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Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

arstechnica.com

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Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#11

Post by vel0city »

jajuuka wrote: post #8

Seems more like a test of the hardware than Windows 11 and SteamOS since they ran into driver issues immediately. Not to mention those frame rates are terrible across the board. Just not very good hardware.

It's the same hardware on each test. The only difference are the drivers and OS in question. Lenovo has been slow to officially ship updated GPU drivers for this device, but the exact same SoC is used on a number of handhelds.

As for the performance, its a 15W handheld trying to play games that 600W PCs and 300W consoles struggled with just a few years ago.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#12

Post by vel0city »

Some of these games are practically neck and neck for performance. I'm wondering if it's a similar situation to early Proton comparisons, where framerates were higher in Proton but when comparing still for still you could tell it just wasn't actually doing certain effects. Are there features that are being attempted in the Windows version that are just not functional and thus effectively disabled on the Proton one?

But even then, assuming that is true, if they're pretty much the same would people care about maybe some fog looks a little different but you get an extra 15-20fps in a game? I think a lot of people would still prefer the boost in frames.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#13

Post by haswell »

In my purely anecdotal experience over the last few years, performance ranking is as follows:

1. Steam on Linux via Proton + Wayland (Niri)

2. Steam on Linux via Proton + X11 (Xfce)

3. Steam on Windows

4. Games on Linux launched via other means (it's possible I was missing out on certain flags/optimizations, but this is just about the average experience)

The biggest thing I noticed when switching to Linux was an improvement in framerate consistency, i.e. I'd have fewer situations where the framerate would drop momentarily. Games felt more solid and predictable.

The biggest thing I noticed when switching from X11/Xfce to Wayland/Niri was just an overall increase in framerate. I'd failed this jump many times over the years, so it was notable when I jumped and stayed there earlier this year.

It does feel like games take longer to launch on average, but this makes sense given the fact that it's launching via Proton/Wine.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#14

Post by thewebguyd »

haswell wrote: post #13

In my purely anecdotal experience over the last few years, performance ranking is as follows: 1. Steam on Linux via Proton + Wayland (Niri) 2. Steam on Linux via Proton + X11 (Xfce) 3. Steam on Windows 4. Games on Linux launched via other means (it's possible I was missing out on certain flags/optimizations, but this is just about the average experience) The biggest thing I noticed when switching to Linux was an impr…

Interestingly enough, I've had games that had both a native Linux port and Windows version, and the Windows version through Proton ran better than the native Linux version. This ended up being true for Civ5, Civ6 and Cities Skylines (1).

With those admittedly limited examples though, I don't experience the same ranking in performance, but I attribute that to my non-gaming hardware vs. any problem with Linux or Proton/Wine. I play on a laptop with an Nvidia 3050 laptop GPU, and I get much better performance in Windows still. In Cities Skylines, for example, I'll get ~20 fps on Linux via Proton (but I do experience what you said, it's consistent no major spikes or drops) while on Windows I get between 45-60fps up until about 15k population or so.

Other games, despite working, remain unplayable to me due to performance. I can play Diablo 4 on windows no problem on medium settings, but even on low it's just too unresponsive on Linux.

Anyway, just my anecdotal experience. Those with dedicated gaming rigs will be more than fine with Linux, but those of us on underpowered hardware still seem better off with Windows, unfortunately.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#15

Post by randomNumber7 »

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

Might be unfair to call Proton a "translation layer" because the Win32 API is not defined in terms of system calls but rather a set of functions exported from a DLL. Proton supplies a DLL that implements the Win32 API using Linux syscalls. Windows supplies a DLL that implements that Win32 API using Windows syscalls that you're not really supposed to use directly.

Does it implement sscanf() with accidental complexity of O(n^2) for compatibility?

