Benchmarks show Windows can still outperform SteamOS on dedicated GPUs

[Daniel Sims]

Looking ahead: Multiple benchmarks have shown that Windows games can sometimes run better on Linux through a compatibility layer, but that advantage often hinges on how well a game or hardware platform is tuned for Linux. New benchmarks meant to mirror Steam Machine-level hardware and mainstream gaming PCs reveal that Linux's biggest gains still come on systems with integrated graphics, while improvements on machines with dedicated GPUs remain uneven. Even so, the results paint an increasingly encouraging picture for Linux gaming overall, and for Valve's ambitions in the space.

Recent benchmarks from Ars Technica show that SteamOS' performance advantage over Windows 11 largely evaporates and sometimes reverses on devices with discrete graphics. Moreover, Valve's Linux distro and compatibility layer appear to worsen performance issues on GPUs with just 8GB of VRAM.

As handheld gaming PCs have multiplied, previous tests have shown that installing SteamOS or a similar Linux variant, such as Bazzite, usually improves performance. This has held true even on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally, despite Microsoft's attempts to optimize Windows for that device.

To take a closer look, Ars benchmarked several games on a selection of Radeon desktop GPUs. The outlet built a test system resembling Valve's upcoming Steam Machine mini-PC, featuring an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X CPU, an Asrock B650 Pro RS motherboard, and 32GB of DDR5-6000 RAM. The Steam Machine's 16GB of system memory is likely more than enough for all of the titles benchmarked.

Although performance varies between games, some trends stand out. The two operating systems are essentially tied in Cyberpunk 2077, Returnal, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla, an impressive showing for SteamOS given the overhead of its translation layer.

However, the comparison becomes murkier with ray tracing enabled. Windows pulls ahead in Cyberpunk with Ultra RT, while SteamOS keeps pace in Returnal on the Epic RT preset – except on the 8GB Radeon RX 7600. Ray tracing on both titles runs into that GPU's tight VRAM limit, causing the frame rate to collapse.

Forza Horizon 5 shows a unique pattern. On integrated graphics such as the Radeon 780M and Ryzen AI Max 8060S, SteamOS matches Windows, but Windows pulls significantly ahead on all discrete GPUs. Still, the game's Extreme RT setting remains playable on the RX 7600 under SteamOS.

Borderlands 3 is the most consistently Windows-friendly title, even on the 780M and 8060S. It was also one of the few games that favored Microsoft's OS on handhelds in earlier tests.

Overall, the results raise concerns given that the Steam Machine's custom dedicated GPU which closely resembles the RX 7600 and includes only 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM. Valve is aware of the issue and is working on improvements. Ars' testing used the latest SteamOS image, which is currently optimized around the handheld Steam Deck. Valve will likely release updated drivers before launching the Steam Machine early next year.

These benchmarks also help explain why Valve's Linux distro is not yet generally available. An official release for handhelds and desktops is planned, but it will likely require additional internal testing and optimization before it's ready for everyone to enjoy.

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Benchmarks show Windows can still outperform SteamOS on dedicated GPUs

 

[Axiarus]

Bazzite and CachyOS do a better job, performance wise, than SteamOS. Both of them go neck and neck with Windows.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Embarrassing considering the decades of Linux advocates claiming victory at least 15 years ago.

 

[yRaz]

Wow. It's like SteamOS is only meant to run on steam hardware or something. I've been using Mint for many years but I've been distro hopping the last few months.

Let's get something out of the way
You
Don't
Need
steamOS
To
Game
On
Linux

Cool, let's move on. Also, I don't recommend Bazzite unless you ONLY want to game on whatever hardware you're using. Bazzite is not a general purpose OS. Bazzite is going to give you a console experience and it just happens to be based on the Linux kernal. You aren't going to editing videos or making Excel spreadsheeta on it.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Wow. It's like SteamOS is only meant to run on steam hardware or something. I've been using Mint for many years but I've been distro hopping the last few months.

