How does performance differ from linux and windows?

[Rage]

The games ive plated has all worked well except thief gold which seems to need the same fix as on windows.

While others are having issues with oblivion for example i havent. And i could run age of wonders 1 without even any fixes and it runs great.

It makes me think linux is better optimized for old games and maybe even new ones. Am i delulu or is there something here?

[Bing Chilling]

well linux uses far far less resources so yes it will run better with the correct support.

[r.linder]

Originally posted by Rage:

The games ive plated has all worked well except thief gold which seems to need the same fix as on windows.

While others are having issues with oblivion for example i havent. And i could run age of wonders 1 without even any fixes and it runs great.

It makes me think linux is better optimized for old games and maybe even new ones. Am i delulu or is there something here?

Linux has lower overhead so it's more efficient with system resources like your CPU, RAM, etc. and essential services are kept mostly up to date whereas a lot of Windows services haven't been updated since the 2000s.

When you pile every little thing up and use the latest packages, Linux can very easily outperform Windows in a lot of tasks, if you're using a distro that is built for long term support like Mint, there will be less of a gap as packages are out of date compared to the higher performance packages available with rolling release distributions like Arch.

i.e. Pop!_OS gaming performance trades blows with Windows 11 while Arch distros outperform it by a small margin.

Do keep in mind that it's not consistently the same difference across the board, as it can heavily vary even just by what version of Proton you're using, older versions garner less performance as they're less optimised but might have better results with old games, newer versions are updated to take advantage of newer driver features like DLSS and FSR. Furthermore, because Wine and Proton are compatibility layers, it's not the same as having native support, you'll lose some performance normally through this method, but it's been so optimised with later versions that the difference is usually imperceptible and in some cases actually favours Wine/Proton over native support in performance.

[Haruspex]

Originally posted by Rage:

It makes me think linux is better optimized for old games and maybe even new ones. Am i delulu or is there something here?

No. You're not "delulu". Via Proton, Linux seems to have better compatibility out the door with older Windows games than modern Windows does. Another example is the original Max Payne from 2001.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/12140/Max_Payne/
On Windows 10/11, it requires about three different third party fixes as well as a number of ini edits to get working correctly. On Linux, it just works with no fix needed, although you might want to use a widescreen fix anyway or you'll be limited to only 4:3 resolutions.

[A&A]

Older games will work better because of the dxvk. It applies to Windows as well.

The problem with the Linux - Windows comparisons is that they are testing default Windows vs Linux distro that it is either preaty average or it is something like Cachy. Meanwhile Windows has a lot of stuff that can be touched.
The "modified" Windows isos are stupidly made.

[Chaosolous]

It's been the same or better in my experience of switching from Windows to Linux.

Most my games run the same, some run better.

I'm on Mint.

[Rage]

Very informative answers, thanks! I'm also using mint. I'm really enjoying it so far. Are there games that dont work for some reason at all right now? Apart from anti cheat games

[r.linder]

Originally posted by Rage:

Very informative answers, thanks! I'm also using mint. I'm really enjoying it so far. Are there games that dont work for some reason at all right now? Apart from anti cheat games

That would mostly be really old games that also have troubles running on modern Windows as well, most games run fine on Linux because of Wine/Proton

[AbedsBrother]

Linux has a fairly large (~20% or more) performance penalty for Nvidia gpus.

For Radeon the difference between linux and windows is so small as to generally be unnoticeable.

[Electric Cupcake]

Originally posted by AbedsBrother:

Linux has a fairly large (~20% or more) performance penalty for Nvidia gpus.

For Radeon the difference between linux and windows is so small as to generally be unnoticeable.

Completely false. It's a huge boost.

[Monk]

Windows just works, you have to jump through hoops for Linux.

[Electric Cupcake]

Originally posted by Monk:

Windows just works, you have to jump through hoops for Linux.

A common misconception. Windows takes a fair bit of setup and tweaking to be usable.

[Monk]

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Originally posted by Monk:

Windows just works, you have to jump through hoops for Linux.

A common misconception. Windows takes a fair bit of setup and tweaking to be usable.

No, it does not.

Only tweaking I ever do is in the 15 minutes ish it takes to do a fresh install after that, I don't touch it and not had issues really for decades at this point.

[°§hªwÑéë·]

Running Windows 10 and the way I have it setup it would take a couple of hours to configure it from a clean install to the way I have it.
Getting rid of all the bloat programs with Powershell because Microsoft won't allow you to uninstall them, disabling Services setting up Group Policy adding Registry keys and removing others.

Whereas when I tried linux mint there was only a few programs that I didn't need and they were easy to uninstall. I also liked the Software Manager I found most of the apps I use in windows are in linux.

[Chaosolous]

Originally posted by Rage:

Very informative answers, thanks! I'm also using mint. I'm really enjoying it so far. Are there games that dont work for some reason at all right now? Apart from anti cheat games

Some games, even if it says they have a "Native" Linux port/version, run better under Proton anyway. Not always, but sometimes. I have some games that won't run even though they havea Native Linux version of the game, but run perfectly fine under Proton. Proton has come a long long way in a short time.

It's really quite impressive.

Protondb.com is your friend for Linux gaming.

Originally posted by AbedsBrother:

Linux has a fairly large (~20% or more) performance penalty for Nvidia gpus.

lmao, what? No. That's a blatant lie.

I use Nvidia hardware and it runs either equal to or better than when I was using Windows.

Originally posted by Monk:

Windows just works, you have to jump through hoops for Linux.

I mean, No, you don't have to jump through hoops.

My installation and switch to Mint was easy and brainless. A literal moron could do it.

[Rage]

Originally posted by Monk:

Windows just works, you have to jump through hoops for Linux.

Not anymore. At least id you use amd. It is just downloading steam from app store and putting on proton in steam settings and it is off with gaming!