Linux or Windows for gaming/programming

[Shailesh Vats]

I am going to build a all amd pc and idk if its worth spending money to buy windows or linux will do

As i will be programming and gaming a lot

co op games, AAA, and old singleplayer titles, barely any esports title 

[FuzzyLogic]

Linux is great for programming, but Windows is still better if you want to have video games just work. I use PopOS for the majority of my programming work and as my daily driver, but I've heard that people tend to have pretty good luck getting games to run on it too. 

 

If you want to try out gaming on Linux, I recommend looking at PopOS and Linux Mint since they seem to have the best driver support in that area.

[Eigenvektor]

I daily drive Linux (Manjaro) for programming work. However, it strongly depends on what you're programming with (language) and what you're programming for. If your goal is to write Windows software with e.g. C#, then you're better of using Windows. If you're using something like Kotlin, Java, Python, then Linux tends to be more comfortable, because you can easily install dependencies through a package manager.

 

Steam on Linux generally works great for gaming. But that will vary game by game and I know that some multiplayer titles can have issues such as triggering anti-cheat on Linux. So if you want to make certain every game runs, Windows is still your best bet, since that is what most games officially support.

[Shailesh Vats]

3 minutes ago, dcgreen2k said:

Linux is great for programming, but Windows is still better if you want to have video games just work. I use PopOS for the majority of my programming work and as my daily driver, but I've heard that people tend to have pretty good luck getting games to run on it too. 

 

If you want to try out gaming on Linux, I recommend looking at PopOS and Linux Mint since they seem to have the best driver support in that area.

i guess i will be going with mint os

but which one will you recommend this will be my 1st time shifting to linux

[Shailesh Vats]

21 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

I daily drive Linux (Manjaro) for programming work. However, it strongly depends on what you're programming with (language) and what you're programming for. If your goal is to write Windows software with e.g. C#, then you're better of using Windows. If you're using something like Kotlin, Java, Python, then Linux tends to be more comfortable, because you can easily install dependencies through a package manager.

 

Steam on Linux generally works great for gaming. But that will vary game by game and I know that some multiplayer titles can have issues such as triggering anti-cheat on Linux. So if you want to make certain every game runs, Windows is still your best bet, since that is what most games officially support.

i am programming using py and then will start with java for dsa
and i am not much into competitive titles if a doesnt work i will not mind

 

[Eigenvektor]

Just now, Shailesh Vats said:

i am programming using py and then will start with java for dsa
and i am not much into competitive titles if a doesnt work i will not mind

You can always start out with Linux and if it doesn't work out, buy a Windows license later. Though you'll obviously need to reinstall the system and move your files around. There's also always the option of dual booting, though it's typically easier to install Windows first, then Linux unless you install them on separate drives.

[Shailesh Vats]

4 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

You can always start out with Linux and if it doesn't work out, buy a Windows license later. Though you'll obviously need to reinstall the system and move your files around. There's also always the option of dual booting, though it's typically easier to install Windows first, then Linux unless you install them on separate drives.

nah i dont think i will be doing duel booting seems like chore to me, would better stay on linux

[Eigenvektor]

3 minutes ago, Shailesh Vats said:

nah i dont think i will be doing duel booting seems like chore to me, would better stay on linux

It's not that hard really. Install Windows, install Linux, get a choice which one to boot up with Grub (make sure to give Linux its own EFI partition, so Windows doesn't mess with it). Or use the BIOS to select which drive to boot from, if you go with separate drives.

[Shailesh Vats]

3 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

It's not that hard really. Install Windows, install Linux, get a choice which one to boot up with Grub (make sure to give Linux its own EFI partition, so Windows doesn't mess with it). Or use the BIOS to select which drive to boot from, if you go with separate drives.

hmm is see duel booting have some great advantages, but will my 1tb of ssd enough to handle those two, like partitions 

[Eigenvektor]

5 minutes ago, Shailesh Vats said:

hmm is see duel booting have some great advantages, but will my 1tb of ssd enough to handle those two, like partitions 

Yes. On my old computer I used to dual boot with a 512 GB SSD.

