I know Nvidia has a reputation for being bad with Linux. Is it better now? And most of all, what would be the best GPU for modern gaming on Linux (any distro)?
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Nvidia is still finicky. Should work the majority of the time, but you’ll have more bugs with Nvidia for sure (ask me how I know), though less than Nouveau.
However, NVK may be changing that fact. It’s a successor to Nouveau, and it is built upon a new codebase. The only downside (-ish) is that it only works on RTX series cards and beyond, and it’s an unfortunate limitation because of how they were able to reverse engineer the newer RTX API to make a better driver.
But at this point, I’d still go with an AMD 6700XT or better to get the best experience on Linux (dunno how Intel Arc cards are).
Anything Intel or AMD should do. As to what the best GPU is - that is really up to your wallet to tell.
Well, wallet and needs. The 7900XTX is the best, but I’d never recommend it to someone who only plays decade-old games, or even simpler modern games.
If you want a good idea of how GPUs compare to each other, the Tom’s Hardware GPU hierarchy is a great source. Just keep in mind that on linux specifically, NVIDIA has a bit more of a performance drop compared to AMD. Comparing the 3090 and 6800XT on that chart vs. Tom’s hardware, seems to be roughly 5%-7% more of a dip
You’re trying to be reasonable when OP is not :)
And most of all, what would be the best GPU for modern gaming on Linux (any distro)?
In a few weeks, this will likely no longer be an issue - Explicit sync is finally done, and Nvidia is already sitting on a driver release that will work fine with Wayland. So if you’re not morally against closed source drivers, Nvidia cards are no longer going to be a issue on Linux.
So with that in mind, I actually do recommend Nvidia this generation. Power efficiency, CUDA, dual video encoding, DLSS, ray reconstruction, significant ray tracing performance.
But if you’re in a hurry or absolutely need the best bang for the buck for rasterization (and only rasterization), AMD still wins. If you also want to use as many open source components as possible, AMD is the only choice for now.
I’m out of the loop as far as Intel Arc cards are concerned, but I believe they’re also using open source Mesa as the driver?
Non Nvidia will give you the best over all experience. That said I do have 3 systems running Linux with Nvidia. But one of them is headless, and I can’t use Wayland on the other two because the Nvidia driver shits the bed hard with one particular app. However if I don’t run that app Nvidia and Wayland are pretty stable and smooth. Not as smooth or stable as AMD or Intel and Wayland. But decent.
And depending on your needs. I just picked up an overclocked RX 580 sapphire on eBay for 60 bucks. Which is pretty decent for 1080p gaming.
My 3080 is alright. I do want to switch because of lots of little niggles, such as having to patch the driver for NVFBC support in Sunshine.
However, I’m glad to say I’m in no rush.
I’m having a pretty good time now with the AMD RX7900XT. The early days were a bit rough in terms of the driver, but it sorted itself out.
