GPU Testing in Linux: AMD Shows Better Gaming Performance

The technical channel Gamers Nexus has completed a comprehensive testing project aimed at determining how ready Linux, represented by the gaming distro Bazzite, is to replace Windows for the average gamer. The results were both revealing and promising, uncovering a significant imbalance between the GPU manufacturers.

In the study, eight modern graphics cards from the three key vendors were tested across seven new games, using the Bazzite distribution as the platform, which is positioned as a stable, ready-for-gaming solution. The key finding was the unstable performance of NVIDIA cards, where instead of the expected dominance, the flagship RTX 5090 in some cases showed results on par with, or even worse than, more affordable models from the competition.

In Starfield, all tested NVIDIA cards, regardless of price segment, demonstrated nearly identical performance. Furthermore, the RTX 5090 was slightly behind the much cheaper Radeon RX 9070 XT. A similar situation was observed in the native Linux build of Baldur's Gate 3, where the flagship couldn't outperform not only its AMD competitor but also the junior model in its own lineup—the RTX 5070. The issue was only resolved by running the Windows version of the game through the Proton compatibility layer.

Another pain point for NVIDIA solutions was Black Myth: Wukong. Here, while the average frame rate was high, the company's graphics adapters showed serious stuttering in the 1% and 0.1% Low FPS metrics. AMD's cards in the same game performed significantly more stably. In other titles, such as Dragon's Dogma 2 and Resident Evil 4, NVIDIA graphics cards performed respectably; however, AMD's solutions often proved more effective within their price class. For instance, the Radeon RX 9070 XT in Dragon's Dogma 2 delivered performance on par with the more expensive GeForce RTX 5080.

Experts link this situation to the state of NVIDIA's proprietary Linux drivers, which, despite the company's claims of openness, continue to lag behind their Windows counterparts in terms of optimization. Meanwhile, AMD's open-source driver ecosystem proves to be better adapted for gaming under Linux.

The testing results point to two important facts: firstly, Linux, specifically the Bazzite distribution, has become a fully viable platform for gaming, with the majority of modern titles indeed launching and being playable; and secondly, when building a gaming PC for this OS, one must be more deliberate in choosing a graphics card, as the usual balance of power can be drastically different.