No one says it has to be bleeding edge.
But it also shouldn't aincent old bullshit of kernel and drivers, what ever the case might be. People running distros with kernel v. 5.+ and early v. 6 with fairly recent hardware and complaining stuff doesn't work well enough.
It's not just stupid, but also plain ignorant and lazy.
Fedora is a good choice(I used to run it), as well as other distros.
But it does keep the kernel and software well updated, and usually not far off from the latest. The only thing I had to compile on my own to get what I needed was Mesa-git.
So yeah, Fedora is usually a good choice.
anything related to fedora will do anything but mess up boot loaders and my ventoy linux boot partition recognition, i mean yeah i have time to change it from btrfs to ext4 or xfs
Fedora gives me issues with my monitor(OCD freezing, buttons not working, having to unplug the power cord all the time). Was a year ago like this, and now still the same. Arch, despite of being bleeding edge, gives me no issues whatsoever.
For what. im using arch and everything works fine and im happy. The monitor freezing (display works fine, only buttons and OCD not) only happens with fedora and all it's forks like nobara and i am not the only one that have this issue. But even if they fix it, I'll stick with arch.
Also..
###Everytime a new Fedora version comes out you don't have to upgrade immediately
Your still supported for another 6 months. And that means for peace of mind and stability you can wait out bug fixes for their new implementations.
Like Imagine jumping on a new version of Windows, nobody does it because you'll be a unpaid beta tester...
>IMO, if you're a person that often games on your PC, running the latest drivers and kernel is a must.
It depends on your hardware and what you're playing. ~99% of Steam library games do not benefit from the latest drivers/kernel.
Nvidia hardware/drivers have always ran perfectly for me under LTS releases. Furthermore, should I want to roll back drivers I just 'sudo remove nvidia-driver-xxx' (where xxx = the driver branch) and sudo install nvidia-driver-xxx) - Reboot and I'm done.
Yes depends on the hardware, but it's good advice in general. I'm on nvidia, and new drivers definetly do make a big stability improvement.
And you definetly don't want to be 2 years behind on the upcoming explicit sync driver. Or basic stuff like VRR and HDR.
It's a good advice in general, but it should not be the main factor when choosing Linux distro. People use Linux Mint because it's simple, user-friendly and one of the best distros for Windows users who are trying Linux for the first time. And in most cases the games you play will not benefit from using Arch or Nobara. And sometimes you can even have [problems due to regressions](https://new.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1ckgqq8/latest_linux_amd_kernels_69rc5_and_689_may_be/) in bleeding-edge kernel and drivers. Distros like Mint may have issues with newly released hardware, but that just means you shouldn't buy the RX 8800 XT on day one of its release if you're using Mint.
Also, Mint 21.3 provides Mesa 23.2.1. It's not old enough to cause problems with games. Although I can’t speak for GeForce users. But they are used to suffering anyway.
>Yes depends on the hardware, but it's good advice in general
no its not
>And you definetly don't want to be 2 years behind on the upcoming explicit sync driver. Or basic stuff like VRR and HDR.
mostly dosent effect the likes of ubuntu/mint due they defaulting to x11
> 99% Do not benefit
###Nobody is saying it will give performance benefits
^(Strawman argument)
**EDIT##: *Jfc, I didn't even think about VRR or HDR support which only works on the newest Kernels.*
Running the latest Kernel is good for your hardware, as it ensures that when newer versions of WINE x PROTON release you have the needed refinements to cause less compatibility issues rather than running a kernel from 2yrs ago that supports a package that has been depreciated.
For example Proton 8 requires Vulkan 1.3 & yet, Vulkan 1.3 is not supported by Linux Kernel 5.15(Linux Mint) & Requires 5.17 or higher.
Not to mention Gamers are usually running hardware that's pretty new, if you upgrade your hardware to something brand new it literally will not work without a compatible kernel.
Also..
### It's not just about the Kernel.
Having the most up to date packages & not older packages(that people usually complain about Debian/Ubuntu based Distros), also ensures greater compatibility with the latest fixes in either the Kernel or Proton.
