Linux Benchmarks for Native Games

[TyranT⨁]

I posted a thread in the NVIDIA Linux forums, about some benchmarks I personally ran to compare Linux vs Windows performance. Thank you Valve for really pushing Linux gaming to the forefront. You guys are the best.

https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1043959/linux/linux-benchmarks-for-native-games/

[Aoi Blue]

Any game that is optimized well in the Linux version gets equal to better performance on Linux.

Linux does exceptionally well on OpenGL and Vulkan under both nVidia Proprietary as well as AMD and Intel Open Source drivers.

The particular note of increase performance is on the Intel Open Source drivers, where Linux runs circles around Windows.

I doubt anyone concerened with performance will be using an Intel GPU. However, this might come to advantage when multiple-GPU Vulkan using different adapters is developed, and can use the integrated GPU for compute functions and CPU-Memory side shaders.

[Marlock]

Also, any and all performance improvements help turn low specs machines viable for more games :)

And Intel is trying again to produce a dedicated GPU so if thos time it succeeds, the driver stack won't be a problem on Linux :)

[TyranT⨁]

Yes, I agree, Its just I've seen lots of videos on youtube about people saying linux gaming isnt as fast as windows, but I feel that this may have been true years ago. But with the help of Valve and NVIDIA, AMD and Intel as well, Linux gaming is now just as good, or faster.

Theres also alot of benchmarks on youtube of people comparing bad ports and/or games with wrappers, which is simply not fair.

But with Proton and Vulkan, I truly feel that we will eventually see matching performance between Linux and Windows, and faster performance for native Linux ports, that are of course ported with care.

[Old Peanut]

do you have links for other native linux vs win banchmarks at hand, which are not based on quake?

[Marlock]

Here is the best place to dig for those kind of comparison:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=category&item=Linux%20Gaming
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=category&item=Operating%20Systems


Dota 2 (Vulkan + OpenGL) and Portal (OpenGL) on Ubuntu 18.04 + Win10 Pro:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=rtx2080ti-windows10-ubuntu&num=2

Dota 2 (Vulkan + OpenGL) on Ubuntu18.04 + Win10 Pro + macOS 10.13.4:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=dota2-mac-vulkan&num=2

Xonotic (OpenGL) on Ubuntu18.04 + Win10 Pro + macOS 10.13.4 too:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=dota2-mac-vulkan&num=3

Dota 2 (Vulkan + OpenGL), OpenArena (OpenGL), Portal (OpenGL) and Xonotic (OpenGL) on Ubuntu18.04 + Win10 Pro:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=win10ubu-amd-nv-ref&num=2


Dota 2 (Vulkan + OpenGL + D3D11), Portal (OpenGL) and XPlane11 on Ubuntu18.04 + Win10 Pro - on a Dell XPS 9370 with integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=uhd620-windows-ubuntu&num=2


OpenArena (OpenGL) on Ubuntu 18.04 + Fedora 28 + Clear Linux + Antergos + Win10 (altough the focus was Ryzen 7 CPU performance more than GPU performance):
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ryzen-2700x-winlin&num=7

Then there is this page with a list of benchmark results, but I didn't find later articles going into the corresponding analysis:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Wine-Linux-D3D11-D3D9-GL-Data


Also here is some other pertinent benchmark, altough not for games...
various benchmarks on Ubuntu18.04 (native) + Win10 Pro + Ubuntu18.04 (Wine 3.10)
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=wine-ubuntu1804-win10&num=2

[anachoret]

Good stuff, thanks everyone.

[Zyro]

Dubigrasu is measuring for years now...

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/541907867770822642/

[NeptNutz]

My favorite are the METRO games. Like there was never a difference since Day 1. ;-)

[TyranT⨁]

Xonotic and OpenArena are based on Quake, technically DOTA2 and all source games have a lot of quake source code as well, but anyway.

Portal uses a wrapper just Incase anyone didn’t know, along with CSGO, TF2, HL2, and all other source based games.

The only game that doesn’t use a wrapper is DOTA2 when using Vulkan. When OpenGL is used, the same wrapper is used that other source games use.

The main reason I did these benchmarks, was phoronix always uses Ubuntu (yuck), and I’m almost for certain he keeps the composite extension enabled. My specs are in my profile, and it’s a very lean machine with the composite extension disabled.

Because of my setup and settings, Linux is actually faster or the same, unlike the results in those benchmarks. If you want matching gaming performance to windows, disable the composite extension and use a window manager instead of a desktop environment.

[thetargos]

Originally posted by NeptNutz:

My favorite are the METRO games. Like there was never a difference since Day 1. ;-)

Amen! Yes. My first Metro was Last Light original release in ~2014, and ran really well. It still does, on a beefier system, but the game is incredibly well oprimized. The Redux versions run remarkably well as well.

[NeptNutz]

I hope Exodus releases full native Vulkan. That will be an insta-buy!

[thetargos]

I hope Exodus has native support, though in the store I only see Windows support at the moment.

[meheezen]

lots of interesting stuff to read in this topic, thank you all for sharing :)

[TyranT⨁]

Rogue, I know about all of of this. Xonotic and OpenArena are based on Quake 1 source code, hence why I said they are based on Quake. I also know Source games borrow Quake source code, and to the degree of how much of that code, we don't actually know. So unless you can point to an article about how much Quake cource code the Source engine uses, you can't say it DOESNT use alot. Because for sure, the GoldSrc engine uses a ton of Quake 1 source code.

I actually bet you there is still lots of Quake source code in Source 2. I seriously BET YOU.

You can argue the degree of whats being wrapped from different wrappers, but ToGL is still a wrapper PERIOD. ToGL is essentially a transition layer from Direct3D to OpenGL. So its WRAPPING Direct3D calls to OpenGL. In other words, ToGL is a Direct3D wrapper.

I used to despise wrappers, but I've become more open minded, and actually embrace wrappers now. Proton is amazing, and I'm looking forward to the advancement of it with the Vulkan API, which I believe, in time, will deliver the same, if not more performance than the game running on Windows.

[TyranT⨁]

If you're going to try and use the "prove it" logic, so can I. I will use youre own logic against you. GoldSrc I'm sure uses alot of the original quakeworld source code, since Gabe aquired the whole source on a CD back in the 90s. Source may have less, but how much less, is the question. We may never know, but Im betting its a good amount, not that this is a bad thing. Its my favorite engine, and feels the best out of all other game engines I've used.

As far as I know, and I even just googled this to make sure, Source 2 is not a "totally seperate engine". If that were the case, porting any Source game I'm sure, would take a tremendous amount of work, or be impossible without having the game be completely different mechanics wise. In fact, according to this chart, youre completely wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id_Tech#/media/File:Quake_-_family_tree_2.svg

And about ToGL, translation layer is a fancy term for WRAPPER.

It translates, or WRAAAAAAAAAAAAAPS thiiiiiiiiiiings, woooooooooooooooooooooooow