Let's get something out of the way
You
Don't
Need
steamOS
To
Game
On
Linux

It has nothing to do with "steam OS only being meant to run on Steam hardware", whatever that nonsense is, it's that Linux benefits on portables because of their limited RAM and power budgets, where the lower idle resource usage comes across as better performance. You can throw any form of Linux on these portables and get the same result.

Cool, let's move on. Also, I don't recommend Bazzite unless you ONLY want to game on whatever hardware you're using. Bazzite is not a general purpose OS. Bazzite is going to give you a console experience and it just happens to be based on the Linux kernal. You aren't going to editing videos or making Excel spreadsheeta on it.

IDK WTF you are on about with Bazzite, it has a fully functional UI just like any other distro and has no issue running a web browser or a spreadsheet. If you've run Linux for this long, you should know this. That tells me you have never even Googled bazzite, let alone tried it, since this took 3 seconds to find.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

That's because of RT; the translation layer doesn't work well with it yet.

 

[yRaz]

It has nothing to do with "steam OS only being meant to run on Steam hardware", whatever that nonsense is, it's that Linux benefits on portables because of their limited RAM and power budgets, where the lower idle resource usage comes across as better performance. You can throw any form of Linux on these portables and get the same result.

IDK WTF you are on about with Bazzite, it has a fully functional UI just like any other distro and has no issue running a web browser or a spreadsheet. If you've run Linux for this long, you should know this. That tells me you have never even Googled bazzite, let alone tried it, since this took 3 seconds to find.

View attachment 90742

I quit replying to your posts for a reason. Bazzite is very restrictive and controversial in the Linux community. Second, I see many people waiting for SteamOS to try Linux, you don't need SteamOS to try Linux. It's not magically better at gaming than any other distro.

Then, I'm just throwing this out there. SteamOS is optimized to run on the specific hardware that valve made it to run on. It's made to work REALLY WELL with their drivers and their firmware. While there isn't anything stopping anyone from downloading SteamOS and installing it on whatever, you really shouldn't and these benchmarks show WHY you shouldn't. There are reasons that gaming centrict Linux Distros typically have multiple versions designed to run different types of GPUs. Did you know Bazzite even makes a specific version of their OS to run on ARC graphics?

So I'm really not surprised at these results and they are not reflective of Linux gaming as a whole. Go download the nVidia or AMD version of Bazzite and it will run better on dGPUs than SteamOS will

 

[Rapob]

Bazzite and CachyOS do a better job, performance wise, than SteamOS. Both of them go neck and neck with Windows.

No they can't. Unless you cherrypick games.
Unless you run old hardware and old games or sumthing.

New AAA games on newer high-end hardware, mostly runs far worse in Linux regardless of distro. Tested and tried with a 9800X3D and a 4090 and 7800X3D with a 3080 Ti before that.

Arch is better for gaming, that is true but there is still a loooong way overall. Rolling updates is generally the way to go.

Alot of games perform worse, many still don't even run and most multiplayer games don't work at all due to anti cheat issues, which is the single biggest problem for Linux gaming that outshines everything else.

This don't matter for casual gamers that plays random single player or older games but it matters to people that actually enjoy and build high-end gaming systems, like myself.

I use Linux on 3 machines right now, server (debian), laptops (arch) but on my dedicated gaming PC, no way. I ran CatchyOS as dual boot for a few months but removed it. Simply not viable. I now solely use tweaked and optimized Windows 11. Modified with answer files and slimmed down massively compared to stock. Performance is flawless really.

Linux support is a 2nd thought for all AAA developers.

The only thing Microsoft needs to do, is cut back on the garbage. They still have the absolute best gaming OS and this is why 99% of games says Windows 10/11 in the requirements. Barely any developers care about the Linux performance or if games even work. Valve works much harder to get workarounds working, but that is usually not the way to go, for optimal performance.

Linux gaining marketshare on Steam is mostly due to Steam Deck (and soon Steam Console). Very few regular desktop users actually replaced Windows with Linux.