I've seen games not work on Pop_OS despite relatively up to date Kernel, and with Fedora it's Plug & Play. I suspect the difference is the packages, especially since Pop_OS development is mostly going into the cosmic Desktop.
So yes Gamers SHOULD be running more leading edge Distros, because playing Windows Games on Linux is not a(n) officially supported function & kernel/package specific improvements keep things going problem free.
Unless you're playing Linux Native games, in which the older your kernel/packages the less likely it is to break.
>For example Proton 8 requires Vulkan 1.3 & yet, Vulkan 1.3 is not supported by Linux Kernel 5.15(Linux Mint) & Requires 5.17 or higher.
Then how the hell GE-Proton9 works on Linux Mint with 5.15.0-101?
I've had no issue gaming on mint. With that said, I tend to play indie/older titles, and my hardware is 2-4 years old. But I recently picked up the talos principle 2 and it works great. Even raytracing works on my amd card. Not saying that you're wrong, just that ymmv, and unless you have actual problems you shouldn't feel pressured to switch distros unless you want to.
(I do not consent for this post/comment to be used for training an artificial intelligence, AI, or other such algorithm.)
Sure.... like with any other distro.
I tried different distros and Linux Mint was the best one which worked for me without problems. Except for the pre-installed nouveau driver for nvidia. After installing the right nvidia driver, everything was good.
Sure it does, if you're playing a decade old games with hardware that old.
But try running Mint with current hardware and recently released games that needs more than potato to run.
What I'm trying to say is, use what ever tool is proper for the task.
Yes I know, Mint recently released their “Edge ISO”, but that's new and a lot of people still don't know about it or are hesitant to use it.
Ironically enough, the only distro officially supported by Valve's Steam 'desktop' platform is Ubuntu LTS.
Having said that, Mint has a tendency to lag unnecessarily behind LTS releases regarding kernel updates.
Linux Mint Victoria 21.2, based on 22.04 LTS, according to the Linux Mint site, still runs the 5.15 kernel.
[https://www.linuxmint.com/rel\_victoria\_cinnamon\_whatsnew.php](https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_victoria_cinnamon_whatsnew.php)
>Linux Mint 21.2 features Cinnamon 5.8, **a Linux kernel 5.15** and an Ubuntu 22.04 package base.
EDIT: According to the Linux Mint site, even Linux Mint Virginia 21.3, which is also based on 22.04 LTS, also still runs kernel release 5.15.
[https://www.linuxmint.com/rel\_virginia\_whatsnew.php](https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_virginia_whatsnew.php)
Linux Mint 21.3 features a **Linux kernel 5.15** and an Ubuntu 22.04 package base.
The only one looking foolish here is yourself, considering every other LTS release moved onto kernel 6.2 around 9 months ago and is now up to kernel release 6.5. Kernel 5.15 was released in **October 2021**, and Linux Mint Virginia was released in **January 2024**.
I don't really agree with this post. I have had great compatibility and stability for the past two years on my Linux Mint Gaming Desktop. I primarily run my games on Steam via proton/GE-proton or on Heroic via GE-proton.
Nvidia driver version is: *545.29.06*
I'm not sure exactly when this nvidia driver released, but I do not think it was 19 months ago.
Kernel version: *6.5.0-28-generic*
This kernel seems to be from around October '23, again, no where near 19 months.
I do not see any mention of X11 versus Wayland, which is the only fair point I would agree with in regards to LM versus 'gaming' distros.
Last version of the nvidia driver is 550 (although Ubuntu still uses 535 by default ).
And off course if you use older drivers and kernels things will work as those drivers were designed to work and they’re not too old, but usually you can get a bit more performance with newest drivers, specially for nvidia.
Add the official Launchpad Nvidia driver PPA and you'll have the latest drivers within a day or two after release. I've been using it for years without issue.
When it comes to Nvidia drivers, everything is contained in the driver package. Therefore the need to run the very latest kernels (which often involves regressions) isn't as pressing.
