Windows 10 vs. Ubuntu 16.04 Gaming On GTX 1070 & GTX 1080

[HardOCP News]

For those of you interested in seeing how the new GeForce GTX 1070 and 1080 run games on Windows 10 versus Ubuntu, this article is for you. It is interesting to see which games did well under Linux compared to Windows 10 and how close some of the results actually were.

For your viewing pleasure this Friday is our largest Windows vs. Linux graphics/gaming performance comparison ever conducted at Phoronix in the past 12 years! With the brand new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 and GTX 1080 graphics cards, their performance was compared under Windows 10 Pro x64 and Ubuntu 16.04 x86_64 when using the very latest NVIDIA Corp drivers for each OS. A range of Steam gaming benchmarks and more were done, including some cross-platform Vulkan graphics benchmarks. Continue on for this interesting comparison.

 

[rat]

Huh. The synthetic benchmark results were interesting. Seems to suggest it's down to engine optimizations more than any inherent drawback to either OS at this point.

I'm practically ready to go to Linux full time, if only Adobe would just release Cloud for Ubuntu.

 

[Quix]

If more games came out for Linux I might consider switching. Right now availability is the biggest issue, but that's a chicken and the egg type problem.

 

[funks]

Sounds to me like some of the ports are using a Direct-X to OpenGL wrapper which will definitely have a large overhead.. My assumption is that once games start using Vulkan more, then the performance will be about the same. If games start using DirectX 12 more, well, back to square one with the wrappers again.

 

[Quix]

Sounds to me like some of the ports are using a Direct-X to OpenGL wrapper which will definitely have a large overhead.. My assumption is that once games start using Vulkan more, then the performance will be about the same. If games start using DirectX 12 more, well, back to square one with the wrappers again.

If games use Vulkan, IF. But on the plus side DX 12 and Vulkan are a lot closer than OpenGL and DX 11 so the performance difference from using a wrapper should be significantly less.

 

[Vercinaigh]

If games use Vulkan, IF. But on the plus side DX 12 and Vulkan are a lot closer than OpenGL and DX 11 so the performance difference from using a wrapper should be significantly less.

More like when, money talks bs walks. It's cheaper and easier to maintain development for Vulkan because it's so cross platform, and works with a much, much broader user base. There is no argument for DX12 over Vulkan except Xbox. Xbox isn't as big as ps4 last I checked, and windows 10 while big, still isn't as big as older versions of windows combined, much less mac and linux and in some cases where applicable, Android and such as well. It's just no contest.

 

[DukenukemX]

Sounds to me like some of the ports are using a Direct-X to OpenGL wrapper which will definitely have a large overhead.. My assumption is that once games start using Vulkan more, then the performance will be about the same. If games start using DirectX 12 more, well, back to square one with the wrappers again.

Most games ported to Linux use DX to OGL. Very few games don't. Even most of Valve games do this.

 

[ChadD]

I'm a Linux booster and would run it anyway. Still admit to having a windows boot for games, wish it wasn't needed. Games and Adobe... pretty much the only legit reasons to run Windows. Things get better all the time though... and Vulcan may over the next couple of years make Linux even more attractive. Really it will take a few years for the majority newer games to be shipping with ground up Vulcan support. If that comes to pass Linux may grow at a much faster rate then it ever has... I know its still a big if.

 

[heatlesssun]

Games and Adobe... pretty much the only legit reasons to run Windows.

There's more to it than this. If one wants to run the lions share of desktop software or use the latest and greatest hardware and software, there's really no other option besides Windows. The fastest growing, indeed the only growing segment in the x86 client space is the 2 in 1 market and while Android plays a small part in that market, I've not seen any support for Linux from OEMs on those devices though Ubuntu has some capability with 2 in 1 support.

And while these benchmarks do show Linux being capable at decent performance some of the time, that list of what was tested in the problem. Not one game on that list from 2016. The newest one is almost a year old now I believe, F1 2015.

 

[jwcalla]

Most games ported to Linux use DX to OGL. Very few games don't. Even most of Valve games do this.

It's true; all of the ported games use a translation wrapper. It seems that the wrapper used by Feral (who has done a lot of the ports) is a lot heavier than some of the others. That seems to be a consistent trend from Feral.

