Searching for a suitable Linux distribution for a gaming PC.
Searching for a suitable Linux distribution for a gaming PC.
I understand, I wanted to give Manjaro a try for a while. But Pop kept urging me to switch back. I’m a bit biased, but you’re right. I’m wondering if using an LTS kernel would affect my gaming performance after four years, especially with limited experience.
Absolutely, clearly it will, particularly when you're using AMD graphics, but also on Nvidia systems. Linux gaming is progressing quickly. Essentially, this means that with a rolling release distribution such as Pop OS, your software packages will lag behind the newest updates by months or even years. Remembering that DXVK (DirectX 11 over Vulkan) used to run at only half to three-quarters of Windows performance a few years ago, it now delivers 90-110% of that speed. This gap can result in missing out on significant performance gains. Moreover, you'll find entire games and technologies unavailable for months or years after they become accessible to others. For instance, many major AAA titles in 2020 depended on the latest Mesa master code for AMD GPUs—games like Doom Eternal, Cyberpunk 2077, and Death Stranding required it. Until then, you couldn't play them on Mesa, and even after the release, it took months for Mesa versions to appear in Pop OS repositories. This scenario repeats frequently, especially given the rapid pace of innovation in Linux gaming. While PPAs can help by offering up-to-date packages, relying on them for the kernel, drivers, or other components undermines the benefits of a static release. Ideally, you'd prefer a rolling release distribution designed to handle such software.