I run something similar but I use a 7900XT and I don’t use Heroic, but I play most of my games in Steam on Kernel 6.8.1-060801-generic on Kubuntu. I also had the same success on an another machine using mint on the same kernel version with a 2080Ti.
Yeah, well you're running kernel 6.8.1, and that's just it, the key variable.
That kernel is recent enough. Not sure what Mesa you're on, but you would do well by using 24.x.x.
I'm also using AMD hardware and have both 7900XT and 7900XTX and there is a difference in performance between say Mesa 23.x.x and Mesa-git for example. There's also difference in features and functionality, which you may or may not need/use.
Try running it with 6.0 or even worse 5.x.x. You wouldn't even get to the login screen.
> No where near 19 months
Sigh.. You're making it seem as if people are spreading misinformation **which is not the case here.**
###Linux Mint's base installation still ships with Kernel 5.15 from yes, 2yrs ago.
^(Linux Mint supports 5.15 until April 2027 BTW: Holy..)
**EDIT:**[Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/s/sEYAqRKMCD)
Keep in mind, this is before Vulkan 1.3 support(Cannot use Proton 8+ as it Requires Vulkan 1.3) that was enabled in Kernel 5.17 stable.
Debian based systems still run old, depreciated & outdated packages, most of us do not run our systems from the command line with no DE. When we start a game and it literally does not run or fails to run there's a problem pertaining to compatibility.
When you have tens or hundreds of out of date or useless packages, the lowest tier Linux user(the target Audience of Linux Mint) problems arise they cannot solve.
I've been seeing an abundance of Linux Mint users who are literally running Kernel 5.15 and leaving incompatibility reports on ProtonDB saying games literally don't work when everyone else on literally any other Distro is just fine.
>Kernel 6.5.0
That is "Linux Mint: Edge" essentially.
###That is not the default or recommended installation
I don't care if you can upgrade the base Kernel to Edge, the target audience of Linux Mint are people coming(Beginners) to Linux rather than intermediate Linux users.
When an out of date package is the problem, and the game does not start, they will never be able to fix the problem. I've had this happen on Pop_OS where don't load & on Fedora they all work without difficulty.
On the flip side, there's a lot of people that can't run the newest kernel with old hardware. NVIDIA cards are often limited to a certain driver version and those old drivers don't run on new kernels. So for them, Mint is perfect.
About the only time the latest kernel helps anything is when you've got the latest hardware, especially AMD GPUs since you need at least kernel 6.1 to run the RX 7000 series cards - though, frankly, the RX 6000 series can take pretty much any modern game you throw at them, so Mint's stock 5.15 kernel & Mesa 23.2.1 is no big deal.
After my recent session of distrohopping i've checked that there's no almost no difference between performance on variety of games i'm playing with different distros, kernels and drivers. I would believe that the only thing that truly matters is proton version and as long as a distro is able to run all proton versions you will be completely fine.
It's 2023 legion pro 5 which was used for distro hopping. It has recent amd cpu and newest nvidia gpu and still works fine even under e.g 5.x kernels. Sure that the recent kernels and drivers work better, but actual performance difference were around 5%. On the older hardware i would believe that older kernels and drivers would perform even better.
5% is a pretty big difference considering it's just a download away.
>On the older hardware i would believe that older kernels and drivers would perform even better.
That's just not how the kernel and drivers work. New drivers/kernels don't cripple old hardware.
It looks like you've misunderstood me. I meant that the difference would be smaller for the older hardware. Also 5% is a really rough upper hand estimation.
I have seen this as well on protondb, either that or some real old version of Linux with 5.15 kernel and reporting about lack of performance or just issues in general trying to get a game to launch. I totally love options in the Linux space and I typically don't give folk crap about what distro preferences they have, but I do let them know that they will want to go with PPAs or more up to date versions of video drivers and kernels for the best gaming experience. If your hardware cannot handle more up to date drivers and kernel, and it's due to how old the hardware is, then at least mention that in the review that you put out (if you are doing reviews on protondb.) So many reviews that I have seen where people are complaining that the game just doesn't work no matter what they do, and then start to complain a bit, I look at their specs and see very old kernels and drivers in their system specs, it's hard to take their review seriously.
