I am using Linux for 30 years at this point and it blows my mind that I can play AAA Windows games on Linux now
this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2026
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I've been fooling with Linux for nearly as long. I ain't no gamer beyond the intense game of KPatience, but I'm amazed at just how far and versatile Linux has become. From servers to gaming to real-time kernels that can power industrial machinery. It's got something for everyone.
Just a hunch, but it's not performance why peeps are migrating away from windows
The performance boost is just the icing on the cake
Windows could run twice as fast and I still wouldn't switch back to it.
Good news if you're on a nvidia gpu then ๐ซ
I migrated because I was frustrated with having to constantly fix problems caused by forced updates. I didn't expect the benefit of my computer being WAY faster.
My biggest "wow" was when I could hit the super key and have the start menu open immediately instead of waiting 4 minutes for it to load in and another 20 minutes to take my search input and give me back results from Bing.
Sorry you didn't like Bing, but now we have set Edge as your default browser, you'll love it. Also Teams is now installed on your PC, surprise!
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Nobody is going to say what the real problem is unless they want to get fired
They can't. The people working on complaints are in a different department. And departments don't communicate at Microsoft.
Thatโs an understatement
It was for a time, when linux+Proton started outperforming Windows, in recent games, a few years ago.
But yeah, now... well Microsoft just seems very determined to actively destroy everything it maintains or touches.
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Lol it's true
It's wild that they recognized that software compiled for their own operating system goes faster through an interpreter on a different operating system
Whats really fun about this is Valve started investing in Linux because a bunch of changes Microsoft made to windows 8 signaled they were moving to a locked-down ecosystem to bully corporations like Valve out of the market.
The current state of Windows is a product of MS's blind greed but the current state of the viable alternatives is, in some ways, also a product of MS's greed.
Its funny because Valve doesn't need SteamOS to compete with Windows. They made it to enable playing more games, so you buy more games. If MS matches performance with Windows, Valve still wins, because its just another avenue for people to buy more games. They don't care what OS you do it on. But MS does care, because they need you on Windows to eat up your data. Which also means they're at a disadvantage in competing on performance as well, because they need your games to play as well as they do on SteamOS while also enabling all their bullshit background services and telemetry.
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Gaming aside, it's incredible how bad Windows Explorer performs compared to e.g. Dolphin. It's performance got even worse with Windows 11, but at least it finally has tabs now
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An abstraction layer that reverse-engineers the Windows GPU and kernel syscalls and runs on a completely different operating system does better than the native platform after a decade or so of volunteer labor, and a few years of a couple paid devs.
How embarassed would you be if this happened to something you spent 40 years building?
Microsoft is deep into the vibe coding now, but even before that it was cheap devs who could write somewhat functional code but had little concept of optimization, amidst a sprawling bloated OS that has only grown fatter over time.
The mentality of RAM and storage are cheap has suddenly come to a screeching halt but it's taking to take them a long time to find talent that can actually fix the mess they've already built, especially as they try to grab more AI crap into every nook and cranny of their product line.
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Linux gaming went from good luck to Windows is taking notes. Thatโs a pretty wild timeline.
And it all started with a guy wanting to see sexy android ass on Linux
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For gaming, Microsoft views steamOS as the benchmark, and is working to optimize the platform so that steamOS and Windows gaming performance are comparable. Within the next year or two, it believes that Windows will be able to truly compete head-to-head with steamOS in gaming performance on identical hardware due to foundational changes that are being made to the platform in the coming months.
Doubt.
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Some games have better performance running under wine on Linux than natively on Windows.
On the flip side, I couldnโt get Linux native Jackbox to run because the devs failed to update it to support something (Wayland maybe, IDK was troubleshooting mid Xmas party).
Ended up installing the Windows version in Proton.
That's a story old as Linux. Native shit stops working. Thankfully wine/Proton is there to keep it functional
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I have Linux on my personal computer and Windows on my work laptop. Best of both worlds. Linux is currently a very nice 0 stress experience for gaming/casual stuff. With Proton, gaming on Linux is nearly as viable as on Windows.
Yeah, as soon as you come to the conclusion that itโs worth not playing league, battlefield, apex legends etc itโs a no brainer now
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I dont even check if a game will work anymore on Linux, it always does. Last one was Planet Crafter which was a really good game. The entire planet is changing as you terraform it which is very fun to see.
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Native Windows CS2 dust2 benchmark gives me 120fps over the native Bazzite Linux (fedora 43) CS2 - 180fps. Running proton CS2 gives me 100fps.
Wish more games had native Linux ports.
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No please, continue shooting yourself in the foot.
People begged for performance debloating for more than a decade but you're only interested now because Proton outperforms Windows.
I would be asking for a multi million dollar salary as an NT kernel engineer to undo all the crappary intentionally introduced in every update ever since Windows 8.
Woo competition doing its thing!
not really... microslop will always be trash and will always demand that you own nothing, and it's all their data
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Microsoft is doing this ONLY because they finally recognized that Linux surpassed them flying on the one thing they were king: games
Microsoft doesn't give a single shit about end users, never had. It always had the goal of becoming the dominant ayer, then get a monopoly, and then doing absolutely nothing anymore until users complain too much. This has been their work ethos since it's inception and if you believe otherwise I have a bridge to sell you.
wait, MS cares about their product? then why is it so... gestures vaguely at the OS
And only because of portable devices like the steam deck. If the software scene was exactly the same but these devices didn't exist, I don't think they would be doing this. They wouldn't care windows is heavier if it was about standard gaming computers only.
Perhaps they are talking handhelds, specifically?
Look. I am the biggest, most shameless CachyOS fanboy you will find. Itโs like 90% of my desktop time, has been for years.
But Iโve benchmarked a few games on Windows and Linux, Proton and native, sparsely, and Windows still has an advantage, sometimes. Cyberpunk 2077 was the biggest outlier for Proton (eg faster on Windows, enough to visibly affect settings I can manage on my 3090).
And many native ports are still truly awful. Often where performance equates to simulation time, like modded Stellaris or Rimworld.
Mind you, thatโs not always the case. Proton is faster in many games, and (for example) anything Java like Minecraft or Starsector are just hilariously faster on Linux.
The caveats:
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My Windows 11 is neutered to hell. Itโs a barren wasteland. Even Defender is disabled.
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Iโm running Nvidia.
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Some of my testing is aging now.
Still, I am a Linux shill, and think the headline is a bit dramatic. Stripped Windows is still faster in plenty of realistic scenarios.
Since theyโre referencing SteamOS, theyโre probably talking about stock mobile systems, where the overhead from that mountain of background junk in Windows is much more painful.
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Oof. They are about to inject a bunch of vibe code into the only part that functions well.
For my lazy fellas on mobile: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/what-is-windows-k2-everything-you-need-to-know-saving-windows-11
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