SteamOS vs. Windows on dedicated GPUs: It’s complicated, but Windows has an edge

Ars testing shows SteamOS fares better on iGPUs than powerful graphics cards.

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[Got Nate?]

Finally, some testing and real numbers, not just parroting the groupthink.

I think (hope) SteamOS and the various Linux distros will get there as a viable Windows alternative but they’re not there yet.

Anytime someone says “I got X to run after a bit of work” is kinda missing the point for the vast majority of users: it needs to work the first time.

Those people need to buy a console. Windows and Linux are both their own ever-shifting minefields that prevent it from just working the first time.

 

[Got Nate?]

Cyberpunk 2077 runs in Proton on SteamOS, as does every game tested in this article. They're all emulated.

There is no emulation here. It's x86 all the way up and down. Proton on linux is just an alternate application runtime to the Windows stack.

The Steam Frame on the other hand runs on ARM and adds emulation to the mix.

 

[Got Nate?]

I know it's unpopular af to say this on ars and /., and hell I grew up using solaris and sunOS, but honestly, when I just want things to work, I use windows.

Every time I try linux, over the last 30 years, it turns into a never-ending rabbit hole nightmare of researching fixes for problems just to get basic shit to work.

Invariably, within the first day I find an issue, then 2 more, then 4 more, and by the time my sanity is under control and I think I've finally stabilized something, inexplicably something f's the bootloader.

I just can't even.

You just described why apple people prefer that platform. They have a perception that Windows and Linux are hard and fragile, while the apple platform is problem free and just works. The reality is that every platform has its ups and downs, and we all have our own comfort-zone based on personal experience.