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Linux Distros for Gaming: CachyOS Takes Over, According to ProtonDB

71 points by ekianjo 1y ago

999900000999 1y ago
I like CachyOS. It was fun until it stopped booting one day. Switched to Tumbleweed, but I'm ready for the same thing to happen.
scheeseman486 1y ago
I'm using it, having migrated from EndeavourOS. If one wants an easy mode Arch to play games it's a great choice.
- ekianjo 1y ago
  were you unsatisfied with EndeavourOS?
  - scheeseman486 1y ago
    I mostly switched because I had a motherboard failure and while dealing with that took the opportunity to install it and try it out. I've found that most of the custom tools they've built are better, the default choices are smarter (particularly their kitted-out kernel) and documentation is more detailed, it was a breeze to install. Performance doesn't seem any worse, though I haven't run benchmarks or anything like that. EndeavourOS isn't bad, but I struggle to think of anything it does better.
    - ekianjo 1y ago
      thanks for sharing!
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
constantcrying 1y ago
Arch derivatives have to be one of the worst monkey paws for the Linux desktop. A person who can not install Arch Linux should not be managing their own Arch installation. Inevitably something will not work right and confusion and disappointment will set in as that person is completely unprepared to help themselves. Arch derivatives themselves are usually just worse versions of Arch with more problems. Manjaro being the worst offender there. Pushing those onto people, is not a good thing and if someone does not have the basic tech literacy to install Arch, they should not be using any Arch derivative. No, this isn't gate keeping. It is protecting people from inevitable disappointment and frustration, which can only harm Linux Desktop and Linux gaming.
- ekianjo 1y ago
  I somewhat agree with your comment, but there is definitely a space for something in between Ubuntu and a full-fledged Arch distro installed by hand. As in, not for beginners, but for intermediate users who want a taste of Arch without a strong commitment. Where I agree with you is that this approach has indeed failed several times before (Antergos and more recently Manjaro), but who knows, CachyOS may be different.
  - constantcrying 1y ago
    Why? Any intermediary user can install Arch and is able to find their way through documentation. These distros also target completely new people, with very little or even zero, Linux experience. Someone like that is not done any favors by putting him in front of a pre configured Arch. They will run into problems they can not solve without substantial time commitments and that will lead to frustration and disappointment. At the very least these distros should be honest about what they are. From the top of the CachyOS Website: "Whether you're a seasoned Linux user or just starting out, CachyOS is the ideal choice for those looking for a powerful, customizable and blazingly fast operating system." This is doing a complete disservice to their potential users. This is ot the "ideal" distro for someone who never touched Linux.
    - cauefcr 1y ago
kelsey98765431 1y ago
Here I am using debian 12 to play counter strike 1.6 still, don't mind me
ahepp 1y ago
from CachyOS's web site: > CachyOS is designed to deliver lightning-fast speeds Ok, can we see the benchmarks on some popular video games, compared to vanilla Arch? Then let's compare it to Ubuntu for good measure. If they are making the claim that it's lightning fast, surely that has been measured?
- amlib 1y ago
  There are some extensive benchmarks in phoronix and it seems like CachyOS always stays ahead or even at the lead on both "first places" and the geometric mean of all tests.
  - ahepp 1y ago
    > But if taking the geometric mean of all those benchmarks, CachyOS performance overall was similar to that of Fedora / EndeavourOS / Ubuntu while Clear Linux maintained a ~6.5% advantage overall compared to those other Linux distributions. from https://www.phoronix.com/review/cachyos-linux-perf https://www.phoronix.com/review/cachyos-linux-perf And that's without really digging deep into significance testing.
    - kokada 1y ago
      The benchmarks from this article are mostly focused in non-gaming workloads. If you look at the few games that was tested, it seems that CachyOS has some performance advantages, in some cases significantly so.
      - ahepp 1y ago
        It looks like they ran a bunch of open source games. Even the slowest combination in the benchmarks is getting over 500 FPS. Why wouldn't they just test it with normal commercial video games? It doesn't give me a lot of confidence.
        kokada 1y ago
shmerl 1y ago
Feels like a hype distro to me since they package WIP / unreleased features as if they are released left and right. It's not even using upstream kernel. Many newcomers especially don't realize this and when they hit problems coming from these mods, they come to the realization that they can't report bugs upstream. I don't recommend it if you want to contribute your bug reports to Linux gaming community back properly.
nan60 1y ago
Based on benchmarks[1], CachyOS is slightly faster than other distros, only behind Clear Linux (RIP), but I would be extremely curious to see why this would warrant a whole who distro being created. These optimizations can (and probably will) be upstreamed into Arch Linux at some point in the future. Compiler optimizations are one thing, but enabling newer instruction sets doesn't improve performance sans some very specific workloads. This all seems like marketing hype to me with very little substance. [1] https://www.phoronix.com/review/cachyos-linux-perf https://www.phoronix.com/review/cachyos-linux-perf
- seaal 1y ago
  The small performance boost isn't the main reason most people install these distros instead of Arch, they rather have to spend hours reading the Arch wiki and instead want a GUI live boot installer, preconfigured desktop environments that just work with NVIDIA, built-in gaming-meta-packages that make gaming on Linux more bearable. I just recently made to switch to base Arch from Cachy so I can run Omarchy without any issues and it did take several hours of extra setup just to have a working system but it is nice knowing how to do it now.
  - nan60 1y ago
    I understand, but this distro doesn't bill itself as an "arch but for noobs" or something of the like like EndeavorOS does. It puts performance first and foremost, and I'm also making the (dangerous) assumption that Arch was chosen as the base for its reputation of being fast, up to date, and light, and not for any other reason(s). See also: constantcrying's comment
    - WD-42 1y ago
      Gentoo exists, and has been popular with those that simply enjoy the idea of their systems being slightly better optimized. There's really not much else to it.
      - rcxdude 1y ago
lawlessone 1y ago
Ubuntu always felt kinda bloated, one of the reasons i left windows.
Prunkton 1y ago
Since the headline is about gaming distros: I'm on a quiet similar OS for like 2 years now, Garuda. Also tuned for performance/gaming, arch based, btrfs etc. Biggest differences will probably be the zen kernel, pre installed gaming utils like lutris, fan control etc. and a probably less performant but highly customized default style. Its a curated version of Arch, releases drop in with a ~2w delay. It's brutally stable. As I said, I'm running the first installation for almost 2y now, doing my updates (everything comes with GUI support) daily to weekly and I faced one single hick up so far. I resolved it on the most user friendly way, picked the last snapshot during the boot (it automatically created before the update) and it acted like nothing ever happened. BTRFS with Timeshift works like magic for these rare edge cases. I wonder how it compares to CachyOS, will definitely test it in a few weeks on my laptop
vondur 1y ago
I've heard some good things about Bazzite, which is a Fedora immutable based gaming distro. I'm on a vanilla Arch install with the Zen kernel and been too lazy to try something different.
senectus1 1y ago
I like the idea of Arch, but find the work required to be onerous and the community toxic. I'm using Fedora at home, community is friendly and open then documentation is decent and the OS is just cutting edge without being bleeding edge. its all i need.