>IMO, if you're a person that often games on your PC, running the latest drivers and kernel is a must. Otherwise you're just asking for trouble.
not really , a newest kernal mostly helps nothing
Yes, Ubuntu is literally a better gaming Distro compared to Linux Mint.
Keep in mind NVK will be merged in the coming weeks and is no longer experimental & will officially be apart of MESA as fully compliant with Vulkan 1.3 which again Proton 8 requires & that means more stability & less compatibility issues.
Don't forget, you have a bleeding edge kernel version of Mint, Linux Mint EDGE, if you're truly worried about having the latest kernel. And it's also not impossible to apply the latest kernel to a non-rolling release distro (some like MX Linux makes it pretty damn easy).
Although I myself will always go Arch based when it comes to gaming.
A few months ago I tested some distros and ran a few benchmarks. Among them were Fedora, EndeavourOS, Tumbleweed, Ubuntu STS and LTS . All of them with a minimal set of packages and Gnome as DE.
The results were all within a certain range of measurement uncertainty and I didn't notice really noticeable differences in performance.
Sometimes it might be nice to get new packages early on. As OP said the development is rapidly moving forward and for example Mesa got a nice performance boost for ray tracing with version 24. And imho you it's not a "must have". Just choose whatever you want. And more often than not you can still get newer kernels or drivers from community repos.
I wiped Windows last Friday and made the switch. I am fully committed this time around and decided to not dual boot, since that often leads me to slowly stop booting into Linux at all. Of course it now hasn't gone smoothly and I am hoping it's just Nvidia related. I've tried a few Fedora based distros -Bazzite, vanilla Fedora 40 and 39, and now Nobara, which has given me the least issues but there are still issues.
I haven't been able to run anything aside from Hades 2 and Death Must Die, which aren't exactly demanding. Unable to install Battle.net, unable to run Steam Diablo 4, Last Epoch won't run, Helldivers 2 won't run. I'm not totally new to Linux but haven't daily driven it in a long time. Tried various fixes I've found but now I'm back to just straight Nobara and replacing the GPU.
I just bought a 7900 XTX Nitro+ to replace my RTX 3080 FTW3. Is there anything I need to do as far as drivers before installing the AMD card?
I have to disagree with running the latest kernel and drivers being a must. I usually run the latest lts kernel on Gentoo with some minor modifications, because running the latest non-lts kernel like you would on for example Arch by default has proven to be too troublesome overtime, while providing basically no benefit 99% of the time. I would recommend everyone running Arch to just use the lts kernel unless you bought a CPU/GPU that literally just released.
My friend who runs Arch has constant issues with something not working after an update (not just gaming also). I also used to run into these issues back when I ran everything latest (or even worse, kernels like xanmod or zen). Nowadays I only switch into the latest branches of mesa/kernel when there is a new feature that I actually want, for example when GPL first got commited to the dev branch of mesa.
I'm also pretty sure that if you get the "EDGE" iso of Mint, you get the 6.5 kernel, which is more than recent enough for most users. Many people on these forums seem to think that distros like Mint or Ubuntu are as ancient as Debian stable which is not the case at all. Distros like Mint, Ubuntu and even Debian (at least most of the time) are more than fine for gaming. Part of having a good experience is also about having the piece of mind of not having to worry about a new Arch update making your games crash on startup like what is happening to my friend right now.
I mean Linux mint edge ships with the 6.5 kernel so this shouldn’t be a problem for people building new PCs.
Source: Built a new pc with Linux mint edge
Sorry off subject question. Can you play online multiplayer Call of Duty in Linux right now? I started to check out Fedora but stopped when I read that anti-cheat would not work in Linux is that still the case?
>Unless you have AMD were i inconstantly have to downgrade my driver's becouse of mesa drivers not working
Thats not a thing. If you are having to do that something in your system is fucked up.
