I know the “best linux for gaming” is probably one of the most common questions, but I have heard that some distro can have issues with some hardware, I have a crappy old PC with an integrated radeon R7, which distro would you recommend?
How old is your PC? Do you game via Steam?
If it is younger than 10 years, any desktop oriented distro will work equally well.
In that case, I’d recommend Mint, just because it is the best beginner distro overall.
If you have less than 4GB of RAM, Debian with Xfce would run faster.If it’s older, then there’s a (small, but getting larger with age) chance it is limited to 32bit architecture or 32bit UEFI.
Then your choice of distros becomes slim, but MX Linux would be a good choice.Just want to point out that Linux Mint also has 32bit versions available.
That’s actually kinda awesome.
I put the 32bit Linux Mint Debian Edition on a very old solo core laptop with only 1.5GB RAM just for kicks, and it actually works pretty well.
edit: though I should probably switch it out for something lighter for practicality
Let that be a lesson: don’t throw away your old computers
Absolutely, this thing has been sitting around for ages because it was barely powerful enough for WindowsXP when it first came out. Now has a new purpose!
Windows XP: when you buy your computer yesterday it’s still too old for Vista.
Can’t do a lot wrong with Linux mint I suppose. Stable software so support should be good, cinnamon doesn’t have too much fancy stuff that would use up ressources iirc.
It’s my top recommendation for beginners, might switch back to it some time.
Thanks! I should note, I did use Ubuntu for a few years quite a while ago, so not quite a beginner but still gonna have to relearn a lot of things.
In that case, Pop!_OS might be a good option to try. It’s built on Ubuntu and doesn’t have snapd garbage on it. I’ve been using it as a daily driver for 2 years now and I’ve had zero problems.
Mint is also Ubuntu based with no snaps crap
Mint is an awesome option too. For me it came down to the UI as the primary decision factor. I prefer MacOS aesthetics to Windows.
There are a host of other issues I have with how Microsoft (and Apple!!) do things, and really, the GUI is the least of those problems. But it is also the most obvious problem because I’m looking at it all day at work.
I hope am not too late for this. If you’re looking for a consolized PC experience with Steam and all of its quality of life features, check out ChimeraOS.
It is based on SteamOS3 and adds a lot of extra features such as GOG and EGS integrations and built in emulators.
It also has a desktop mode for a full featured Linux experience. Keep in mind it’s an immutable distro.
Also, it uses Arch btw. Sorry just wanted to say it for such a long time now 🤣
Can’t go wrong with Debian and some ligthweight desktop environment, like xfce, as someone also mentioned here
pop_os! Runs great on the amd apus. For reference i used a ryzen 3 3200g and it ran indie games very well.
I guess you mean a ryzen 7 4700g? Should be great too considering mine was a generation behind.
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Which game do you play ?
Lots, mostly older ones.
Edit
Why downvote? Am I supposed to give a list of every game I play? What does it matter to you?
Yes you have to give the list of your game because a lot of game (specialy multiplayer) doesn’t work on linux. See : https://www.protondb.com/ and https://areweanticheatyet.com/
Look, this is gonna sound rude and maybe it is, but I am not a fucking moron and I know that’s how it works. I specifically stated that I have used linux in the past, and I can easily google any specific game and find out if it does or doesn’t work.
I was asking what distro is best for people to give current opinions on the subject, not because I cannot google very basic cut and dry info. I appreciate that you are trying to help but I am not about to sit here for hours typing the name of every game I might be interested in playing, so that someone else can read it and check it for me, were you about to spend your entire night checking games I listed for me? Of course you weren’t, and the entire idea of either of us doing that is insane.
With all due respect, if you have any opinion on which distro is currently the best for gaming feel free to share it, don’t waste both our times with useless basic linux info that I already knew about.
Maybe Garuda?
What games are we talking about? If they’re Windows games you may be better using Windows, no extra overhead and complexities.
It depends. Old Windows games actually work better in Wine than on modern Windows.
Newer games usually work out of the box via Steam and Proton, often with better performance than on Windows. Especially on a pc with ATI graphics.
AAA titles with anticheat often don’t work, but it doesn’t sound like that’s what OP is after.It depends. Old Windows games actually work better in Wine than on modern Windows.
Never saw this happening. Also wine has overhead.
Well, I’m playing Fallout: New Vegas on linux right now and it works way better than other Bethesda games I’ve played on windows. And FNV has a reputation of being really glitchy/buggy with lots of crashes. Yes, it crashed twice so far, but for 70+ hours and constant alt+tabbing it doesn’t sound that bad!
Wine doesn’t have any inherent overhead. It’s a native reimplementation of the Windows APIs (and not an emulator), so there’s no inherent overhead compared to Windows itself. It can be faster or it can be slower, but this has more to do with optimisation and implementation than anything inherent.
Windows also have overhead
The entire point of this post is I want to leave windows, I am sick and tired of microsoft spyware and bloatware slowing my already old computer down, and Windows 10 will not be supported for much longer.
Seriously why do you think I even brought up switching to linux if I wasn’t trying to leave windows?
I am sick and tired of microsoft spyware and bloatware slowing my already old computer down
You know this can be changed right? Windows 10 Enterprise + https://www.w10privacy.de/english-home/ + https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy/manage-windows-21h2-endpoints
Yeah, I’ve tried, and it doesn’t help. Also that does nothing for the fact that they are going to stop supporting Win10 sooner than later, and since my computer won’t run Win11 that means losing all security. Not to mention the microsoft using my data for nefarious reasons, constantly adding new bloatware garbage, and harvesting my data to use to train their AI.
I am done with windows, I am done with microsoft, and why am I having to explain my reasons and motivations for this in the Linux lemmy of all places? Do you work for microsoft or something???
Yeah, I’ve tried, and it doesn’t help
You didn’t try hard enough. Windows 10 Enterprise with that app + manual tweaks in group policy described by Microsoft can be turned into a system that does zero reporting / calling home and one that runs very smoothly. For what’s worth you’ll spend less time changing those settings than what the time it takes to have a usable desktop experience under Linux with a few games working.
they are going to stop supporting Win10 sooner than later
Current EOL for Windows 10 Enterprise is 14 Oct 2025 and there’s a petition going on to extend it.
Do you work for microsoft or something???
Of course I do, soon to be instated as CTO at Microsoft.
Literally why are you even here? I am not interested in your bullshit, I am done with windows, and I don’t understand why the fuck you seem to feel the need to argue with me and disrespect me. Microsoft doesn’t care about any petition, linux works fine for every game I play, and you are being an aggressive douche to me in your Microsoft dick sucking fanboyism.
Go find a better hobby, you should be blocked from this sub for being such a troll.
and you are being an aggressive douche to me in your Microsoft dick sucking fanboyism.
What, you make me laugh. Someone is touchy. Now seriously and just to be clear I don’t work for Microsoft and I don’t like their bullshit nor I endorse it and I would rather never touch their solutions in my life.
However, I’m not “delusional” about Linux desktop nor I’m so out of touch with Windows’ reality to the point I say that you can’t disable the spyware like you did - because you can do it and you can also prove it with Wireshark.
Microsoft doesn’t have your best interests in mind, that’s for sure, they won’t probably care about the petition but at the end of the day history repeats itself and there will be a lot of companies and governments using Windows 10 that will essentially make them (pay) to extend its lifetime. About spyware, those same countess companies and government agencies force Microsoft to have group policy settings to disable the “spyware” otherwise they can’t use it. In short, Microsoft has all the right incentives to properly document Windows’ spyware and develop options to disable it.