 

It depends on how much space you need for each OS and/or the software you want to install. You could for example do a 500/500 split or 775/225. Linux on its own doesn't need that much space, it mostly comes down to how many games you want to keep installed (at the same time)

[Shailesh Vats]

31 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Yes. On my old computer I used to dual boot with a 512 GB SSD.

 

It depends on how much space you need for each OS and/or the software you want to install. You could for example do a 500/500 split or 775/225. Linux on its own doesn't need that much space, it mostly comes down to how many games you want to keep installed (at the same time)

775/225 looks like a good option, i guess i will be going with that, and btw can you i make 2 flash drive in 1 usb stick like both windows and mint os in 1 flash drive,

idk how many usb should i buy for softwares, jayz used one of his drive for bios update and it makes a total of 3 usb sticks including 1 for windows os , 1 for linux, and 1 for things like bios and idk how many more

[Eigenvektor]

14 minutes ago, Shailesh Vats said:

idk how many usb should i buy for softwares, jayz used one of his drive for bios update and it makes a total of 3 usb sticks including 1 for windows os , 1 for linux, and 1 for things like bios and idk how many more

USB sticks are fairly inexpensive these days, but you can make do with a single USB stick for all of this if needed. It's not like a CD/DVD where you burn stuff on it once and that's now on it forever.

 

Format it to FAT32, put the BIOS update on it, update your BIOS. Use the Windows Media Creation tool to put the Windows installer on it, use it to install Windows. Now use Rufus or similar to put Linux on it to install Linux. Format it to FAT32/NTFS/Whatever else and use it to carry files around afterwards.

 

There's generally no need to keep any of the stuff on the stick after the fact, you can just rewrite it with whatever you need right now. You only need more than one stick if you want to archive stuff on it, but it's usually better to keep important things on something like a HDD or SSD and put it on the USB drive as needed.

[Shailesh Vats]

2 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

USB sticks are fairly inexpensive these days, but you can make do with a single USB stick for all of this if needed. It's not like a CD/DVD where you burn stuff on it once and that's now on it forever.

 

Format it to FAT32, put the BIOS update on it, update your BIOS. Use the Windows Media Creation tool to put the Windows installer on it, use it to install Windows. Now use Rufus or similar to put Linux on it to install Linux. Format it to FAT32/NTFS/Whatever else and use it to carry files around afterwards.

 

There's generally no need to keep any of the stuff on the stick after the fact, you can just rewrite it with whatever you need right now. You only need more than one stick if you want to archive stuff on it, but it's usually better to keep important things on something like a HDD or SSD and put it on the USB as needed.

5 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

There's generally no need to keep any of the stuff on the stick after the fact, you can just rewrite it with whatever you need right now. You only need more than one stick if you want to archive stuff on it, but it's usually better to keep important things on something like a HDD or SSD and put it on the USB as needed.

so , i should get a external for some files i wanna save

Damn it solved all of my problem then

 

4 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Format it to FAT32/NTFS/Whatever else and use it to carry files around afterwards.

so format to fat32 again for normal use right?

[Shailesh Vats]

@Eigenvektor is there any way to remote download games from my other laptop to main system

like when i wifi in college and i want to download a game

can i install it on external hdd and then copy paste it in main system

or something like i can directly send from this laptop to main system

[CosmicEmotion]

I recommend Garuda for both. Beware if you play anticheat games though, chances are they won't work on Linux.

 

In general check ProtonDB, Lutris and AreWeAnticheatYet to see which games work and which don't.

 

For the rest AMD should be about 20% faster on Linux. I have some videos benchmarking Linux vs Windows on a 7900X, 7900XTX but I can't post them here since they're on Peertube and the posts get deleted. DM me if you want me to send them to you though.

[Eigenvektor]

1 hour ago, Shailesh Vats said:

so format to fat32 again for normal use right?

FAT32 has the best compatibility, since it should work on virtually any OS, but it has limitations like maximum file size of 4 GB. It's usually only needed for BIOS updates, otherwise you're better off with exFAT instead. If you only need to use the drive in Windows use NTFS, for Linux use ext4.

 

1 hour ago, Shailesh Vats said:

@Eigenvektor is there any way to remote download games from my other laptop to main system

Depends on the game. You may be able to simply copy its files and it'll work, but if the game needs certain other software installed you'll likely need to install those dependencies manually and if it depends on certain registry keys you'd have to figure out which ones and copy those as well.

