Hello r/linux_gaming!

Long story short, I’m tired of Windows, lately it’s been giving me problems after problems and after talking to a friend of mine that uses Fedora Linux, it caught my attention more than ever.I was already interessted in switching to Linux for the longest, but now that I’ve been having tons of problems with Windows, this might be the right time to do so.

After searching a bit, I’ve came to the conclusion that I might switch to Linux Mint (more specifically, the Cinnamon Edition).I have some questions that I’ve been searching but never got a consistent answer (since it’s probably more of personal preference).

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Performance wise, does anyone know if Linux is actually better than Windows?

I’ve seen some videos and benchmarks and it looks like it really depends on the title, but overall, do you know if it’s actually better than Windows?

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So, to people who are familiar with Mint, or actually use Mint, what Edition would be the best for me?
I’m currently using a laptop as my main device:

  • CPU - I5-12450H
  • GPU - RTX 3050 Mobile
  • RAM - 16GB

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Does anyone know the current state of VR Gaming in Linux?

I play a lot of VRChat, and I just wanna know how the current state of VR Gaming is on Linux.From a friend of mine, he says that due to how Linux handles games overall, he has a way better performance than when we was on Windows, but I don’t really have no way to prove that since I can find little to no benchmarks (on VRChat).

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Where can I download Steam games in Linux?

I can’t really find a consistent answer on this one…

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Is it a good idea to Dual Boot between Windows and Linux?

Sadly, I can’t fully switch to Linux, since I still have tons of stuff that I’m too used on doing in Windows. So, what are your thoughts on Dual Booting between Windows and Linux?

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I’m sorry for the amount of questions, I’m just really tired of the OS I’m currently using and I’m just really looking for something fast and lighter, but thank you for reading my post, have a good day :)

  • GildedMaw@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I can answer some of these from experience.

    Performance is a wide metric, and it really depends. It will use less resources due to less software bloat, and scales better on older hardware, but thats not applicable here. AMD does better because its software is integrated better, but I’ve used nvidia just fine on linux in the past year or so without too much hassle. Some video games do run better, but case by case basis, and there doesn’t seem to be consistency. I’ve found some games running better with steam proton vs native as an example.

    The current version of mint should be fine with cinnamon. I haven’t tried edge, which uses the latest kernel, but it should also be fine with your hardware setup.

    I’ve attempted to use VR with little success on my end. I have a CV1 oculus rift, and wasn’t too happy with how much additional work was necessary. Maybe the index has better implementation, but I can’t say for certain.

    You just download steam, and download the games via steam. Inside the game options, you enable compatiblity and and either the latest version of proton, or proton experimental. You can use protondb.com to see what games require what. For a vast majority of games, steam experimental works just fine. There are some edge cases where GE Proton was necessary, or maybe some launch command options needed to be addressed, but overall the experience of playing a game is extremely smooth now.

    I dual booted with linux mint. It ran just fine switching between partitions, and it also gives you time to experiment and test drive without committing to it.

    I can also recommend Nobara as well, since your friend uses fedora. Its a fedora spin that has gaming done for you out of the box, but these things can be replicated with a bit of effort.