Best DE for gaming

[mr.raider2]

Now that LM 20 is on the way, and Ubuntu 20.04 is out, which desktop environment is best suited to full screen gaming?

I'm not taking about RAM or resource usage, since thats irrelevant on a gaming rig. I'm talking mainly about games properly deactivating compositing in full screen mode, and secondly, proper rendering of UIs.

For historical reasons I still use KDE Neon on my main gaming rig since I found kwin to be miles ahead of compiz or whatever cinnamon and unity used back in 2017.

This applies to Linux native games as well as proton/Vulkan?

Hardware is ryzen 2700x and rx5700, resolution is 2560x1080

[Air]

Particularly if you have multiple monitors, I'd suggest KDE Plasma. There are certain options called "window rules" there that allow you to start or force games to a specific resolution, display, etc. Saved me with some games like Metro Redux.

[tfk]

Whatever bakes your cake...
Whatever floats your boat...

[ENIGMA]

Originally posted by Rogue:

There is no objective "best DE for gaming". DE choice is subjective. So use whichever one you like the most. For me, it's GNOME.

+1

[mr.raider2]

Originally posted by catbox:

MATE works fine for me.
which uses Marco comp
i have it disabled because i dont like shadows

What about Compton?

[Sumé Linux]

Ubuntu Gnome, Ubuntu Mate, Kubuntu (KDE)... Actually some tests showed that this doesn't matter.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=gaming-desktop-eoy2018&num=2

[kazereal]

Gnome has some interoperability issues with some Wine-titles (and Proton as a consequence as well). For example, some games will not render when the window is moved to another screen, closing game leaves game to borderless window that you need to kill from terminal and so on.
YMMV

Native Linux games should work in pretty much anything, report it if you find something that does not.

[[GNU] Debian ☭]

Ill be honest with you; if you are a gamer, KDE (even Plasma) is the worst choice around. Stick with Mate, I3WM, or anything lite.

If you use OBS to stream or record your plays, you'll notice MATE is way better than Cinnamon too.

PS: disable all composite and effects, if at least 10 FPS are something you dont wanna miss

[mr.raider2]

Originally posted by GNU/Linux Debian:

Ill be honest with you; if you are a gamer, KDE (even Plasma) is the worst choice around. Stick with Mate, I3WM, or anything lite.

If you use OBS to stream or record your plays, you'll notice MATE is way better than Cinnamon too.

PS: disable all composite and effects, if at least 10 FPS are something you dont wanna miss

That's a bit extreme. What's the point of having an 8 core CPU and cutting edge GPU if my desktop is going to look like Windows 3.1.

If full screen games don't de-activate desktop effects in Mate, then Marco is defective.

[Mario]

I'd suggest i3 for the window-size features and so fullscreening of any program.

[NRG-R9T]

My Gaming-Rig runs just fine with up-to-date KDE Plasma on 4K-Monitor and -TV, switching between with no big issues that I remember, at least when both displays have the same resolution. I had one or the other have 1080p and 4K simulateuously and that was a bit tricky, but I resolved to just turn the other unused screen off and problems where solved. No performance issues also.

[[GNU] Debian ☭]

Originally posted by mr.raider2:

Originally posted by GNU/Linux Debian:

Ill be honest with you; if you are a gamer, KDE (even Plasma) is the worst choice around. Stick with Mate, I3WM, or anything lite.

If you use OBS to stream or record your plays, you'll notice MATE is way better than Cinnamon too.

PS: disable all composite and effects, if at least 10 FPS are something you dont wanna miss

That's a bit extreme. What's the point of having an 8 core CPU and cutting edge GPU if my desktop is going to look like Windows 3.1.

If full screen games don't de-activate desktop effects in Mate, then Marco is defective.

Some people takes 10 FPS as a game winner. But of course people can play on KDE/etc

[NRG-R9T]

Originally posted by GNU/Linux Debian:

Some people takes 10 FPS as a game winner. But of course people can play on KDE/etc

even if that is true, 10FPS off of 160FPS or what?

[WarnerCK]

Desktop environment makes zero difference to gaming performance. None of them are heavy. Even Gnome, the historical fatty, isn't objectively heavy - it just had bugs that adversely affected desktop performance, many of which have now been fixed. When you're gaming the compositor gets turned off, as you note, and tools like Feral's gamemode can insist on it if a particular window doesn't do so itself for whatever reason.

Some people like using uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow, artisanal text-files, no creature comfort methods for philosophical reasons. It's possible that those can make the difference between doesn't work at all and barely functions on a potato, but it makes no difference whatsoever to anything that's capable of running games, or a web browser for that matter.

The best desktop environment is the one that you like using most. That's it.

[[GNU] Debian ☭]

Originally posted by NRG-R9T:

Originally posted by GNU/Linux Debian:

Some people takes 10 FPS as a game winner. But of course people can play on KDE/etc

even if that is true, 10FPS off of 160FPS or what?

lots of CS:GO professionals, as example, play with 260+ FPS, 1024x768 black bars resolution (im not joking)

[[GNU] Debian ☭]

Originally posted by WarnerCK:

Desktop environment makes zero difference to gaming performance. None of them are heavy. Even Gnome, the historical fatty, isn't objectively heavy - it just had bugs that adversely affected desktop performance, many of which have now been fixed. When you're gaming the compositor gets turned off, as you note, and tools like Feral's gamemode can insist on it if a particular window doesn't do so itself for whatever reason.

Some people like using uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow, artisanal text-files, no creature comfort methods for philosophical reasons. It's possible that those can make the difference between doesn't work at all and barely functions on a potato, but it makes no difference whatsoever to anything that's capable of running games, or a web browser for that matter.

The best desktop environment is the one that you like using most. That's it.

(when using OBS to stream or to save some replays/nice plays):
Try to full window capture (Xcomposite) on MATE and then try it on Cinnamon... it DOESNT work on Cinnamon...

I have, also, a 144Hz monitor; 10 FPS helps me a lot reach some 150FPS on some games, without the need to reduce (more) graphics.

You can feel the abyssal difference between KDE/KDE Plasma with Mate or Cinnamon or i3WM. The guy asked about the BEST de for games. Not about a so-so one!!!