Wednesday, July 15th 2026
Windows 11 vs Linux Gaming Test Reveals There's More to It Than FPS
It seems as though the launch of Valve's Steam Deck has resulted in an almost non-stop slew of comparisons between Linux and Windows as a gaming operating system. In one recent test, Meta PCs sought out to test the two operating systems head-to-head to get some hard numbers and potentially settle the debate, however, the results brought up an interesting debate about what makes one operating system better than another.
Benchmarks were conducted on an all-AMD system running an AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D, an XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB, and 16 GB of RAM, with the AMD Linux drivers effectively making this a best-case scenario for Linux. The benchmarks were run on the latest version of Windows 11 and Fedora Linux 44, games were tested at the same resolution, and results were an average across three runs. All games tested were also the Windows versions running via Valve's Proton compatibility layer.
The results were a bit of a mixed bag. In synthetic benchmarks, Windows was slower. In Geekbench 6, Linux beat out Windows 11 by around 3-4%, depending on whether it was single-core or multicore testing, and this was repeated in Blender tests, where Linux was anywhere from 4% to 10% faster, depending on the scene. When it came to gaming, however, Linux trailed Windows slightly, earning a 9 FPS (6%) lead in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p, and a 7% lead at 4K with High settings. In Arc Raiders, Windows beats out Linux by 9% in average FPS, but it has significantly higher 1% lows, which means perceived smoothness will be higher. Marvel Rivals also saw a modest 5% improvement on Windows.
The reviewer ended up crowning Windows as the best gaming operating system for now, noting that the moderate performance boons over Linux and more consistent support from developers for features like anti-cheat makes Microsoft's operating system the superior choice for most people. However, and perhaps more interestingly than the conclusion of the performance benchmarks is the comments section, where viewers expressed their opinions after having switched to Linux. For starters, there were many comments that questioned the use of vanilla Fedora over something like Bazzite, CachyOS, or Nobara Linux, which employ more recent kernel versions and tweaks and optimizations to both the kernel and the OS in order to boost performance.
There were also comments noting that a less-than-10% performance boost isn't worth having to deal with Windows and Microsoft's decisions surrounding privacy, AI, and UI. There are also comments arguing that Linux performance would be comparatively better had the system been running less powerful hardware or slightly older hardware, like an RDNA 3 GPU, for instance, because Linux tends to run leaner, with less bloat eating up background resources. There are also valid arguments about forced updates, which have been known to break Windows features, cause instability, or, in rare cases, even potentially damage hardware.
Source:
Meta PCs on YouTube
Benchmarks were conducted on an all-AMD system running an AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D, an XFX Swift AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB, and 16 GB of RAM, with the AMD Linux drivers effectively making this a best-case scenario for Linux. The benchmarks were run on the latest version of Windows 11 and Fedora Linux 44, games were tested at the same resolution, and results were an average across three runs. All games tested were also the Windows versions running via Valve's Proton compatibility layer.
There were also comments noting that a less-than-10% performance boost isn't worth having to deal with Windows and Microsoft's decisions surrounding privacy, AI, and UI. There are also comments arguing that Linux performance would be comparatively better had the system been running less powerful hardware or slightly older hardware, like an RDNA 3 GPU, for instance, because Linux tends to run leaner, with less bloat eating up background resources. There are also valid arguments about forced updates, which have been known to break Windows features, cause instability, or, in rare cases, even potentially damage hardware.
66 Comments on Windows 11 vs Linux Gaming Test Reveals There's More to It Than FPS
Beyond that, many linux distros are quite good with updates. For some reason, without the massive resources of a company like Microsoft, they manage to release updates quickly and they install much faster and are less distracting.
On the other hand, if the development culture was similar to that of windows, then a user in a similar situation would have the entire process automated to a point where they are simply clicking next a few times.
While more of an anecdote, it extends to many areas of the user experience. An OS is far more than just its GUI. Though from the standpoint of windows, I like the US of windows 10 far more than windows 11, because microsoft deliberately made the windows 11 UI less efficient. For example, making the task bar use more vertical screen space for no utilitarian reason ans all of the extra space taken is negative space, even after adding the option for smaller icons.
They also ruined the right click menu by requiring the user to make a lot of extra tweaks and registry edits to avoid having to jump through additional hoops to get the full context menu.
They also broke up many settings where even basic things like some sound settings that could be reached easily by right clicking on the speaker icon, will not be spread across 4 different menus.