I have used Linux for like 25+ years now. Mostly for servers, since this is where it truly shine. Gaming improved massively thru the years but there is still a long way before a non-casual gamer can replace Windows with Linux. Anti Cheat is the huge problem for multiplayer games. Has been for years and continues to be.

 

[OortCloud]

The fact that it is this close is all you need to know just how awful Windows has become.

 

[Rapob]

The fact that it is this close is all you need to know just how awful Windows has become.

How so, since we use low-level rendering APIs for the most part today? Windows is still winning overall easily, especially true for higher end hardware and if you don't want to tinker. Windows for gaming is still the way to go for PC gamers that just want games to work out of the box.

The big problem Linux has, is with multiplayer games and it will be the biggest obstacle to overcome, due to anti cheat. You don't care about multiplayer games, fine, but most people buying high-end parts do - What is the fun in owning a high-end gaming PC if you can't play all games?

Also, Microsoft is buying up game studios left and right. While Xbox (the console) gets no focus. Not hard to guess what Microsofts plan is. Windows exclusive games.

There is even rumours about the next Xbox, both handheld and regular, will be running regular Windows.

Again, lets not forget that pretty much all games has Windows written in the official requirements, for good reason. It is the developers focus and Linux is 2nd by a huuuuge margin and often they don't even care.

Many newer AAA games also has TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, HVCI and VBS required now, multiplayer games again and it works wonders for cheating as people will be hardware banned. Just adds to the list of Linux gaming problems but removing it, would make cheating far easier.

 

[Watzupken]

Wow. It's like SteamOS is only meant to run on steam hardware or something. I've been using Mint for many years but I've been distro hopping the last few months.

Let's get something out of the way
You
Don't
Need
steamOS
To
Game
On
Linux

Cool, let's move on. Also, I don't recommend Bazzite unless you ONLY want to game on whatever hardware you're using. Bazzite is not a general purpose OS. Bazzite is going to give you a console experience and it just happens to be based on the Linux kernal. You aren't going to editing videos or making Excel spreadsheeta on it.

I agree that Bazzite is designed primarily for gaming, but I do think it is capable of some general purpose use as well. If you are into word processing, etc, there's Libre Office that is available. Having said that, if I am looking for a more general purpose Linux distro, I would recommend Linux Mint over Bazzite.

 

[Rapob]

I agree that Bazzite is designed primarily for gaming, but I do think it is capable of some general purpose use as well. If you are into word processing, etc, there's Libre Office that is available. Having said that, if I am looking for a more general purpose Linux distro, I would recommend Linux Mint over Bazzite.

Every single distro can be used for whatever and Libre Office can be install on all.

If you truly think the distro means this much, you can't have used Linux for long. The underlying base distro is what matters the most, arch and debian most popular.

I prefer; Debian for Server (by far) and Arch for Desktop, due to rolling updates etc. Far more gaming focus, which is why Valve switched to Arch in Steam OS 3

 

[WhiteLeaff]

No they can't. Unless you cherrypick games.
Unless you run old hardware and old games or sumthing.

New AAA games on newer high-end hardware, mostly runs far worse in Linux regardless of distro. Tested and tried with a 9800X3D and a 4090 and 7800X3D with a 3080 Ti before that.

Arch is better for gaming, that is true but there is still a loooong way overall. Rolling updates is generally the way to go.

Alot of games perform worse, many still don't even run and most multiplayer games don't work at all due to anti cheat issues, which is the single biggest problem for Linux gaming that outshines everything else.

This don't matter for casual gamers that plays random single player or older games but it matters to people that actually enjoy and build high-end gaming systems, like myself.

I use Linux on 3 machines right now, server (debian), laptops (arch) but on my dedicated gaming PC, no way. I ran CatchyOS as dual boot for a few months but removed it. Simply not viable. I now solely use tweaked and optimized Windows 11. Modified with answer files and slimmed down massively compared to stock. Performance is flawless really.

