this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2026
126 points (99.2% liked)
Linux Gaming
27239 readers
387 users here now
Discussions and news about gaming on the GNU/Linux family of operating systems (including the Steam Deck). Potentially a $HOME away from home for disgruntled /r/linux_gaming denizens of the redditarian demesne.
This page can be subscribed to via RSS.
Original /r/linux_gaming pengwing by uoou.
No memes/shitposts/low-effort posts, please.
Resources
Help:
- ProtonDB
- Are We Anticheat Yet?
- r/linux_gaming FAQ
- Fork of an earlier version of the above
- PCGamingWiki
- LibreGameWiki
Launchers/Game Library Managers:
General:
Discord:
IRC:
Matrix:
Telegram:
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
It is not gatekeeping or fear mongering if we are giving real expectation. I saw countless people going back to Windows because they tried running Linux and either faced challenges or worse performance. I prefer to alert them instead of sugar coat.
Talking present tense, "it works fine", still off:
"It works with new games" sure but if you are playing DX12 titles prepare to experience a 15% to 30% performance tax compared to play on Windows or even compared to Amd
If you plan to use secure boot, it is not all distro that will give you an easy path. Be prepared for rough edges. This is primarily caused because their stack isn't in the upstream kernel.
If you are security conscious, and harden your system, be aware that if you are using AppArmor or SELinux to lock down your system, you almost always have to carve out manual exceptions specifically to get Nvidia drivers to play nice.
The 'Goldilocks' Setup: You are constantly forced to chase the perfect environment, the right distro, the bleeding-edge updates, the exact driver version, just to get basic desktop features like Wayland running without artifacting or flickering
Auditing not only for fixing and improving things but for the peace of mind as well, right now we have to trust on Nvidia closed source code. We are to a certain degree privacy exposed.
Having said all of the things above, there are real reasons yet to pick Nvidia over other GPUs, even on Linux. If we are not talking about gaming, CUDA and AI are still considerably better on Nvidia.
Nevertheless, currently, Nvidia on Linux generally feels like you have to maintain a second, highly temperamental operating system along side your installation.
No one is advocating people getting a new NVIDIA card, did you misread my post? I'm claiming that already having NVIDIA isn't a deterrent for a Linux swap. It really isn't.
Let's be honest, 15% of a performance cost IS working fine. It's not flawless, but it's still fine.
Secure boot, apparmor and all that stuff isn't something to consider because anyone that invested in computers already has enough information that these discussions are moot. Let me repeat, I already made clear that I wouldn't consider NVIDIA for a new Linux card.
About the artifacts and stuff, again, old stuff. For context, I've been playing Path of Exile 1&2, Grim Dawn, Spiderman 2 recently, MHRise, MHWilds (which was bullshit on both cards, on windows too), cyberpunk on the dlc release, and a bunch of pixel art games that aren't worth mentioning since they could run on a toaster.
I've been playing games without caring for either and it again works fine. I run endeavourOS (arch) and update once a month-ish, some days before a game release. Just as I did with drivers in windows, it's not such a big deal ffs. That perfect environment and right distro stuff is such an overblown thing, just get whatever and install the latest stuff, it will work fine unless the game dev is intentionally stupid nowadays.
Finally, the drivers being closed source is again moot because for a Windows->Linux transition, they aren't really getting anything worse in terms of audits.
Maybe you missed the "I'd never buy a new NVIDIA card" thing and missed that the implication of my point was a windows to Linux transition? Idk, your response is very technically oriented.