These are just a few random examples, but there are far more areas where they made things less efficient from a utilitarian standpoint.
If focusing more on linux distros, the distros you mentioned, essentially highlights some of the issues; there is a lot of choice, but a user will be unlikely to find something that would check all of the boxes that windows would when it comes to general use and gaming.
For example, a gaming focused distro will often sacrifice many conveniences of a more general use distro, but all of the gaming compatibility and translation layers will essentially be configured properly right from the start, and outside of DRM issues, games will generally just work.
CachyOS can also do gaming, but the process becomes more involved:
wiki.cachyos.org/configuration/gaming/
Usually what a user would want is for relevant packages to achieve the end result the user wants, to have an option to automatically install and not require any extra configurations to begin immediately working along with it automatically having all relevant hardware specific optimizations, similarly to how on windows if you install steam, it will also install any dependencies and redistributables (essentially everything is handled for the user automatically, and the process is a simple one of clicking next a few times, where by the end of it, things just work)
Even Ubuntu has a path forward to getting it working with a wide range of games, though it needs a lot of CLI work.
Ultimately what is comes down to is most general users what their OS to essentially be a jack of all trades right out of the box with no extra work involved beyond installing the applications they want, and if something needs to be installed, the expectation is more that the application will automatically do what is needs to reach an optimal default state.
In the case of Ubuntu, there are tons of config files to edit depending on your hardware, such as AMD specific optimizations and config changes to run the games stably using proton, which could also lead a user to thing, if they can list a detailed guide, including a list of commands, as well as edits to make to each config file, why can't it detect the user's hardware and the automate those steps?
Windows this days for me is like android from manufacturer it's working but why with all that crap, even LTSC that I've got installed is driving Me insane.
When I was dualbooting linux and windows, windows has hijacked My boot for linux and cause of that I needed to reinstall everything, cause I lacked knowledge that I could restore boot for linux.
I'm trying to change to linux, and with linux when I was testing I could go as low as 50W on gpu, and it was fun, I felt like I was playing with xp, I could do stuff that was on Windows nearly or impossible.
The main thing is, I've got a lot to complain about Windows from personal view (cause of working with that OS for over 20 years), for linux I don't have that perspective yet, but I can assure You that if I find something irritable about linux I will say it, I'm from Poland, and complaining is our national sport :P
But I must say one thing clear: If someone is working with windows/linux/dos or something else and is happy with that, I'm happy that he is happy, cause main goal of beeing in this forum for Me is that, everyone has good time with machine they have :)I'm using LTSC with some minor tweaks, for me the idea of that I need to open task manager and get to resource manager to get stable fps in game is stupid (It's like You need open window in home to have flat carpet), and that was last straw for windows to use, I'm on My way to migrate to linux, as all stuff that I'm doing right now in windows is possible in linux, cause of changing to open source stuff that is not connected to microsoft (I could not activate My original office 2013 :( anymore )
Funny thing Windows was way ahead of it's time cause in office 2013 was already sold with box without media to install it from, so it was already doing what is going in gaming industry in some places.
I think it is Win 10 LTSC 21H2 (but as the pc is in home I can't check it from work)
About drivers I'm scared, cause AMD is another company that has earned My wrath, cause of the drivers that sometimes not work properly, and as now it is "stable" I don't have time to have fun with drivers I need to project 2 things in next two weeks, and I need working PC for that, and after July I will be going to have fun with linux.
I was browsing the net about it, and there are a lot of PPL who have similar problem, that task manager resource tab is smoothing things (for some cause of the malware, that is detecting that someone is looking at it).
Sure there might be Linux alternatives but then yet again with the re learning/tweaking process..
Actually I've checked last night and one of the games that I've been playing for almost 4 years now on a daily basis requires a ton of tweaking and even then it could have issues once a bigger game update drops and the added risk with the game's anti cheat system and thanks but I aint risking a heavily invested day 1 account of that game. 'This alone is a deal breaker for me'
I've had enough tweaking/messing around with my 21:9 monitor thanks to the sketchy/lacking support in games even some modern games like I had to use hex editors and Unreal Engine unlockers so yeah no I'm not setting myself up for even more of that crap with Linux.
Windows simply works for my use case and I can't really speak of any real issues in the past few years like the last one I remember was a AMD driver+Windows update conflict during the said RX 570 years.