Linux support is a 2nd thought for all AAA developers.

The only thing Microsoft needs to do, is cut back on the garbage. They still have the absolute best gaming OS and this is why 99% of games says Windows 10/11 in the requirements. Barely any developers care about the Linux performance or if games even work. Valve works much harder to get workarounds working, but that is usually not the way to go, for optimal performance.

Linux gaining marketshare on Steam is mostly due to Steam Deck (and soon Steam Console). Very few regular desktop users actually replaced Windows with Linux.

I have used Linux for like 25+ years now. Mostly for servers, since this is where it truly shine. Gaming improved massively thru the years but there is still a long way before a non-casual gamer can replace Windows with Linux. Anti Cheat is the huge problem for multiplayer games. Has been for years and continues to be.

That's because Nvidia is rubbish on Linux. AMD is consistently better.

 

[Rapob]

That's because Nvidia is rubbish on Linux. AMD is consistently better.

Not true at all. Used both without a problem.
Depends on distro. Pop!_OS works great with Nvidia and is among the top choices for gaming distros, especially for Nvidia users.

Your post makes no sense anyway, I am talking about anti virus being the biggest problem on Linux which affects both AMD and Nvidia users.

The only reason AMD works slightly better on some distros is because their drivers are open source but Nvidia improved their Linux drivers alot in recent years and I would not be surprised if they leap frog AMD if Linux gaming actually takes off in the next 5-10 years.

But I don't think it will, as game developers don't really care. Continues to be a niche OS for gaming.

I have a feeling that most people in this thread don't really did much Linux gaming...

 

[yRaz]

Every single distro can be used for whatever and Libre Office can be install on all.

If you truly think the distro means this much, you can't have used Linux for long. The underlying base distro is what matters the most, arch and debian most popular.

I prefer; Debian for Server (by far) and Arch for Desktop, due to rolling updates etc. Far more gaming focus, which is why Valve switched to Arch in Steam OS 3

Your posts read like AI slop.

Bazzite is a controversial topic in the Linux community because it is fairly locked down by the devs and doesn't lens itself well to modification. Go download Bazzite right now and try to get DaVinci Resolve to run on it. Bazzite is meant to give a console experience on PC hardware and be very difficult to "break". The thing is, if you're a newbie and aren't interested in playing with the terminal then you are extremely unlikely to break it. But the developers have made a design choice that Bazzite is a one trick pony

 

[Burty117]

I see many people waiting for SteamOS to try Linux, you don't need SteamOS to try Linux. It's not magically better at gaming than any other distro.

Honestly? I think just a lot of the public want a large corporation behind it, Valve in-particular, is very successful, there's a sense of trust that a good team of developers are behind it.
Plus if anyone is able to get Nvidia to do something with their Linux drivers, it's probably Valve, I doubt the developers behind Bazzite, Cachy or even Ubuntu or Mint have any sway with Nvidia.

I also think SteamOS 4.0 will release with the new Steam Machine as they're now promoting it as a full on PC. I reckon we're about to see a big update to SteamOS to make it a bit more than just a full screen gaming experience, then once it's all ironed out, SteamOS 4.5 will be released for general use, probably with a requirement for modern (last 10 years?) hardware.

And I think my last point, lets look at what Valve did for HDR, they made it an easy toggle that just worked. HDR on Linux before SteamOS was painful-to-horrible to get working well. Valve has built some trust that they are serious about getting Linux gaming off the ground, adding more trust to their OS, same with their development of Proton and making that "just work".

 

[MaXtor]

Embarrassing considering the decades of Linux advocates claiming victory at least 15 years ago.

It's embarrassing that the operating system with poorer driver support, which requires a translation layer, is outperformed by the operating system with better driver support that runs games natively, but only when ray tracing is enabled?

That's because of RT; the translation layer doesn't work well with it yet.

This.

 

[Rapob]

Your posts read like AI slop.