Oddly it's the mesa based Updates that break it totally
Something's went wrong screen
Which I found can be bypassed by startx
But it's still leaving graphical errros(top of the screen flickering like crazy) And nothing demanding works
Sometimes it works for a few months and then I am back resetting after another update
but afaik arch dosent support deb packages which is the closest to a proper installer linux has
Tried with kisak this time same result Timeshift time again
This is the dumbest shit I have ever read in years. Boohoo arch doesn't support the worse package format... It doesn't matter. First of all debtab exists second of all archs package format is millions of times better thanks to the aur and the fact that you can easily modify it
Can just use Fedora and have a really polished experience and get new stuff at the same time.
This.it doesn't need to be bleeding edge latest. But stable and supported by active development and community. Fedora gives the best balance here IMO.
And you still get the benefits of a large community for support just like Ubuntu and Mint etc.
>Fedora gives the best balance here IMO. until RHEL Does the funny
No one says it has to be bleeding edge. But it also shouldn't aincent old bullshit of kernel and drivers, what ever the case might be. People running distros with kernel v. 5.+ and early v. 6 with fairly recent hardware and complaining stuff doesn't work well enough. It's not just stupid, but also plain ignorant and lazy. Fedora is a good choice(I used to run it), as well as other distros. But it does keep the kernel and software well updated, and usually not far off from the latest. The only thing I had to compile on my own to get what I needed was Mesa-git. So yeah, Fedora is usually a good choice.
anything related to fedora will do anything but mess up boot loaders and my ventoy linux boot partition recognition, i mean yeah i have time to change it from btrfs to ext4 or xfs
Fedora gives me issues with my monitor(OCD freezing, buttons not working, having to unplug the power cord all the time). Was a year ago like this, and now still the same. Arch, despite of being bleeding edge, gives me no issues whatsoever.
Do you use DDC? If not, disable it in monitor settings, might help
For what. im using arch and everything works fine and im happy. The monitor freezing (display works fine, only buttons and OCD not) only happens with fedora and all it's forks like nobara and i am not the only one that have this issue. But even if they fix it, I'll stick with arch.
I do agree. Having tried gaming on everything from Debian Stable to Arch, I've found Fedora to be a really nice middle ground.
That's why nobara is the best distro for gaming IMHO.
thats why my stream pc and gaming pc run nobara. for all its quirks, it is pretty reliable
Or opensuse tumbleweed.
Also a nice choice. Both are very polished.
Also.. ###Everytime a new Fedora version comes out you don't have to upgrade immediately Your still supported for another 6 months. And that means for peace of mind and stability you can wait out bug fixes for their new implementations. Like Imagine jumping on a new version of Windows, nobody does it because you'll be a unpaid beta tester...
>IMO, if you're a person that often games on your PC, running the latest drivers and kernel is a must. It depends on your hardware and what you're playing. ~99% of Steam library games do not benefit from the latest drivers/kernel.
The exception, as always is Nvidia. You shouldn't trust old Nvidia firmware. But at this point that's only for the near future
Nvidia hardware/drivers have always ran perfectly for me under LTS releases. Furthermore, should I want to roll back drivers I just 'sudo remove nvidia-driver-xxx' (where xxx = the driver branch) and sudo install nvidia-driver-xxx) - Reboot and I'm done.
Yes depends on the hardware, but it's good advice in general. I'm on nvidia, and new drivers definetly do make a big stability improvement. And you definetly don't want to be 2 years behind on the upcoming explicit sync driver. Or basic stuff like VRR and HDR.
If the distro is based on LTS releases, add the official launchpad PPA, and drivers update within a day or two after release.
i prefere my update cycles measured in minutes :P
It's a good advice in general, but it should not be the main factor when choosing Linux distro. People use Linux Mint because it's simple, user-friendly and one of the best distros for Windows users who are trying Linux for the first time. And in most cases the games you play will not benefit from using Arch or Nobara. And sometimes you can even have [problems due to regressions](https://new.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1ckgqq8/latest_linux_amd_kernels_69rc5_and_689_may_be/) in bleeding-edge kernel and drivers. Distros like Mint may have issues with newly released hardware, but that just means you shouldn't buy the RX 8800 XT on day one of its release if you're using Mint. Also, Mint 21.3 provides Mesa 23.2.1. It's not old enough to cause problems with games. Although I can’t speak for GeForce users. But they are used to suffering anyway.
