So I’ve been a little wary of installing Linux on my desktop since I have a 1660 ti as a graphics card and read that there are some problems with drivers and such. Are my fears unfounded/outdated? Anyone experienced any problems and what Linux distro should I look to use for gaming?
I use Fedora 37 workstation with the Nvidia proprietary drivers from RPM Fusion. Relatively painless install, with the option to sign the kernel module if you want to keep secure boot on. Only downside is the Nvidia drivers still don’t work great with Wayland, so I normally login with Gnome on X for gaming.
Same here. Fedora 37 on 3070Ti. Sadly, not all nvidia options are available in games’ settings (like dlss). Also performance is sadly a bit lower than on windows. But according to Nick from TLE it should get better soon. No such issue on AMD.
DLSS doesn’t seem to work in any of the games I play, so I’ve been using FSR in games that support it. It’s not as good as DLSS but it does the job for now.
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nvidia’s usually a pain in the ass when it comes to linux. that being said, it isn’t too bad. just don’t expect good wayland support. stick to x org and you’re probably fine once you get the nvidia drivers installed and signed.
as far as distro goes, i recommend fedora. overall really solid choice, had 0 issues with it, gaming included.
I’ve just switched from a GTX 1080 to a Radeon RX 6650 because of problems I was having with the Nvidia binary drivers.
Games performed just fine, but my desktop performance would slow down dramatically if I had a lot of things running at the same time, especially YouTube videos. This issue seems completely resolved now that I’m using an AMD card.
However, based on what I’m reading online it seems that a lot of people are using the Nvidia binary drivers without any major issues. So maybe my experience isn’t very representative either.
I am looking for switching to Linux as well and run a 1080 as well. How would you compare the general performance (desktop usage and gaming) of the RX 6650 versus the 1080? I am looking for getting a RX6650 or RX7600 as well, that is why I ask
I haven’t played many intensive games on the 6650XT yet, but from what I found online the 6650XT is roughly equivalent to a 1080, slightly faster even.
That is great to know, thanks! I plan to use it primarily for programming, but I would like to have the option to play some games every so often.
if you use the proprietary drivers you’ll be fine, probably not even noticable
if you go with a Radeon card or try using open source drivers then go with god
I’ve been gaming on Linux with nvidia gpus for over a decade, it is fine… There is a lot of negativity about nvidia because the drivers are not open. But they work, and I have not personally had any issues.
You’ll want to use the proprietary Nvidia drivers if you want any sort of performance. It can be a pain to get started sometimes, but when you get them working, they work and performance is good.
Personally I’m annoyed because any time I change my kernel version, I have to reinstall the Nvidia drivers. It’s quite possible that this is not an issue if you don’t use an extremely weirdly configured install of Gentoo like I currently do.
I’ve been using Linux Mint with an Nvidia GPU for a few months now. I have run into a few issues where it hasn’t wanted to behave itself, buf nothing major or unsolvable.
As long as you can get the driver installed, you’re fine. The only time that might be a problem is if your distro updates something that breaks compatibility with the existing driver, and X refuses to start. You’ll need to know how to install the latest driver from the command line, but then you should be good.
I’ve been running a 3080 with proprietary drivers on manjaro for a couple of years (I would not recommend manjaro, I now recommend endeavorOS if you want something Arch based) and it’s fine. I don’t think I’ve ever hit an nvidia specific bug.
I’ve been gaming on NixOS for a while and it works relatively painlessly though I wouldn’t recommend NixOS to linux noobs. I think you should look at stuff like Fedora or distros that automatically install Nvidia drivers like Nobara Linux or Garuda Linux. The ones that automatically install them have no setup or pain to get actual working drivers while I’ve found in my experience that Arch Linux is the most pain and time to get working drivers.
I’d highly recommend checking out Nobara, it’s based on Fedora but optimized for gaming. In addition to supporting nVidia out of the box, it has a ton of tweaks and gaming related apps pre-installed, such as Steam and Lutris, which is a huge time saver. Should be the most out-of-the-box gamer friendly distro, outside of SteamOS I reckon.
There are issues with both AMD and nvidia. I’ve tried both. If you have nvidia then may as well just give it a go. I’d suggest something like Nobara, or EndeavourOS to get started. Use nvidia proprietary drivers for a better experience.
I’ve stuck with KDE Plasma for the desktop environment over the years.
I use GTX 1660 Ti and I had some problems, but nothing of impossible to solve. I use Arch with zen kernel and nvidia-dkms with XFCE as DE. List of games that I play: Apex Legends, Hogwarts Legacy, Grime, Ironsight, Albion Online, Nostale with Steam. League of Legends with Lutris. Vampyr, Bioshock Remastered 1 and 2 with Heroic Game Launcher.
That’s a good list of games. I almost exclusively play dota 2 and with valve’s support of Linux maybe the risk is negiable, thanks for the reply :)
You definitely don’t have to worry about Dota because it runs natively on Linux. I have a 3060 and it functions about as well as it did on Windows. For specific games, check ProtonDB or ask here
Ye , I think the list could be more large if I buy other games. Oh, I forgot Cyberpunk and Battlefield 4 and EA App through Lutris. The only issue I found is the compile of shader cache of Apex Legends and Hogwarts Legacy. It’s a lot of time to compile.
Dota 2 is definitely going to work. The only Games that havent worked for me personally are valorant and trackmania 2020, though the latter might have been due to the fact that my 1650 wasnt up to the job.
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The biggest pain you’ll face is identifying which driver version you’ll need, and whether you should be on Wayland or Xorg.
Once you figure that out, in my experience (GTX 1060 on Fedora), you’re golden. Installation itself isn’t hard then.Fears are relatively unfounded. 1660 Ti is still a relatively new card, so you don’t even have to worry about having to use legacy drivers. Just install the nvidia driver package from your distro and you should be good to go.
I’ve been running my 3090 and it’s been working well for most games.