And while these benchmarks do show Linux being capable at decent performance some of the time, that list of what was tested in the problem. Not one game on that list from 2016. The newest one is almost a year old now I believe, F1 2015.

That's also true, but if I could be cynical for a moment... PC gaming (or "Steam gaming" as we can now call it) has basically turned into an indie platform at this point. Just about all of the AAA games target consoles primarily, and then get crap-ported back to PC since they treat the PC like the red-headed bastard stepchild. Windows is just the eldest red-headed bastard stepchild in the family. At this point there's nothing to brag about if you're gaming on a PC. And when you look at some of the top-played games currently on PC, what do you see? Ancient stuff like CS:GO, LoL and Dota2. Despite all of the appeals to PC gaming having the highest revenue, I do not think things are healthy right now.

Also note that Phoronix only does benchmarking of games where the benchmark can be automated. This also reduces the pool of game choices.

 

[DukenukemX]

There's more to it than this. If one wants to run the lions share of desktop software or use the latest and greatest hardware and software, there's really no other option besides Windows. The fastest growing, indeed the only growing segment in the x86 client space is the 2 in 1 market and while Android plays a small part in that market, I've not seen any support for Linux from OEMs on those devices though Ubuntu has some capability with 2 in 1 support.

For me, Adobe and games is all I care about. There are alternatives to Adobe applications, like Krita for Photoshop. GIMP sucks. Everything else I need there's a free application for it. Don't even need Microsoft Office.

And while these benchmarks do show Linux being capable at decent performance some of the time, that list of what was tested in the problem. Not one game on that list from 2016. The newest one is almost a year old now I believe, F1 2015.

This is an issue with games being ported to Linux, not Linux itself.

 

[heatlesssun]

That's also true, but if I could be cynical for a moment... PC gaming (or "Steam gaming" as we can now call it) has basically turned into an indie platform at this point. Just about all of the AAA games target consoles primarily, and then get crap-ported back to PC since they treat the PC like the red-headed bastard stepchild. Windows is just the eldest red-headed bastard stepchild in the family. At this point there's nothing to brag about if you're gaming on a PC. And when you look at some of the top-played games currently on PC, what do you see? Ancient stuff like CS:GO, LoL and Dota2. Despite all of the appeals to PC gaming having the highest revenue, I do not think things are healthy right now.

Also note that Phoronix only does benchmarking of games where the benchmark can be automated. This also reduces the pool of game choices.

95% of Steam clients are on Windows according to Valve's own number. Practically speaking, PC gaming or Steam gaming is really Windows gaming. And how many console gamers are gaming at >1080p? Even a shitty console port can be made better by good PC hardware. And yes I know Phoronix does automated testing. And that's kind of point there. Phoronix is like the only place that bothers with Linux gaming and he can't generate enough ad revenue to do in-person testing.

 

[jwcalla]

And how many console gamers are gaming at >1080p? Even a shitty console port can be made better by good PC hardware.

True. PCMR can spend two grand for a system that plays crippled, half-broken console ports. Yay us!

 

[heatlesssun]

For me, Adobe and games is all I care about. There are alternatives to Adobe applications, like Krita for Photoshop. GIMP sucks. Everything else I need there's a free application for it. Don't even need Microsoft Office.

Almost all of this alternative software that people mention for Linux is Windows and OS X compatible.

This is an issue with games being ported to Linux, not Linux itself.

The issue is market share. And while not an issue with desktop Linux it's by far the biggest issue for desktop Linux. It's perfectly clear how this works. Look at Windows phones. Low market share, not enough apps. A lot fewer apps and a lot less interesting in Windows phones. There's just no way around. A platform to be popular has to have the apps. Period. It's a hell of problem to fix. Microsoft couldn't do it with Windows phones and probably never will. Without something big, huge, stupendous, desktop Linux just isn't going to get there.

True. PCMR can spend two grand for a system that plays crippled, half-broken console ports. Yay us!

Been playing Doom on 3x 1080p Surround on Windows 10. Feels a lot less crippled than a console to me. I get that game developers are targeting high end PCs, but there are features in many of these games that can utilize the power of PCs for an experience that just can't be had on today's consoles.

 

[BloodyIron]

Been gaming on Linux as my primary rig for 10 months now. It's constantly been getting better. No regrets.