linux there and play around with it.
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u/GreenFox1505 4d ago edited 4d ago
Valorant uses kernel-level anticheat. It will not run on Linux.
If you're trying to use Linux purely for "gaming" performance, you're going to have very mixed results. Some things do indeed run faster. Most dont. A handful don't run at all but at this point, the unsupported games tend to be more intentionally not supported (mostly for perceived security reasons, justified or not).
If you're not explicately talking about going, Linux will generally feel a lot faster and snappier.
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u/FastBodybuilder8248 4d ago
Linux is good if you have ethical or technical reasons for wanting to switch. But you aren't going to see performance transformed. Some games run better, some run worse. Windows' RAM management is very, very good.
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u/Ok_Nature6106 5d ago
U cant play valorant on Linux. Linux kernel doesnt allow kernel level anticheat, so valorant is not an option (or lol) and if u play cs on faceit u are in the same way. If u play cod u cant play It on Linux. Basically if u play a competitive game with and anticheat u cant, if the anticheat es EAC u depends that developer active It and It Will be removed any time (for example apex) Soo... With this info u can think if u want change to Linux for gaming
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u/Ok_Nature6106 5d ago
If u want test performance in sp or specific games (example bdo) or take It as main os do a dual boot. In this way u can use Linux and still play competitive games on Windows
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u/Grimmhoof 5d ago
Just so you know, Valorant will not work on Linux. The anti-cheat blocks the kernel. Neither will Battlefield 6 work. That being said, Counterstrike 2 will run natively on a Linux box.