this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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Linux Gaming

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Should i switch to linux? please tell me why or why not. (leminal.space)
submitted 1 week ago by GrumpyCat@leminal.space to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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So i have a gaming desktop that not the best or the newest. What takes up most of my drive space is games, updates, and software's. Im wondering if i should switch to linux and if linux will improve any performance for my main machine? If you believe i should switch what os should i go with or why or why not should i switch?

I mostly game and do mess with ollama/ai tools because i think that's cool. I want to do more things in the future but that might beyond my drive space?

What would you advise?

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[–] twikz@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 days ago

The biggest downside of ditching Windows is losing that comfort zone where everything just works without thinking about it. But if you're cool with putting in some effort to learn new stuff, Linux will feel way snappier right from the start.

Since you've got an Nvidia GPU, I'd definitely go with CachyOS - it's been my best Linux experience for gaming and daily use. The Linux community respects it too: https://cachyos.org/

For your setup specifically, you'll probably like how much less space Linux takes up compared to Windows, plus it's way lighter on system resources so your older hardware should perform better. Gaming works surprisingly well these days thanks to Proton, most stuff just runs.
You could dual boot first to test it first without committing. CachyOS would be perfect for what you're doing.

[–] lemming741@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago (5 children)

Lots of mention of dual booting- I recommend getting an e-waste tier 256gb SATA SSD for your first Linux install if you just want to try it out.

No one wants those old drives because they are small but they are plenty quick and you only need 15 to 30 gigs for most distros.

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I second this. Chances are high that OP ends up reinstalling multiple times (either to check out multiple distros or after they accidentally nuked the system). Doing so on a separate SSD so they don't accidentally wipe their data during reinstall and so they don't have to constantly migrate data is a good plan.

[–] Jimmycakes@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Third this move. Nvme are under $20 cheap way to experiment

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 1 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Can you use the existing Windows partition for the games though (without it fucking them up)? Because while Linux fits in that easily, games do not.

[–] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 2 points 5 days ago

Linux has NTFS drivers. Should work fine.

[–] lemming741@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

Probably not, just trying to save the guy a few bucks. Try some games one at a time that do fit, and rely on protondb for the ones that don't. Then decide to move over and wipe windows.

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[–] craigers@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

A xeon plus 3060 is an interesting combo...

[–] simop_jo@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

He probably slapped the GPU onto a workstation.

[–] doomcanoe@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

The answer: Yes!

The why: Why not?

[–] UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago

Note how the 3060 already had 12GB VRAM, and they still try to push 8 today

[–] pruneaue@infosec.pub 4 points 5 days ago

yes

[–] ano_ba_to@sopuli.xyz 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

As long as you back up your data, experiment to find what you want. If you have an empty spare drive, try out the different options there. It's been a month since I moved to Bazzite. My plan was to try Mint and Bazzite while also keeping a Windows 10 ISO in my boot drive (Ventoy will allow you to have as many ISO in your USB stick). If things get too difficult, I could always go back to Windows 10. But using Bazzite has been a breeze, I decided I didn't even need Mint. Every time I think I need to open up the terminal for any issues, I find that the solution doesn't require it.

[–] AnarchistArtificer@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

I feel like if you're asking on this community, you've already decided you want to switch and you want help being reassured that it's viable

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago

You've already got plenty of comments explaining why you should switch. You obviously should ideally. Check Protondb.com to see if your games runs on Linux.

[–] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Other people have given you good responses about switching so I'll give some distro recommendations:

  1. Bazzite. This is what I use on fairly similar hardware. Looks like you've got a v1 or v2 chip as it's still DDR3, I'm on an E5-2680v2 and it works great under Linux while Windows 10 just caused it to freeze up so much by the end. All the background updates and indexing and whatever else were such resource hogs. The NVIDIA Bazzite iso also includes the official drivers out of the box, which many other distros don't (looking at you Linux Mint!!). It's designed to be super easy for gamers newly switching from Windows, with Steam pre-installed and everything just ready to go.
  2. CachyOS. I don't have personal experience with it, but I know it also includes the official NVIDIA drivers out of the box, and it's designed as a gaming distro first and foremost as well.
  3. Nobara. Another gaming distro, it also includes the NVIDIA drivers and is ready to go. It's made by a dev known as Glorious Eggroll who is well respected in the linux gaming community.