 

For Steam there's the option to backup your collection and restore. You could create a backup then use the USB to move it to the other system, provided it is large enough. Or copy it over a network share.

Spoiler

 

But if a game is on Steam, it's usually much easier to simply use Steam to install it on both machines. With cloud saves you can also easily pick up on one machine where you last saved on another without hassle. For non-Steam games playing a game on two machines often means juggling around with save files to keep them in sync.

[The Hope]

3 hours ago, Shailesh Vats said:

I am going to build a all amd pc and idk if its worth spending money to buy windows or linux will do

If you have an AMD GPU then I would recommend Clear Linux for gaming and coding.

Some areas where Clear Linux differs from the average Linux system:

- better security
- about 6% higher read performance for small files, and 12% higher write performance for small files, which makes installing software and games faster
- higher CPU and GPU performance allowing your games to achieve more fps on average than in other Linux systems
- faster operating system boot time. In my case the operating system fully boots in 1.4x seconds, but with a faster SSD drive it can fully boot under one second.
- faster performance in Firefox and other optimized apps
- abnormally faster app start times. GIMP sometimes starts on my hardware in less than one second, even though the app had not been previously opened in the session. Compare this to Photoshop which on the same system takes 12 seconds to open in windows, which is 12 times slower.

 

The following packages are available for Java:

java-basic

java-runtime

java11-basic

java12-basic

java13-basic

java13-runtime

 

For code editing, you also have plenty of options:

geany, emacs, neovim, gedit, kate, visual studio code, sublime text, ...

 

There are also a few specialized tools for Java:

Eclipse IDE for Java developers

JD-Gui

IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate

NetBeans

 

If you would like to test Clear Linux I would also recommend disabling automatic updates and manually updating the system yourself every three weeks.

That way your system is going to be stable because there is a high chance that 'problematic updates' have already been fixed before you install them.

[ieleja]

4 hours ago, Shailesh Vats said:

its worth spending money to buy windows or linux will do

Have a dual boot system 8700K, 64 GB RAM, RX-580 and 2 NVMe:

- Main and primary OS, Ubuntu 22.04,

- Other OS, Windows 10 Pro Retail - boot if I want spend time for gaming or Windows programming

[Shailesh Vats]

3 hours ago, CosmicEmotion said:

I recommend Garuda for both. Beware if you play anticheat games though, chances are they won't work on Linux.

 

In general check ProtonDB, Lutris and AreWeAnticheatYet to see which games work and which don't.

 

For the rest AMD should be about 20% faster on Linux. I have some videos benchmarking Linux vs Windows on a 7900X, 7900XTX but I can't post them here since they're on Peertube and the posts get deleted. DM me if you want me to send them to you though.

Now i am confused b/w garuda and mint os this wil be 1st time going to linux

 

2 hours ago, The Hope said:

If you have an AMD GPU then I would recommend Clear Linux for gaming and coding.

Some areas where Clear Linux differs from the average Linux system:

- better security
- about 6% higher read performance for small files, and 12% higher write performance for small files, which makes installing software and games faster
- higher CPU and GPU performance allowing your games to achieve more fps on average than in other Linux systems
- faster operating system boot time. In my case the operating system fully boots in 1.4x seconds, but with a faster SSD drive it can fully boot under one second.
- faster performance in Firefox and other optimized apps
- abnormally faster app start times. GIMP sometimes starts on my hardware in less than one second, even though the app had not been previously opened in the session. Compare this to Photoshop which on the same system takes 12 seconds to open in windows, which is 12 times slower.

 

The following packages are available for Java:

java-basic

java-runtime

java11-basic

java12-basic

java13-basic

java13-runtime

 

For code editing, you also have plenty of options:

geany, emacs, neovim, gedit, kate, visual studio code, sublime text, ...

 

There are also a few specialized tools for Java:

Eclipse IDE for Java developers

JD-Gui

IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate

NetBeans

 

If you would like to test Clear Linux I would also recommend disabling automatic updates and manually updating the system yourself every three weeks.