71 points by ekianjo 1y ago

I like CachyOS. It was fun until it stopped booting one day. Switched to Tumbleweed, but I'm ready for the same thing to happen.

scheeseman486 1y ago

I'm using it, having migrated from EndeavourOS. If one wants an easy mode Arch to play games it's a great choice.

ekianjo 1y ago
were you unsatisfied with EndeavourOS?
- scheeseman486 1y ago
  I mostly switched because I had a motherboard failure and while dealing with that took the opportunity to install it and try it out. I've found that most of the custom tools they've built are better, the default choices are smarter (particularly their kitted-out kernel) and documentation is more detailed, it was a breeze to install. Performance doesn't seem any worse, though I haven't run benchmarks or anything like that. EndeavourOS isn't bad, but I struggle to think of anything it does better.
  - ekianjo 1y ago
    thanks for sharing!

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

constantcrying 1y ago

Arch derivatives have to be one of the worst monkey paws for the Linux desktop. A person who can not install Arch Linux should not be managing their own Arch installation. Inevitably something will not work right and confusion and disappointment will set in as that person is completely unprepared to help themselves. Arch derivatives themselves are usually just worse versions of Arch with more problems. Manjaro being the worst offender there. Pushing those onto people, is not a good thing and if someone does not have the basic tech literacy to install Arch, they should not be using any Arch derivative. No, this isn't gate keeping. It is protecting people from inevitable disappointment and frustration, which can only harm Linux Desktop and Linux gaming.

ekianjo 1y ago
I somewhat agree with your comment, but there is definitely a space for something in between Ubuntu and a full-fledged Arch distro installed by hand. As in, not for beginners, but for intermediate users who want a taste of Arch without a strong commitment. Where I agree with you is that this approach has indeed failed several times before (Antergos and more recently Manjaro), but who knows, CachyOS may be different.
- constantcrying 1y ago
  Why? Any intermediary user can install Arch and is able to find their way through documentation. These distros also target completely new people, with very little or even zero, Linux experience. Someone like that is not done any favors by putting him in front of a pre configured Arch. They will run into problems they can not solve without substantial time commitments and that will lead to frustration and disappointment. At the very least these distros should be honest about what they are. From the top of the CachyOS Website: "Whether you're a seasoned Linux user or just starting out, CachyOS is the ideal choice for those looking for a powerful, customizable and blazingly fast operating system." This is doing a complete disservice to their potential users. This is ot the "ideal" distro for someone who never touched Linux.
  - cauefcr 1y ago

kelsey98765431 1y ago

Here I am using debian 12 to play counter strike 1.6 still, don't mind me

ahepp 1y ago

from CachyOS's web site: > CachyOS is designed to deliver lightning-fast speeds Ok, can we see the benchmarks on some popular video games, compared to vanilla Arch? Then let's compare it to Ubuntu for good measure. If they are making the claim that it's lightning fast, surely that has been measured?