Bazzite is a controversial topic in the Linux community because it is fairly locked down by the devs and doesn't lens itself well to modification. Go download Bazzite right now and try to get DaVinci Resolve to run on it. Bazzite is meant to give a console experience on PC hardware and be very difficult to "break". The thing is, if you're a newbie and aren't interested in playing with the terminal then you are extremely unlikely to break it. But the developers have made a design choice that Bazzite is a one trick pony

Bazzite is nothing but a Fedora fork and have no hope of taking the top spot as the most popular linux gaming based distro. Does not perform better than CathyOS, Arch, whatever.

Arch is the way to go for Linux gaming and this is the reason Steam OS went Arch with version 3.

Never liked Fedora.

AI slop, yeah more like Reality.

This discussion is actually Linux biggest weakness. Fragmentation. And the reason Linux probably never become relevant for gaming. Only works for casual gamers, which mostly or solely play single player games.

Valve and SteamOS is the single biggest hope for Linux gaming. Proton focus. They went with Arch base for a reason. Full customization, rolling updates, pretty much as perfect for gaming as Linux get.

The only reason we speak about Linux gaming right now, is because of Valve's Linux focus.
Pretty much no people with high-end hardware, wanting to play all the new games, is going to use Linux. Might as well shoot yourself in the foot.

 

[yRaz]

Bazzite is nothing but a Fedora fork and have no hope of taking the top spot as the most popular linux gaming based distro.

Arch is the way to go for Linux gaming and this is the reason Steam OS went Arch with version 3.

AI slop, yeah more like Reality.

If it's just a fedora fork then go try to install Linux native programs that aren't in the "app store".

Arch is theoretically the best for gaming because of how minimal the install is and you can customize it a lot, but you an out of the box working OS, Arch kinda sucks. I know that installing Arch is a milestone for people on their Linux journey and once it is up and running, it's fine. However, outside those of us who like the challenge on our Linux learning journey, Arch kinda sucks. I'm typically bouncing between barebones Debian and Linux Mint.

The real nail in the coffin for me with Bazzite is it's basically impossible to run VMs in any useful manner. It is very restrictive and this is a design choice from the developers. A very controversial choice in the Linux community.

Bazzite does not give you low level access, it's more like a manufactures version of Android where they tell you how you're going to use their operating system. Not the other way around.

And as far as which is better for gaming, the few percentage points I get from using Mint instead of Arch or Bazzite for gaming is so minimal that it's barely worth talking a point. In many cases, the improvements I see are literally less than 2 or 3 FPS

 

[Rapob]

If it's just a fedora fork then go try to install Linux native programs that aren't in the "app store".

Arch is theoretically the best for gaming because of how minimal the install is and you can customize it a lot, but you an out of the box working OS, Arch kinda sucks. I know that installing Arch is a milestone for people on their Linux journey and once it is up and running, it's fine. However, outside those of us who like the challenge on our Linux learning journey, Arch kinda sucks. I'm typically bouncing between barebones Debian and Linux Mint.

The real nail in the coffin for me with Bazzite is it's basically impossible to run VMs in any useful manner. It is very restrictive and this is a design choice from the developers. A very controversial choice in the Linux community.

Bazzite does not give you low level access, it's more like a manufactures version of Android where they tell you how you're going to use their operating system. Not the other way around.

And as far as which is better for gaming, the few percentage points I get from using Mint instead of Arch or Bazzite for gaming is so minimal that it's barely worth talking a point. In many cases, the improvements I see are literally less than 2 or 3 FPS

Bazzite is a gaming focussed distro and you want to run VMs? Makes no sense. The distro is fairly crap. Hence why its not very popular.

I installed Arch like 15-20 years ago from scratch, milestone completed. Who cares.

Do you think Steam went with Arch Linux by accident?

Linux Mint, yeah you sound like a beginner alright... No need to discuss this, before you have solid Linux experience. The fact you think performance numbers is the only difference between them, tells me everything.