This was going to be a much longer post. But I don't need to explain how much I hate Microsh!t activation.
LACT for GPU overclocking/tuning, and MangoHud (Overlay) for monitoring/settings.
Windows can deliver a higher FPS, but Linux manages FPS more smoothly.
Windows is more convenient simply because it has a larger software ecosystem, but window management is more convenient in Linux.
I miss some things about my Windows system—and it’s very well tuned—but I prefer to play games on Linux that run there.
So… pros and cons.
A good way to think about it is how similar actions are handled on windows. For example the 260 character path limit, and how applications that are likely to encounter such limits (e.g., torrent clients) will offer an option to automate the process of disabling that limit (basically editing the registry key for "LongPathsEnabled"). Hypothetically speaking, if linux defaulted to a similar limitation, bypassing such a limit would likely end up being part of a setup guide where a user would end up needing to copy and paste a few commands into terminal, while on windows, it is automated as part of the setup wizard for the application. In that hypothetical, there is nothing technically stopping such things from being automated under linux, the development culture simply shies away from it, leaving users to manually do it, while windows, will turn such things into a question of if they want the installer to do it all for them.
Going back to Realtek, good luck getting the control panel with the mixer on Windows. The only method I found that works is to download Realtek drivers from Asus or MSI and then installing them, which usually comes with the Realtek control panel. Otherwise Microsoft wants you to go through their Store, which has never worked for me. Good luck finding the old sound control panel, which actually gives you control over your sound card in Windows, because Microsoft keeps hiding it. Linux in my opinion has a better out of box experience.Microsoft is trying to condition users with a certain style that benefits tablets, because for some reason Microsoft has a hard on for tablets. This is them trying to do what they failed with Windows 8, for the second time.
- Pre-configured software and UI.
- Whether or not the distro uses the lastest software or what is considered ultra stable.
Think of it like this, does Windows offer a version that comes with Steam preinstalled along with Discord and Heroic Game Launcher? That's Bazzite. Does Windows offer a version with pre-installed Office tools? That's Linux Mint. Does Apple offer MacOS for x86 machines? That's Elementary OS. All Linux distros do the same thing, but the difference is which one does some things for you.No distro sacrifices anything for convenience. Debian is not going to be a terrible OS to play games, but Debian doesn't make an effort to have Discord in their repository like CachyOS does. That's when you turn to PPA's or .deb to get something like Discord, which in the end doesn't work any differently than getting Discord on Windows. The only thing comparable on Windows is Chocolatey. Debian is all about stability, but that comes at the sacrifice for having to use older versions of software, including kernel. You can update the kernel but whatever. CachyOS sacrifices stability for latest software and speed. CachyOS comes with an optimized kernel, where with Ubuntu based distros I would install Xanmod.This is why people like Arch based distros, because this fixes that problem. This is also why Valve's SteamOS uses Arch Linux. If everything is up to date, then no dependency should break. The exception is the AUR as anything from there that isn't also updated is going to break. Alternatively, there's Flatpak and AppImage which do fix the dependency issue by including the dependencies, much like how MacOS does it. The only issue with Flatpak and AppImage is that those extra dependencies will take up extra space in storage, which makes them less efficient.The stuff you're describing wouldn't be any different in Windows. A registry edit here, a replaced dll there, and you're doing the same thing. If you want an out of the box extremely optimized Linux then use CachyOS as it does all the work for you. Not something anyone really needs to do as even Ubuntu is already fairly fast, but if you want that extra 2% increase then CachyOS. Trust me, I used Linux Mint for a while and did a lot of optimizations to boost performance, which all stopped once I switched over to CachyOS. With the exception of Nvidia, you don't install drivers in Linux. Maybe some car USB cables if you're the type of person who fixes their own cars like kw1281test who makes a tool that reads the SKC code for Audi's and there's a native Linux port. Which I didn't need to get the driver since having the latest kernel already has the FTDI serial port driver.Software center isn't something Windows has, so the moment you need to venture someplace else for software then you're doing what Windows and MacOS does. The problem is when you do need software outside of a repository, then things do get different. Windows has .exe and .msi, while MacOS has .app, but Linux doesn't have a true universal app installer. Deb files are popular and you can use them on distros besides Debian/Ubuntu like Arch if you know what you're doing, but Linux has better alternatives like Flatpak and AppImage. Both work in any distro and both are easier to use than on Windows and MacOS. You can trust Flatpak better than some .exe and .app you find browsing the web.This is why Arch based distros are superior because they don't have these problems. Remember when Arch would break for some people because it's always updated? Valve helped fix that. Most distros that aren't Arch based will run into dependency issues when you venture outside of their repository. This is why I dumped Linux Mint, because I installed a lot of PPA's since there was some software I needed that wasn't in the repository. The Linux Mint forum wasn't much help as anything that wasn't from Linux Mint themselves was considered unsafe and stupid, and should be removed ASAP. They're wrong 99% of the time. Things like Xanmod and Kisak Mesa drivers were frowned upon.CachyOS on the other hand handles this for me. Dolphin emulator was always outdated on Mint, but always updated on CachyOS. Printrun which I use to 3D print, was very broke on Mint for a while, because it was also broken in Ubuntu. With CachyOS I go to the AUR and get Printrun and it works just fine.I have no idea why Microsoft keeps making Windows update so much worse?
