Should i change to linux for Gaming?

[Androidy]

I have been watching alot of Linus and Linux looks like a good OS to switch to but what will i lose out and what Distro should i pick 

[SpaceGhostC2C]

Unlikely. However:

- do you mostly game through Steam?

- do you play many games with native Linux versions?

- do you play many retro games?

[kelvinhall05]

Imma put it this way.

 

If you are fed up with Windows, want to try Linux, want some of the software available on Linux, want the reliability, flexibility, customizability, etc etc etc, and all the games you play will run natively or through Proton/Lutris/Wine, then go ahead. I switched about 14 months ago and I never looked back. All the games I played back then and continue to play now run flawlessly in Proton. If you are ok with the performance hit some games will take (such as, in my experience, GTA V), go ahead.

[Androidy]

1 minute ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

Unlikely. However:

- do you mostly game through Steam?

- do you play many games with native Linux versions?

- do you play many retro games?

- I play a few games on steam
- I play a few games that support Linux
- I dont play retro games 

[WereCat]

If you play many online games then its probably not a good idea. Many anti-cheats are not yet compatible with Linux. Also some DRMs have problem with Linux.

 

Best gaming distros on Linux are POP!_OS and Manjaro.

[Androidy]

Just now, kelvinhall05 said:

Imma put it this way.

 

If you are fed up with Windows, want to try Linux, want some of the software available on Linux, want the reliability, flexibility, customizability, etc etc etc, and all the games you play will run natively or through Proton/Lutris/Wine, then go ahead. I switched about 14 months ago and I never looked back. All the games I played back then and continue to play now run flawlessly in Proton. If you are ok with the performance hit some games will take (such as, in my experience, GTA V), go ahead.

Thanks Proton seems really good for supporting games that are only for Windows

[Androidy]

1 minute ago, WereCat said:

If you play many online games then its probably not a good idea. Many anti-cheats are not yet compatible with Linux. Also some DRMs have problem with Linux.

 

Best gaming distros on Linux are POP!_OS and Manjaro.

Pop OS Seems really easy to install stuff so i will look into it  

[WereCat]

1 minute ago, Androidy said:

Pop OS Seems really easy to install stuff so i will look into it  

It definitely is!

[kelvinhall05]

2 minutes ago, Androidy said:

Thanks Proton seems really good for supporting games that are only for Windows

Yup. Proton is fucking magical.

 

Pro tip, check your games on protondb.com to see if they'll run. Chances are they will unless it has some kind of anti-cheat or something.

 

Also, go with whatever distro you want, but I highly recommend Manjaro. I have never had a good experience with Ubuntu-based stuff (which includes Pop OS). I know a lot of people do, but that's just my personal opinion. Also keep in mind that the way you "see" and interact with the computer (the desktop environment) can be changed to basically whatever you want, so don't pick a distro based on that.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

1 minute ago, Androidy said:

Pop OS Seems really easy to install stuff so i will look into it  

I think all modern distros are comparable in that sense

 

Personally, my experience with Lutris has been abysmal, and I don't use Steam regardless of OS, so trying to use Proton as a Lutris runner is another layer of complication. Plenty of videos make it look like to clicks and you are golden, but outside Steam it gets cold quickly and games that run fine on Windows are a stutterfest on Lutris with the same hardware. Some older Windows games actually run better on Wine than on modern Windows, though.

 

Your mileage may vary...

 

[it_dont_work]

Haven't run linux since the late 90's early 00's. Well besides a couple Lite ubuntu distros for tv pc's.

 

Just install something to dual boot, or go in fully, if you don't like it in a few months its easy to switch back. Not sure how user friendly everything is now but i learned a lot using different distros 

[Skipple]

I've seen many of these posts show up on various forums and boards sense Linus started down the "Linux for gaming" line. It's kind of distressing. 

In short, Linux for gaming is a cool concept. Having competition in the OS space would be good for everyone. 

 

That said, in a purely gaming application, Linux is UNDOUBTEDLY a worse experience in every way. I honestly don't know why anyone would make the switch unless you have some serious privacy concerns with Windows. I can't think of one good reason why you would want to go down the road. 

 

1 hour ago, Androidy said:

Linux looks like a good OS to switch to

Why? Why do you want to switch? What will Linux do for you that Windows doesn't already do better in every way?