Gaming on Linux - Benchmarks!

[David89]

I have been a Linux user for about 10 Years now, most of the time though only on my trusty Thinkpad (or Elitebook, "back in the day"). Until recently i had an R9 270 @ 270X clock, then i bought an RX 480 for around 200 € (~ $235 i think...) with 8 GB. It was one of the cheapest and i'm planing to get an R5 1600 (or X, depending on how well they'll overclock) - in light of recent events around the RX500 and Vega launches, i probably should have waited a bit longer, but oh well

 

Anyway, i have been running a lot of games lately under Linux, namely Metro: Last Light Redux, Hitman and Doom with Vulkan (With Wine-Staging). And i have to say, they all run pretty amazing. I remember back in 2015, when native Gaming on Linux was a huge PITA, because pretty much every distribution had their own libraries and you had to look around and install the right ones. Granted, with AUR on ArchLinux that's actually pretty easy, but it still wasn't as easy as it is on Windows. When Microsoft announced, they will not support Windows 8.1 any more with newer CPUs, it was clear for me: I will neither buy Windows 10, nor use it even though i had the Win 8.1 code registered for an Upgrade back then. I actually bought Win 8.1 and was one of the few that liked (and still do) it a lot - apart from the start screen, which isn't a problem with StartIsBack (or something like that). Long story short: Gaming under Linux is absolutely amazing, compared to what it was "back then", since with OpenGL 4.5 and Vulkan the libraries have been standardized, games will run no matter what. And the nice thing is, you don't even have to install them on Linux. Just download it and that's that.

But the biggest surprise for me was the difference between Linux and Windows. Yes, Windows or rather DirectX is still faster quite a lot of times. But the difference isn't between "playable" or "not playable" anymore, it's pretty much the same as with R7 vs. i7: About 5-10%. Sadly, forcing FreeSync on not official FreeSync Displays is only supported on Windows...at the moment.

 

Long story short: To keep it comparable though, I'd say we keep the focus on Unigine, since it's free and can be run on pretty much every PC with Linux and an OpenGL Card.

 

(To keep it fair, i benched Heaven also in OpenGL Mode under Windows - and i should say that under Windows the card runs with 1340 MHz. Under Linux it runs with "just" 1291 MHz, because i was to lazy to overclock it via CLI...)

 

 

I may be adding Benchmarks for Metro 2033 Redux and Last Light Redux, once i can figure out the Benchmark Utility under Linux   (Or i will just pick a scene in the game and do a 5 minute "thingy" while recording frametimes - apparently voglperf can do that very well...)

[MoraisGT]

I also have an RX480, and I have recently completed both Metro games maxed-out on Linux and it was a very smooth and enjoyable experience

 

I was actually thinking about buying Hitman, but maybe you can give me some indication on what the performance is like in that game before I buy it?

[David89]

I have to admit, i still haven't installed Hitman under Linux... I've only got 4.5 Mbit Down at the moment (yeah...Germany...probably the worst country in Europe for fast Internet) and it's 65 Gigabytes...so...it may take a while. However, since I thought we can also put together Linux Benchmarks we find on the Interwebs in this thread, heres the Phoronix one:

 

I have to say, i'm actually quite surprised, that the RX 480 is as fast as the 1060.

 

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=radeon-nvidia-hitman&num=3

[Guest]

2 hours ago, David89 said:

(yeah...Germany...probably the worst country in Europe for fast Internet)

But Germany has the best beer and food in the world. 

[David89]

4 hours ago, fpo said:

But Germany has the best beer and food in the world. 

Now you know, why we get fatter and fatter Drinking beer, eating and waiting for something to be loaded.