 

[yRaz]

Bazzite is a gaming focussed distro and you want to run VMs? Makes no sense. The distro is fairly crap. Hence why its not very popular.

I installed Arch like 15-20 years ago from scratch, milestone completed. Who cares.

Do you think Steam went with Arch Linux by accident?

Linux Mint, yeah you sound like a beginner alright... No need to discuss this, before you have solid Linux experience. The fact you think performance numbers is the only difference between them, tells me everything.

It's this kind of ego that turns people away from Linux then everyone is surprised why it doesn't have more market share. I try to help people migrate to it and make it less intimidating l, but then people see posts like this and give up before they even really get started.

If "using Linux" is what you do for fun, that's fine. Fact of the matter is that many people want a computer that works where they don't have to think about it. For people who want to get work done or play games. They aren't "using Linux" for fun. They don't care about their operating system, they want a computer that runs things without them having to think about it.

 

[Rapob]

It's this kind of ego that turns people away from Linux then everyone is surprised why it doesn't have more market share. I try to help people migrate to it and make it less intimidating l, but then people see posts like this and give up before they even really get started.

If "using Linux" is what you do for fun, that's fine. Fact of the matter is that many people want a computer that works where they don't have to think about it. For people who want to get work done or play games. They aren't "using Linux" for fun. They don't care about their operating system, they want a computer that runs things without them having to think about it.

Linux is free if your time has no value, still stands.

Noobs running Linux will face trouble sooner than later. In many games, they will not be able to fix the issue. This is why people mostly run Windows, which is far easier due to vastly better support from app and game developers. Games has Windows listed in the official requirements after all, not Linux.

Steam OS is aimed at casuals, which works out of the box and this is why Valve and Steam OS is the biggest thing for Linux gaming ever. Without Proton Linux gaming would still be garbage for the most part.

No non-tech savy person that want to play games, will ever choose a random Linux distro over Windows, multiplayer especially not possible in Linux.

They might choose Steam OS, due to Valve's support. The easiest to use distro for gaming. If Valve finds a way to fix the huge anti cheat issue. People simply CAN'T USE LINUX for multiplayer gaming in most games. No anti cheat, no access.

Linux marketshare is still extremely low compared to Windows. The few percent Linux has gained in the last years, is mostly because of Steam Deck users and casual gamers, playing games on the side, while using their OS for mostly work.

No way in hell anyone with top tier gaming hardware is installing Linux only on their beastly gaming PC. Makes no sense at all.

 

[yRaz]

Linux is free if your time has no value, still stands.

Noobs running Linux will face trouble sooner than later. In many games, they will not be able to fix the issue. This is why people mostly run Windows, which is far easier due to vastly better support from app and game developers. Games has Windows listed in the official requirements after all, not Linux.

Steam OS is aimed at casuals, which works out of the box and this is why Valve and Steam OS is the biggest thing for Linux gaming ever. Without Proton Linux gaming would still be garbage for the most part.

No non-tech savy person that want to play games, will ever choose a random Linux distro over Windows, multiplayer especially not possible in Linux.

They might choose Steam OS, due to Valve's support. The easiest to use distro for gaming.

Linux marketshare is still garbage compared to Windows. The few percent Linux has, is mostly Steam Deck users and casual gamers, playing games on the side, while using their OS for mostly work.

Linux is now no more difficult than WindowsXP was unless you choose it to be. Literally the only thing holding Linux gaming back now is anti cheat. For someone who claims to have installed Arch 15 years ago you smell awfully uninformed of that state of Linux on 2025.

 

[Notmare]

Despite what this article presents, I'll not be switching back to Windows just for +2fps.

 

[opckieran]

As someone who has ferociously advocated for Linux for almost a decade now, I feel as if it is hitting a wall. While 97% app and device compatibility is great, it seems that the hurdles of public perception, developer interest, the last mile of day 1 compatibility, and the next level of emulation/translation above what we currently have in Wine/Proton are simply non-negotiable and must be surpassed.