amlib 1y ago
There are some extensive benchmarks in phoronix and it seems like CachyOS always stays ahead or even at the lead on both "first places" and the geometric mean of all tests.
- ahepp 1y ago
  > But if taking the geometric mean of all those benchmarks, CachyOS performance overall was similar to that of Fedora / EndeavourOS / Ubuntu while Clear Linux maintained a ~6.5% advantage overall compared to those other Linux distributions. from https://www.phoronix.com/review/cachyos-linux-perf https://www.phoronix.com/review/cachyos-linux-perf And that's without really digging deep into significance testing.
  - kokada 1y ago
    The benchmarks from this article are mostly focused in non-gaming workloads. If you look at the few games that was tested, it seems that CachyOS has some performance advantages, in some cases significantly so.
    - ahepp 1y ago
      It looks like they ran a bunch of open source games. Even the slowest combination in the benchmarks is getting over 500 FPS. Why wouldn't they just test it with normal commercial video games? It doesn't give me a lot of confidence.
      - kokada 1y ago

shmerl 1y ago

Feels like a hype distro to me since they package WIP / unreleased features as if they are released left and right. It's not even using upstream kernel. Many newcomers especially don't realize this and when they hit problems coming from these mods, they come to the realization that they can't report bugs upstream. I don't recommend it if you want to contribute your bug reports to Linux gaming community back properly.

nan60 1y ago

Based on benchmarks[1], CachyOS is slightly faster than other distros, only behind Clear Linux (RIP), but I would be extremely curious to see why this would warrant a whole who distro being created. These optimizations can (and probably will) be upstreamed into Arch Linux at some point in the future. Compiler optimizations are one thing, but enabling newer instruction sets doesn't improve performance sans some very specific workloads. This all seems like marketing hype to me with very little substance. [1] https://www.phoronix.com/review/cachyos-linux-perf https://www.phoronix.com/review/cachyos-linux-perf

seaal 1y ago
The small performance boost isn't the main reason most people install these distros instead of Arch, they rather have to spend hours reading the Arch wiki and instead want a GUI live boot installer, preconfigured desktop environments that just work with NVIDIA, built-in gaming-meta-packages that make gaming on Linux more bearable. I just recently made to switch to base Arch from Cachy so I can run Omarchy without any issues and it did take several hours of extra setup just to have a working system but it is nice knowing how to do it now.
- nan60 1y ago
  I understand, but this distro doesn't bill itself as an "arch but for noobs" or something of the like like EndeavorOS does. It puts performance first and foremost, and I'm also making the (dangerous) assumption that Arch was chosen as the base for its reputation of being fast, up to date, and light, and not for any other reason(s). See also: constantcrying's comment
  - WD-42 1y ago
    Gentoo exists, and has been popular with those that simply enjoy the idea of their systems being slightly better optimized. There's really not much else to it.
    - rcxdude 1y ago

lawlessone 1y ago

Ubuntu always felt kinda bloated, one of the reasons i left windows.

Prunkton 1y ago

Since the headline is about gaming distros: I'm on a quiet similar OS for like 2 years now, Garuda. Also tuned for performance/gaming, arch based, btrfs etc. Biggest differences will probably be the zen kernel, pre installed gaming utils like lutris, fan control etc. and a probably less performant but highly customized default style. Its a curated version of Arch, releases drop in with a ~2w delay. It's brutally stable. As I said, I'm running the first installation for almost 2y now, doing my updates (everything comes with GUI support) daily to weekly and I faced one single hick up so far. I resolved it on the most user friendly way, picked the last snapshot during the boot (it automatically created before the update) and it acted like nothing ever happened. BTRFS with Timeshift works like magic for these rare edge cases. I wonder how it compares to CachyOS, will definitely test it in a few weeks on my laptop

vondur 1y ago

I've heard some good things about Bazzite, which is a Fedora immutable based gaming distro. I'm on a vanilla Arch install with the Zen kernel and been too lazy to try something different.

senectus1 1y ago

I like the idea of Arch, but find the work required to be onerous and the community toxic. I'm using Fedora at home, community is friendly and open then documentation is decent and the OS is just cutting edge without being bleeding edge. its all i need.