In focusing on windows, while there are times when registry tweaks are needed, or editing certain config files, etc., the difference is more of the development culture leaning more towards automation. For example, many programs that are likely to run into the 260 character path limit, will check your current configurations, and then if the "LongPathsEnabled" registry key isn't set, then they will offer to do it for you (Especially common with torrent clients) thus the process becomes one of clicking yes or no.
For smaller and more niche projects, it is still common to see various tweaks to be automated, and if not part of the main setup wizard, it is common to see a batch file so that the entire process still remains simple. For example, people getting legacy devices working on windows 10 and windows 11. I actually tried it on an older system Audigy 2 ZS on windows 11 (mainly to mess around with the various compatibility workarounds) with the arbitrary compatibility restriction bypassed to allow older CPUs to work with it, and the driver package worked fine, and did all of the work for me. danielkawakami.blogspot.com/ (the audigy package was very straightforward with the super majority of features working great, though the x-fi package relies on more tradeoffs where the most popular workarounds are applied by default, but the user can easily switch workarounds if they prefer a different feature to work instead, but in either case, anything that would normally need some CLI work, has been automated).
While windows has no shortage of problems, microsoft did a good job of fostering a development culture that focused on making as many complex tasks as possible become a point and click experience, along with ways to turn CLI tasks that have no proper GUI front end into an automated click friendly experience through the use of batch files and various other scripts.
Another example are the RTL-SDR packages for windows. the device is not plug and play, and it is not being used in a way the device was officially designed to be used, but there are packages with easy to use batch files and a GUI based utility that turns the installation and setup process into a point and click experience.
Then for addon utilities such as truncated radio, CLI based tools quickly gained a GUI frontend.While that is certainly the case, the point I was getting at is some distros make some of those tasks easier to do.
For example, things like auto mounting a SMB share can be more annoying in bazzite so that applications can use it just like an internal drive, e.g., a music player having easy access to the music folder on the NAS.
The expected experience for most basic users, would be an experience similar to windows where you can right clock on the SMB share, then map the network drive, though it will not be that simple
Or imagine you are on Ubuntu, and you want to install some of the applications that come preinstalled on Kali linux. You will quickly find that a basic install of some of those applications will sometimes result in them not working properly and throw random errors even when launched with elevated privileges. For example you may get an error like "The capture session could not be initiated due to error getting information on pipe or socket: Permission denied", even though the WiFi adapter properly set to monitor mode and the same basic prep work for both distros was done.
While there is a way to fix that issue and get the application working, but the distro is not configured with that fix by default, and even though the app will be available in the default software repository, it will not automatically make the needed changes to the ubuntu install to ensure that everything just works as part of installing the application, thus manual work is needed in Ubuntu, that isn't needed in Kali.
Thee are a massive number of distros, and each one that specialized in a specific area, tends to make tasks in those areas much easier for the end user, but there is no distro that takes the specializations of all other distros and combines it into a single distro, while also avoiding bloat.
Windows is able to get that jack of all trades type experience because it starts with a baseline of everything just working, and the super majority of applications with an installer, will maintain that trend. Applications that need things like a specific Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable, will automatically install if you do not have it installed. Games will automatically run the directx setup if they detect that you do not have the latest files Programs that need more specifics changed, (e.g., endpoint software such as ones for ixchariot, will automatically adjust firewall rules and various other things in windows to ensure that all of its functions just work). The development culture is one of the application you want to run, making all necessary changed needed to reach a fully functional state in an automated fashion, thus if something about the OS needs to change, that change is more likely to come in the form asking the user if they want the installer to do it for them. While it does not come with everything in the world preinstalled, it is designed in such a way that the OS makes itself readily able to be molded in whatever way is needed to run the applications the user wants, and the applications are written to work harmoniously within that framework to do whatever they need to do in order to make things work, in a way where the user doesn't really need to move past the most basic of skills.
