The Linux subsystem for Windows performance offers excellent speed and efficiency.
The Linux subsystem for Windows performance offers excellent speed and efficiency.
I was prepared to send it to hwbot, but a mod advised me to stretch it slightly too much. In reality, it technically meets the Geekbench 4 standards—CPU Z and Windows 10, especially for post Skylake Intel CPUs—but he mentioned it could disrupt the database. Here’s what I found: the Linux subsystem for Windows performs just as well as native Linux, and native Linux is significantly faster than Windows 10. On my machine (i5 8600K @ 5.0GHz), I achieved 25279 points in Windows 10 during the same test. Also, Cinebench ran smoothly on Wine, just about 5 points behind Windows 10. I tried CPUz with Wine, but it didn’t show the CPU clock speed.
Your findings wouldn’t hold up. Just because a program runs on Wine doesn’t guarantee it works with every feature an app uses. Even if you tested both Windows and Linux natively, direct comparison wouldn’t be fair. Too many factors were involved, making the test inconsistent. Additionally, Microsoft does support native DirectX through WSL. Vulkan and OpenGL are also converted to DirectX. Therefore, comparing your results to a pure Linux setup would still be misleading. https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/d...art-linux/ And Microsoft hasn’t announced plans to release DirectX for Linux beyond its proprietary WSL environment. This isn’t the only proprietary aspect of WSL—it contains many more undisclosed details.
It's worth noting. Your performance depends on both CPU and GPU. The numbers you mentioned reflect overall system speed, not just one component.
Don't stress, the test uses Geekbench 5. On that scale I scored 1442 out of 6735, though Intel might show a slight edge in GB5.
No one relied on Geekbench or cinebench with DirectX. I didn’t employ any GPU rendering methods. With AVX support I’m uncertain about AVX or AVX2 compatibility, though R15 doesn’t use AVX while R20 does. I should probably give it another shot.
Official interface support is on the horizon. Microsoft has hinted at it several times, but once launched, those in the Insider group will get it first, before the general release. I anticipate next year might be the right time. In the meantime, you can rely on a xServer for Windows. My suggestion is the X410 model—it costs around 10 dollars and is tailored for WSL environments. It supports both WSL1 and WSL2, and it adapts to high-DPI displays. If your scaling exceeds 100%, everything should function smoothly. Just install and run; you’ll need to run an export command via WSL (which I advise setting up as a startup option when launching a session). This simplifies the process.
Currently, there hasn’t been much new since then. Likely because Microsoft is moving toward native GUI support. Many users report issues with XMing—it’s outdated and hasn’t received updates for years. VcXsrv is a better alternative; it’s free, works outside WSL (like in virtual machines), and receives active support.
Keep in mind that WSL1 and WSL2 operate differently. WSL1 uses a translation layer, which can limit performance—especially with Docker or Linux apps. WSL2 uses a lighter Hyper-V version integrated with a customized Linux kernel, offering better compatibility and smoother Docker use. However, enabling Hyper-V may cause some disk access delays if you’re working with Windows files. It’s usually best to keep everything on Linux for optimal speed.
If you enable Hyper-V, your system might experience a slight slowdown regardless of what you run. This is minor but noticeable in tests. For gaming, I’m unsure—my old machine has a Core i7 and 6GB RAM, so the impact might be minimal. Still, it’s worth mentioning.
You can switch between WSL1 and WSL2 without reinstalling; just use the appropriate command to upgrade or downgrade your distribution each time.