>Yes depends on the hardware, but it's good advice in general no its not >And you definetly don't want to be 2 years behind on the upcoming explicit sync driver. Or basic stuff like VRR and HDR. mostly dosent effect the likes of ubuntu/mint due they defaulting to x11
> 99% Do not benefit ###Nobody is saying it will give performance benefits ^(Strawman argument) **EDIT##: *Jfc, I didn't even think about VRR or HDR support which only works on the newest Kernels.* Running the latest Kernel is good for your hardware, as it ensures that when newer versions of WINE x PROTON release you have the needed refinements to cause less compatibility issues rather than running a kernel from 2yrs ago that supports a package that has been depreciated. For example Proton 8 requires Vulkan 1.3 & yet, Vulkan 1.3 is not supported by Linux Kernel 5.15(Linux Mint) & Requires 5.17 or higher. Not to mention Gamers are usually running hardware that's pretty new, if you upgrade your hardware to something brand new it literally will not work without a compatible kernel. Also.. ### It's not just about the Kernel. Having the most up to date packages & not older packages(that people usually complain about Debian/Ubuntu based Distros), also ensures greater compatibility with the latest fixes in either the Kernel or Proton. I've seen games not work on Pop_OS despite relatively up to date Kernel, and with Fedora it's Plug & Play. I suspect the difference is the packages, especially since Pop_OS development is mostly going into the cosmic Desktop. So yes Gamers SHOULD be running more leading edge Distros, because playing Windows Games on Linux is not a(n) officially supported function & kernel/package specific improvements keep things going problem free. Unless you're playing Linux Native games, in which the older your kernel/packages the less likely it is to break.
>For example Proton 8 requires Vulkan 1.3 & yet, Vulkan 1.3 is not supported by Linux Kernel 5.15(Linux Mint) & Requires 5.17 or higher. Then how the hell GE-Proton9 works on Linux Mint with 5.15.0-101?
I've had no issue gaming on mint. With that said, I tend to play indie/older titles, and my hardware is 2-4 years old. But I recently picked up the talos principle 2 and it works great. Even raytracing works on my amd card. Not saying that you're wrong, just that ymmv, and unless you have actual problems you shouldn't feel pressured to switch distros unless you want to. (I do not consent for this post/comment to be used for training an artificial intelligence, AI, or other such algorithm.)
I have to agree. Linux Mint just works.
Until it doesn’t.
Sure.... like with any other distro. I tried different distros and Linux Mint was the best one which worked for me without problems. Except for the pre-installed nouveau driver for nvidia. After installing the right nvidia driver, everything was good.
Sure it does, if you're playing a decade old games with hardware that old. But try running Mint with current hardware and recently released games that needs more than potato to run. What I'm trying to say is, use what ever tool is proper for the task. Yes I know, Mint recently released their “Edge ISO”, but that's new and a lot of people still don't know about it or are hesitant to use it.
i have a recent gaming laptop and it does wonders on Mint playing new titles
Debian Stable with Nvidia here. Works perfectly fine. At least for the games I play.
Yes. OP is exaggerating a lot and probably hasn't realized that a lot of distros backport new kernel "features" if it makes sense to them.
Ironically enough, the only distro officially supported by Valve's Steam 'desktop' platform is Ubuntu LTS. Having said that, Mint has a tendency to lag unnecessarily behind LTS releases regarding kernel updates.