The reason I recommend distros that have the official NVIDIA drivers OOTB is that they work much, much better than the Noveau open source driver that most traditional distros (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora) include. The offical drivers also have a steep learning curve for a new Linux user to install themselves, it's nowhere near as simple as installing them on Windows.

[–] AmanitaCaesarea@slrpnk.net 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I like bazzite but the immutable aspect makes downloading some thing even more complicated for a newb. Truly can never go wrong with zorinos or mint

[–] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

That's exactly why I'm recommending it. For a user that just wants to game, it has the guardrails in place to stop them from bricking their install. Think about how comparatively hard it is to severely mess up a Windows install.

There are plenty of other ways to install software, Bazzite highly recommends Flatpak and AppImage. As well, if you do really need anything else, it can be run in a Distrobox and there are plenty of people on the forums who can help with that.

Recommending Mint to users that just want to game, that don't want to learn technical stuff, needs to die. Sure, if someone comes in and says they're happy to learn tech stuff, Mint is a great option. But for everyone else, something like Bazzite is just so much closer to "it just works". Hell, I have technical skills, headless Debian over SSH is my happy place, but I have Bazzite on my desktop and handheld because I can't mess with it. It's always ready to game when I am!

[–] AmanitaCaesarea@slrpnk.net 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

True true, still modern linux doesn't break as easily as u frame it. And is user friendly enough for even non tech ppl. A user would have to go out of their way todo something weird in cli. As long as they are just installing games then not a whole lot can go wrong.

On bazzite if u want to install something that isn't virtualized like flats, than u would have to dive more into cli. That instead of simply typing sudo apt install.

[–] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I mean, I've bricked plenty of installs before I knew what I was doing more. I still regularly see, in certain places, people give purposefully destructive commands. rm -rf / doesn't work directly anymore, but it'll work on your home folder for example. You also don't need CLI to install games, I would say literally never.

If a good third-party launcher that needed to be run as a system package showed up, Bazzite would just add that. Games that just ship a Linux executable like a lot of itch.io stuff generally works regardless and doesn't need the CLI. Can you give an example of a gaming usecase that requires sudo apt?

You can also install packages to the system on Bazzite by the way. It's atomic, not actually immutable. It's just frowned upon because it makes things less stable, and increases the length of updates. You use sudo rpm-ostree install in the same way, and it layers the package on top of the current version. It's treated as an absolute last resort, but it is way easier to reset to the base image if anything goes wrong.

[–] AmanitaCaesarea@slrpnk.net 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

No not a lot. Was just distro hopping and tried bazzite. When I tried to install something that wans't in the software centrum it indeed said to try sudo rpm-ostree install. But monkey brain already found it too much. So yeah... My bazzite views probaly aren't the best lol. Have to give it a better try some day.

[–] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 days ago

I mean, Bazzite is Fedora so even if it wasn't atomic, you'd be using dnf instead of apt. Subbing out rpm-ostree isn't much different :P

[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 2 points 6 days ago

I've been using Linux for 25 years and I kinda hate how clunky immutable Fedora is.

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[–] penguin202124@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 days ago

You know the answer!

Exactly, that's it.

So why not do it?

[–] warmaster@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Your choices:

  • buy a new PC with Windows 11
  • move to linux with your current PC
  • stay with Windows 10 on your current PC, and take the risk of using an insecure system.
[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You missed one:

  • build/buy a new PC and put Linux on it
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[–] randomaside@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 days ago

If you game and use ollama and want to try Linux I think you should check out Bluefin-DX as it is specially tooled for Nvidia AI nim and nemo container environment. Nvidia drivers are ready to go.

As for your CPU choice, if you can at some point get over to at minimum 12thgen Intel (11thgen I you're willing to jump onto ali express ewaste) I think you would see a marked performance improvement overall.

[–] TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 1 points 5 days ago

Yes

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