4 Best Linux Distros for Gaming

These are some of the best Linux distros for gaming. These Linux distros have Proton, Steam, Nvidia drivers, emulators, and more built in.

Picture of a collection of Linux distros — A collection of Linux distros (Image via Valve | CachyOS Team | Nobara Linux Founder Thomas Crider | Bazzite Founder Kyle Gospodnetich)

The days of Linux gaming being viewed with disdain are long gone. In fact, Linux has surpassed Windows in a few games, provided you have an AMD GPU. That’s not to say Linux with an Nvidia GPU is bad, but the Nvidia Linux driver still lags a bit behind Radeon when it comes to delivering 1:1 performance parity with Windows or higher. However, the difference is now smaller than it has ever been. As for AMD Radeon users, you can get even higher frame rates than Windows, depending on the game.

Therefore, if you are thinking about switching from Windows to Linux with the intention of gaming, let us show a list of gaming-oriented Linux distros. These days, gaming-focused distros have Proton, Steam, Nvidia drivers, emulators, and more built in, which saves user effort. Essentially, these Linux distros are ready to launch your favorite games without the need for any major work from your side.

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Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinions.

Best Linux Distros You Should Install for Gaming

1) Bazzite

Picture describes Bazzite as one of the most popular Linux distros among gamers — Bazzite is one of the most popular Linux distros among gamers (Image via Bazzite Founder Kyle Gospodnetich)

Bazzite OS is designed with everything a gamer can possibly need, including deep Proton integration, Radeon & Nvidia GPU drivers built in, MangoHUD for FPS overlay, and emulators for a better out-of-the-box gaming experience. Moreover, Bazzite also includes Gamescope to deliver native FSR upscaling, VRR, screen tearing control, and more for every game. This is one of the best Linux distros for gamers switching from Windows.

2) CachyOS

Picture describes CachyOS as an OS built for speed and performance — CachyOS is built for speed and performance (Image via Valve | CachyOS Team)

Most Linux distros have specific goals or objectives, and CachyOS is no different. CachyOS is designed with speed and performance in mind. This distro uses Bore Scheduler instead of EEVDF. This leads to many performance improvements, but the team didn’t stop there.

They have added x86-64-v3/v4 compiled binaries, LTO/PGO builds, Proton-CachyOS, ZSTD compression & fast init, and more to achieve their goals of delivering the highest possible performance. CachyOS’s custom Proton implementation allows games to run out of the box with 5-10% higher average frame rates, depending on the game. The 1% and 0.1% frame rates also increase significantly compared to other distros.

3) SteamOS

Picture of SteamOS's Gaming Mode homescreen — SteamOS’s Gaming Mode homescreen (Image via Valve)

Do you love the Steam Deck and how it manages to efficiently play almost all Windows games without requiring major user intervention? The answer is SteamOS. Valve did an amazing job with SteamOS to the extent that it delivers higher performance in games on the Steam Deck compared to Windows on the same device.

Also, the Big Picture Mode provides a console-like experience, whether it is on a handheld device or PC. You can install SteamOS on your PC, provided you have a Radeon RX 6000/9000 series GPU. Unfortunately, SteamOS cannot be installed on any other GPUs, including Nvidia’s, at the moment. However, that may change when Valve releases it with Nvidia GPU support sooner rather than later.

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4) Nobara Linux

Picture of the homescreen of Nobara Linux — The homescreen of Nobara Linux (Image via Nobara Linux Founder Thomas Crider)

Nobara is based on Fedora and is created with an explicit focus on gaming. The founding member of Nobara Linux is Thomas Crider, who’s one of the developers behind Proton-GE, which makes Windows games on Linux a possibility. Therefore, you can tell how well optimized this distro is for gaming. Nobara Linux also has a dedicated driver manager to keep drivers always up-to-date and at the top of their performance. In fact, there are some specific gaming-related performance tweaks.

Also, Nobara supports the majority of game controllers out of the box. Nvidia drivers are built in and provide a full Wayland session. Therefore, both Nvidia and AMD can use it without any issues.

Conclusion

Each Linux distro brings something unique to the table. They all have their pros and cons. However, for first-time Linux gamers, we would recommend Bazzite. For more seasoned users who want top-notch performance in both apps and games, we recommend CachyOS. If you want only gaming or plan to play on a large TV, SteamOS would be the better choice.

However, Steam OS can only be installed on a modern AMD Radeon GPU. Nonetheless, if you want gaming as well as a generally stable desktop experience for watching movies, work, or other things, Nobara Linux can be the perfect choice. After all, it is built on an established and stable distro, such as Fedora.

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4 Best Linux Distros for Gaming