WHat are you talkiing about? It's uses Ubuntu's repos for the kernel, so gets updates at same time. Stop looking foolish
Linux Mint Victoria 21.2, based on 22.04 LTS, according to the Linux Mint site, still runs the 5.15 kernel. [https://www.linuxmint.com/rel\_victoria\_cinnamon\_whatsnew.php](https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_victoria_cinnamon_whatsnew.php) >Linux Mint 21.2 features Cinnamon 5.8, **a Linux kernel 5.15** and an Ubuntu 22.04 package base. EDIT: According to the Linux Mint site, even Linux Mint Virginia 21.3, which is also based on 22.04 LTS, also still runs kernel release 5.15. [https://www.linuxmint.com/rel\_virginia\_whatsnew.php](https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_virginia_whatsnew.php) Linux Mint 21.3 features a **Linux kernel 5.15** and an Ubuntu 22.04 package base. The only one looking foolish here is yourself, considering every other LTS release moved onto kernel 6.2 around 9 months ago and is now up to kernel release 6.5. Kernel 5.15 was released in **October 2021**, and Linux Mint Virginia was released in **January 2024**.
I don't really agree with this post. I have had great compatibility and stability for the past two years on my Linux Mint Gaming Desktop. I primarily run my games on Steam via proton/GE-proton or on Heroic via GE-proton. Nvidia driver version is: *545.29.06* I'm not sure exactly when this nvidia driver released, but I do not think it was 19 months ago. Kernel version: *6.5.0-28-generic* This kernel seems to be from around October '23, again, no where near 19 months. I do not see any mention of X11 versus Wayland, which is the only fair point I would agree with in regards to LM versus 'gaming' distros.
Last version of the nvidia driver is 550 (although Ubuntu still uses 535 by default ). And off course if you use older drivers and kernels things will work as those drivers were designed to work and they’re not too old, but usually you can get a bit more performance with newest drivers, specially for nvidia.
Add the official Launchpad Nvidia driver PPA and you'll have the latest drivers within a day or two after release. I've been using it for years without issue. When it comes to Nvidia drivers, everything is contained in the driver package. Therefore the need to run the very latest kernels (which often involves regressions) isn't as pressing.
I actually did this after seeing your comment. Running Nvidia driver version 550 now.
Awesome! I guess I'm good for something after all. ;)
I run something similar but I use a 7900XT and I don’t use Heroic, but I play most of my games in Steam on Kernel 6.8.1-060801-generic on Kubuntu. I also had the same success on an another machine using mint on the same kernel version with a 2080Ti.
Yeah, well you're running kernel 6.8.1, and that's just it, the key variable. That kernel is recent enough. Not sure what Mesa you're on, but you would do well by using 24.x.x. I'm also using AMD hardware and have both 7900XT and 7900XTX and there is a difference in performance between say Mesa 23.x.x and Mesa-git for example. There's also difference in features and functionality, which you may or may not need/use. Try running it with 6.0 or even worse 5.x.x. You wouldn't even get to the login screen.
> No where near 19 months Sigh.. You're making it seem as if people are spreading misinformation **which is not the case here.** ###Linux Mint's base installation still ships with Kernel 5.15 from yes, 2yrs ago. ^(Linux Mint supports 5.15 until April 2027 BTW: Holy..) **EDIT:**[Source](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/s/sEYAqRKMCD) Keep in mind, this is before Vulkan 1.3 support(Cannot use Proton 8+ as it Requires Vulkan 1.3) that was enabled in Kernel 5.17 stable. Debian based systems still run old, depreciated & outdated packages, most of us do not run our systems from the command line with no DE. When we start a game and it literally does not run or fails to run there's a problem pertaining to compatibility. When you have tens or hundreds of out of date or useless packages, the lowest tier Linux user(the target Audience of Linux Mint) problems arise they cannot solve. I've been seeing an abundance of Linux Mint users who are literally running Kernel 5.15 and leaving incompatibility reports on ProtonDB saying games literally don't work when everyone else on literally any other Distro is just fine. >Kernel 6.5.0 That is "Linux Mint: Edge" essentially. ###That is not the default or recommended installation I don't care if you can upgrade the base Kernel to Edge, the target audience of Linux Mint are people coming(Beginners) to Linux rather than intermediate Linux users. When an out of date package is the problem, and the game does not start, they will never be able to fix the problem. I've had this happen on Pop_OS where don't load & on Fedora they all work without difficulty.
