The current state of gaming on Linux

I've had enough of waiting for a normally priced 3900x so I ordered two 3700x and a 5700. Already have a 1070.

An HTPC and a desktop gaming machine. Both ought to run Linux and do well at 1080 and VR titles at somewhat acceptable framerates.

Question is, which distribution is most up for the task at this moment. I've read better Zen 2 support is coming to 5.3 in a couple of few weeks. Sounds nice.

My plan so far has been to go with an LTS Xubuntu, install Steam, put a few games in a download queue, then read how to install and configure proton and whatever else I may up needing to play non-native games like Doom 2016.

I am not ashamed to say it: I may need help doing this properly

Where is DeathFromBelow when you need him

AFAIK, Ubuntu (or one of the direct spins like Xubuntu/Kubuntu/etc.) are still the baseline for Proton and Steam in general, despite their recent flip-flopping on 32-bit support (this shouldn't affect recent games much). I'd start there unless the Steam/Proton support pages say otherwise.

As for GPUs, Nvidia has historically had better Linux performance from their proprietary drivers vs. open-source or any AMD. They should be readily available from the Ubuntu repos.

Only software performance hangup I can think of off-hand is Xorg vs Wayland. Make sure your desktop environment is booting into the correct one if it matters (e.g., Gnome on Ubuntu uses Wayland typically, KDE and others are generally still on Xorg).

Anyways, don't be afraid to blow things up. Reinstalls are easy, just keep some notes along the way on what works or doesn't.

BlueLineSwinger said:

AFAIK, Ubuntu (or one of the direct spins like Xubuntu/Kubuntu/etc.) are still the baseline for Proton and Steam in general, despite their recent flip-flopping on 32-bit support (this shouldn't affect recent games much). I'd start there unless the Steam/Proton support pages say otherwise.

As for GPUs, Nvidia has historically had better Linux performance from their proprietary drivers vs. open-source or any AMD. They should be readily available from the Ubuntu repos.

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Agreed. I started out playing with several distros, used Mint for a long time, and eventually ended up with Ubuntu. Stuff just works and there are little quality of life things that just make it more usable. Last time I used Mint there was no way in the UI to easily change refresh rates (you had to edit xorg.config) which made switching between 120hz 1080p and 60hz 4k on my TV a pain. In Ubuntu the option is right there in Display settings. The UI is a bit different, but they basically achieved what Microsoft tried to do in Windows 8 without creating an incoherent mess: settings are all accessed from the drop-down at the top right, programs are accessed from the dock. I always move the dock to the bottom and shrink it down a bit.

If the Steam installer doesn't want to start after downloading it from the Ubuntu software center you can run it through the terminal (sudo apt install steam), or just download and run the latest .deb package from the Steam site. Usually not an issue but I've seen it happen when I'm using the latest version of Ubuntu instead of the most recent LTS.

I haven't done much gaming this past year, work and life keep getting in the way.

dgz said:

My plan so far has been to go with an LTS Xubuntu, install Steam, put a few games in a download queue, then read how to install and configure proton and whatever else I may up needing to play non-native games like Doom 2016.

I am not ashamed to say it: I may need help doing this properly

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There's really not much to it. You enable Proton in your Steam settings and all of your Windows games are available to install. Look at the Proton DB to see how well your games are supported. Lots of stuff works perfectly. Games with some sort of launcher (like the Sims 3 or Age of Empires II HD) sometimes require you to rename the game exe to whateverthelauncheriscalled.exe, but otherwise run fine. It's not perfect, there are quite a few games with issues because of copy protection, but it does significantly expand your Linux game library.

Linux gaming is fine, always has been. And the ability to run games built for a completely foreign incompatible platform, that is, Windows, has improved greatly.

If you want to latest and greatest go with Arch via the Architect Linux installer. Otherwise Linux Mint.

As expected, going 5700 on Linux was a mistake. Installing everything needed for Vulkan (Ubuntu 18.04) results in Steam irreversibly breaking ALL transparency in gnome. I managed to launch Doom and performance is phenomenal but I can't have Steam break the entire desktop. I mean it literally breaks all transparency. Everything. Even letter everywhere of any font are just solid block. It's horrible :/

Kind of fucked

dgz said:

As expected, going 5700 on Linux was a mistake. Installing everything needed for Vulkan (Ubuntu 18.04) results in Steam irreversibly breaking ALL transparency in gnome. I managed to launch Doom and performance is phenomenal but I can't have Steam break the entire desktop. I mean it literally breaks all transparency. Everything. Even letter everywhere of any font are just solid block. It's horrible :/

Kind of fucked

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So, it didn't break your desktop. It just made it far less pretty.

BTW, I run Steam on OpenSUSE Leap 15.1 on a GNOME desktop without problem.

I forgot to launch Steam after installing Vulkan on my 1070 box. Not that I expect anything even remotely close. Don't think it's specific to Gnome. Will try xfce to make sure sure though.

Can't even boot manjaro with that 5700. AMD ought to step up their game. There are always issues running their hardware on Linux. Mobile APU won't straight up freeze the system with no workaround

dgz said:

There are always issues running their hardware on Linux.

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*new hardware on Linux.

Unlike Intel who gets their drivers in the Linux kernel upstream before release, AMD lags a little- behind Nvidia with their closed-source drivers, even.

Give it time if it's something you want to do right.