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#16

Post by nialv7 »

thewebguyd wrote: post #14
haswell wrote: post #13

In my purely anecdotal experience over the last few years, performance ranking is as follows: 1. Steam on Linux via Proton + Wayland (Niri) 2. Steam on Linux via Proton + X11 (Xfce) 3. Steam on Windows 4. Games on Linux launched via other means (it's possible I was missing out on certain flags/optimizations, but this is just about the average experience) The biggest thing I noticed when switching to Linux was an impr…

Interestingly enough, I've had games that had both a native Linux port and Windows version, and the Windows version through Proton ran better than the native Linux version. This ended up being true for Civ5, Civ6 and Cities Skylines (1). With those admittedly limited examples though, I don't experience the same ranking in performance, but I attribute that to my non-gaming hardware vs. any problem with Linux or Proton…

Linux port if there is one is usually done by a third party porting studio, which is not necessarily at the same quality as the original codebase. Also the devs just don't have the manpower/bandwidth to spare for Linux users given how small this community is.

It's better value for money for both the gamers and the devs if the devs just choose to engage with valve and get their game running perfectly under proton.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#17

Post by haswell »

thewebguyd wrote: post #14
haswell wrote: post #13

In my purely anecdotal experience over the last few years, performance ranking is as follows: 1. Steam on Linux via Proton + Wayland (Niri) 2. Steam on Linux via Proton + X11 (Xfce) 3. Steam on Windows 4. Games on Linux launched via other means (it's possible I was missing out on certain flags/optimizations, but this is just about the average experience) The biggest thing I noticed when switching to Linux was an impr…

Interestingly enough, I've had games that had both a native Linux port and Windows version, and the Windows version through Proton ran better than the native Linux version. This ended up being true for Civ5, Civ6 and Cities Skylines (1). With those admittedly limited examples though, I don't experience the same ranking in performance, but I attribute that to my non-gaming hardware vs. any problem with Linux or Proton…

> Those with dedicated gaming rigs will be more than fine with Linux, but those of us on underpowered hardware still seem better off with Windows, unfortunately.

That’s interesting and good to know. I’m running an 10th gen i9 with an RTX 3090, so I have plenty of headroom performance wise. I’ve been wondering about Linux gaming on lower end hardware for my younger brother’s sake, and hadn’t assumed it would be worse.

One thing to note: I’ve had all kinds of issues with power management impacting performance. If I let the computer sleep/standby, I’ll get 50% slower framerate until I reboot.

Given the fact that you’re on a laptop, I wonder if power management has contributed to the slowness.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#18

Post by brirec »

vel0city wrote: post #12

Some of these games are practically neck and neck for performance. I'm wondering if it's a similar situation to early Proton comparisons, where framerates were higher in Proton but when comparing still for still you could tell it just wasn't actually doing certain effects. Are there features that are being attempted in the Windows version that are just not functional and thus effectively disabled on the Proton one? B…

To my knowledge, this hasn’t been the case for years, and I’ve never noticed any extra visual glitching on Linux.

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#19

Post by Melatonic »

Windows 11 is also bloated as hell by default. Curuios how they compare to a very optimized and debloated windows 11?

Anybody know if Steam and games in general refuse to install in Windows LTSC? Its basically the stripped down ultimate lean version of windows. Boots insanely fast - no tracking bullshit - no windows store or candy crush. Battery life hugely improved. No big updates - security only - and for a longer supported time.

I know Adobe has forced their installers now to refuse to outright install on LTSC (for no real reason) which is annoying as hell. First they stopped it installing on Windows Server.....

Hopefully we do not see the same thing with graphics drivers and Steam and games because right now its the ultimate gaming OS (especially if you are running it as a second OS while daily driving Linux or MacOS)

Re: Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

#20

Post by Melatonic »

delusional wrote: post #10
PaulHoule wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it is forwarding to libc() as opposed to syscalls directly than maybe ‘translation’ is fair.

I think that's how it started out, and also how a lot of developers still conceptualize it. Wine has had to massively expand that scope to reach the maturity it has now. I think it's kind of straddling the line between "Implementation" and "translation". Philosophically its still a translation layer though. It doesn't really care about correctness if the no apps depend on it. Success is in meaningfully running client…

I suppose you could say that Wine has "aged" well :-)
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