The only thing Windows 11 is setup for is OneDrive as they make sure to remind you frequently.Yes but no distro makes it harder to do something. Nothing gets harder, just easier. Windows also doesn't cater to specific users, at least not yet. There's going to be a special version of Windows just for gamers, but that's likely in response to SteamOS.SMB sharing is generally a pain in Linux. Linux Mint is the best at this in my experience.KDE Plasma's Dolphin file manager has a "Add Network Folder" right at the top when you go to Network. It can add a lot more than SMB shares.
Most of the hostility that users experience from microsoft is in the attempts to invade privacy (I bet they will try to bring back the most draconian version recall and make it so that data eventually ends up on their onedrive cloud service), the nag screens after major updates trying to convince users to pay for copilot and office 365. They are trying to see how much users will tolerate before deciding to move to a different OS. For most general users, the amount that can be done in windows without ever touching CLI , and the amount of setup work that gets automated, thus saving users from and tedious work is largely unmatched at the moment, and they know that those aspects of the ecosystem will make users more likely to tolerate increasingly hostile treatment in other areas.
In terms of the direct issues with windows, it is mainly in the area of it defaulting with essentially no privacy for the user, and lots of bloatware that directly impacts performance, but for the novice user, they still see the experience is the default still allows them to install their favorite applications, and things will just work. If there needs to be any configuration changes, the application will almost always do it for them, and the novice user is (for better or for worse) more than happy to let the 3rd party setup wizard take control and do whatever it needs to do in order to be fully functional.
With linux, even when something is in the repository, while they will install needed dependencies, those applications tend to not make changes to the OS to ensure functionality. For example, you can pretty easily install anydesk on ubuntu, but it will not stop you from running into many issues because it does not like how Wayland is setup, and during the install process, even though there is a known method of fixing the "display server not supported" error that it knows will happen, it will not offer an option to apply the workaround/ fix during the setup process in order to automate that process.
The moment linux can offer users that same experience of doing just about everything from the very basic, to very advance as a point and click experience/ setup wizard driven, is the moment where they begin to capture the largest PC user segment. Especially since most basic users don't really care about which OS their PC is running so long as they can run their favorite applications, and use their all of their peripherals, add-in cards, etc., to the fullest without needing to do more than double click on relevant setup files and click next a few times on the setup wizard. Generally they will gravitate to the cheapest option that allows them to accomplish that.
People are generally fine with downloading and installing stuff so long as the process is simple and repeatable in a general sense. Sadly microsoft also realized that the average user also has a high tolerance for abuse as long as those core areas continue to work smoothly
On the flip side, when software is properly ported to Linux like Davinci Resolve, it flies. When it comes to how the CPU is handled, you won't see Windows beat Linux.
Then there's Intel which newer Intel's are not good on Linux. You will lose a good deal more performance on Linux than Windows. On the other hand, an Intel HD 4000 series GPU which is old as dirt, will not run Vulkan on Windows. There is Vulkan on Linux and it works really well. I've ran CEMU on a Haswell CPU with Vulkan and it ran pretty good. Emulators tend to run faster on Linux than on Windows. There are things you can do on Linux that can't be done on Windows just because the support for the hardware is no longer there.
Not to say your points aren't valid - they are, just not in every case. Each to their own.
Heck, I've seen my previous 3060 on Linux beating a 3060ti by a reasonable margin when it comes to CNN inference, or my 3090 on Linux beating a 4080 on Windows by a hefty margin on image diffusion.
And driver installation is still far easier on Windows (where noob can indeed do it), than on Linux.
And registry is tweaked only if you need it - I tweak it because it makes Win11 much faster, but otherwise...
No obtrusive updates - Windows 10 had obtrusive updates until 2019, since that time this is not issue... Most users won't notice Win11 updates more than Android ones...
As for security suite - it is not that simple... Take a look how many people had issues with viruses on Android phones... Do you really think that if Linux becames majority, average user will be able to use it without secuirty suite? Not by a longshot...