That way your system is going to be stable because there is a high chance that 'problematic updates' have already been fixed before you install them.

which os would you recommend for a beginner like me , who is just getting into this system

i am confused bw mint and garuda,pop as suggested by other peoples above

[Shailesh Vats]

2 hours ago, ieleja said:

Have a dual boot system 8700K, 64 GB RAM, RX-580 and 2 NVMe:

- Main and primary OS, Ubuntu 22.04,

- Other OS, Windows 10 Pro Retail - boot if I want spend time for gaming or Windows programming

thats pretty nice but why do people often suggest to install windows first and linux second for duel boot is there any prob with, and you doing the opposite interesting

[Shailesh Vats]

2 hours ago, The Hope said:

If you have an AMD GPU then I would recommend Clear Linux for gaming and coding.

Some areas where Clear Linux differs from the average Linux system:

- better security
- about 6% higher read performance for small files, and 12% higher write performance for small files, which makes installing software and games faster
- higher CPU and GPU performance allowing your games to achieve more fps on average than in other Linux systems
- faster operating system boot time. In my case the operating system fully boots in 1.4x seconds, but with a faster SSD drive it can fully boot under one second.
- faster performance in Firefox and other optimized apps
- abnormally faster app start times. GIMP sometimes starts on my hardware in less than one second, even though the app had not been previously opened in the session. Compare this to Photoshop which on the same system takes 12 seconds to open in windows, which is 12 times slower.

 

The following packages are available for Java:

java-basic

java-runtime

java11-basic

java12-basic

java13-basic

java13-runtime

 

For code editing, you also have plenty of options:

geany, emacs, neovim, gedit, kate, visual studio code, sublime text, ...

 

There are also a few specialized tools for Java:

Eclipse IDE for Java developers

JD-Gui

IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate

NetBeans

 

If you would like to test Clear Linux I would also recommend disabling automatic updates and manually updating the system yourself every three weeks.

That way your system is going to be stable because there is a high chance that 'problematic updates' have already been fixed before you install them.

1 thing i have a old laptop too i will basically use it to do simple programming as my college teach, and i am pretty sure i will be installing mint os  in it , so linux in both device ( will it be fine installing mint os in old systems or are there any alternate options,  and after installing it laptop, i will also install linux on my main system will you recommend a duel boot system in it are there any advantages of that or having two  linux system is better

[Eigenvektor]

8 minutes ago, Shailesh Vats said:

thats pretty nice but why do people often suggest to install windows first and linux second for duel boot is there any prob with, and you doing the opposite interesting

Because Windows isn't "cooperative". It doesn't care there's another OS already on there. Linux will see that you have Windows installed, offer to install Grub to take care of switching between operating system and can even resize the Windows partition to make room for itself. Which doesn't matter that much if you install on separate disks and use the BIOS to switch instead.

[Shailesh Vats]

4 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Because Windows isn't "cooperative". It doesn't care there's another OS already on there. Linux will see that you have Windows installed, offer to install Grub to take care of switching between operating system and can even resize the Windows partition to make room for itself. Which doesn't matter that much if you install on separate disks and use the BIOS to switch instead.

oh windows again doing its thing here lol
then an oem key for windows will be fine ig right?

[Eigenvektor]

28 minutes ago, Shailesh Vats said:

oh windows again doing its thing here lol
then an oem key for windows will be fine ig right?

Yeah, the type of Windows license you get should not matter, provided you don't want/need specific features

[g0ated]

If you have an AMD gpu and not an nvidia gpu(which is better for linux cuz of drivers etc.) and want to program and game I would recommend using Garuda Linux, its arch based(not always the best thing) but you have access to tons of packages and the blackarch repo for pentesting if you do those type of things and not to mention Garuda linux has an awsome theme with all the gaming apps for linux preinstalled. Only downside would be that you would not be able to play games like valorant and call of duty due to their kernel level anticheats specific to windows only. Generally if games use the vanguard or ricochet anticheat then consider it to be unplayable on Linux.  IMO I would use WSL and you get the best of both worlds. Old singer player titles will generally have better compatibility and performance on Linux and on AMD GPUs which might be another factor for you. Btw if you want a gui for wsl then you can just set up an RDP which is pretty simple