Linux Gaming

15897 readers

15 users here now

Gaming on the GNU/Linux operating system.

Recommended news sources:

Related chat:

Related Communities:

Please be nice to other members. Anyone not being nice will be banned. Keep it fun, respectful and just be awesome to each other.

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Best GPU type for Linux gaming PC? (lemy.lol)

submitted 4 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm building a new controller "10ft" gaming PC for my living room. The CPU is a Ryzen 5 3600X and the motherboard is Asus ROG Strix X570-I. I have never done a Linux-based gaming PC before and I want everything to "just work" as best as possible.

I assume this means go with Bazzite and an AMD gpu? Anything else I need to be aware of? As I said the goal after configuring is for it to be entirely controller-controlled (8bitdo ultimate and DS4).

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

AMD is easier to use with Linux. Get a rx6700xt or greater.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

How about an RX6600??? Is it a good option?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 weeks ago

If you're doing 1080p the 6600 is pretty solid. Or 7600, really. It CAN do higher resolutions, but then you'd need to start doing FSR scaling or drop settings to keep things smooth/consistent.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I had a quick view at this post : https://www.reddit.com/r/radeon/comments/157qa6c/rx_6600_or_rx_6700_xt_for_1080p/

It seems to me that 6700xt is much stronger than 6600. More expensive, too. Personally, I would pay some extra money 6700xt, but it depends on OP's budget and game preference.

I'd suggest OP to consider several factors:

Is the game you're playing CPU-intensive? aka Will your 3600X be the bottleneck if you have a powerful GPU?
Do you have a 4K/1440p monitor?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

I have a 1080p monitor and I'm planning on mostly playing things like minetest morrowind, jrpg's and such. I might also try to learn blender

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago

Depends on the games you like. It won't perform well at 4k, or with newer FPS titles. Most games should be playable at low-medium quality settings.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

Thanks! How is AMD with ray tracing? I play a lot of survival horror and want to experience that spooky lighting

[–] Robin 14 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

HardwareUnboxed did a with/without ray tracing comparison. TL;DR in most games it's not worth the performance hit. Don't bother with ray tracing for now, especially on low or mid-range hardware. https://youtu.be/DBNH0NyN8K8

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

That's good to know actually. Is Nvidia so poor with Linux that it wouldn't be worth it assuming all else being equal?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 weeks ago

The NVIDIA drivers are a constant source of problems compared to AMD. I've had updates completely break some games, so that if I want to play my whole library of games I have to alternate between driver versions.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

I haven't had great success, it causes more problems than it is worth if you aren't willing and knowledgeable to troubleshoot any finicky behavior. The nvidia drivers just end up causing a headache. I would never recommend anyone buy an nvidia GPU if they dont have a specific requirement like run local AI/LLMs using CUDA or raytracing (I guess). AMD can also run local LLMs using ROCm, just not supported for 5000 series or lower.

The only Linux distro I (and my friends) have had any success with nvidia GPUs is Bazzite/Aurora. Bazzite is gaming focused and has special nvidia OS images.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago

@Lemongrab @linux_gaming I’ll second this. Nearly all of my woes whilst distro-hopping went away after I bought and installed a 7900XTX.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 weeks ago

AMD with ray tracing isn't great. Not as bad as it used to be, but pretty lackluster overall compared to Nvidia (and to a lesser extent Intel's GPU offerings). Linux ray tracing via Proton is also not as optimized at present, so that can take something "passable" in windows and make it unplayable on an AMD card in Linux. If you get something overkill for the resolution you're playing at that can somewhat make up the difference.