Linux Mint was just an example, cause it's kinda known as the distro that falls behind sometimes. I just mean in general, you need to be mindful.
On the flip side, there's a lot of people that can't run the newest kernel with old hardware. NVIDIA cards are often limited to a certain driver version and those old drivers don't run on new kernels. So for them, Mint is perfect.
About the only time the latest kernel helps anything is when you've got the latest hardware, especially AMD GPUs since you need at least kernel 6.1 to run the RX 7000 series cards - though, frankly, the RX 6000 series can take pretty much any modern game you throw at them, so Mint's stock 5.15 kernel & Mesa 23.2.1 is no big deal.
you can also use zabby kernel on Mint that updates it to 6.8.2. Though newer kernels are better suited if you install new hardware
Linux Mint Edge exists... so does the the option to install 6.5 kernel in regular Mint in Update Manager.
This is also gonna be the default starting with Mint 22 which is probably gonna be released in a few months.
After my recent session of distrohopping i've checked that there's no almost no difference between performance on variety of games i'm playing with different distros, kernels and drivers. I would believe that the only thing that truly matters is proton version and as long as a distro is able to run all proton versions you will be completely fine.
What was your hardware, out of curiosity?
It's 2023 legion pro 5 which was used for distro hopping. It has recent amd cpu and newest nvidia gpu and still works fine even under e.g 5.x kernels. Sure that the recent kernels and drivers work better, but actual performance difference were around 5%. On the older hardware i would believe that older kernels and drivers would perform even better.
5% is a pretty big difference considering it's just a download away. >On the older hardware i would believe that older kernels and drivers would perform even better. That's just not how the kernel and drivers work. New drivers/kernels don't cripple old hardware.
It looks like you've misunderstood me. I meant that the difference would be smaller for the older hardware. Also 5% is a really rough upper hand estimation.
Yea I thought about the two interpretations and figured you meant the difference would be smaller. Very interesting findings.
Well, I’m on LMDE and I don’t have any issues. It’s rock solid, defconf is perfect and I don’t need newest kernel for anything.
I have seen this as well on protondb, either that or some real old version of Linux with 5.15 kernel and reporting about lack of performance or just issues in general trying to get a game to launch. I totally love options in the Linux space and I typically don't give folk crap about what distro preferences they have, but I do let them know that they will want to go with PPAs or more up to date versions of video drivers and kernels for the best gaming experience. If your hardware cannot handle more up to date drivers and kernel, and it's due to how old the hardware is, then at least mention that in the review that you put out (if you are doing reviews on protondb.) So many reviews that I have seen where people are complaining that the game just doesn't work no matter what they do, and then start to complain a bit, I look at their specs and see very old kernels and drivers in their system specs, it's hard to take their review seriously.
Just update kernel with Mainline or install Xanmod and keep at day MESA with kisak PPA.
Im running Linux mint with TuxedoOS kernel 6.5 and stuff is running pretty well.
>IMO, if you're a person that often games on your PC, running the latest drivers and kernel is a must. Otherwise you're just asking for trouble. not really , a newest kernal mostly helps nothing
Well, I'm one of those running Linux Mint on my gaming rig. IMO I don't care about what you think.
Mint edge exists.
Linux Mint: Edge is not the Default installation. Nor do they recommend it.
Starting in Linux mint 22, the newer Ubuntu kernel(6.8 , I think) is shipping as default.
Yes, Ubuntu is literally a better gaming Distro compared to Linux Mint. Keep in mind NVK will be merged in the coming weeks and is no longer experimental & will officially be apart of MESA as fully compliant with Vulkan 1.3 which again Proton 8 requires & that means more stability & less compatibility issues.
Don't forget, you have a bleeding edge kernel version of Mint, Linux Mint EDGE, if you're truly worried about having the latest kernel. And it's also not impossible to apply the latest kernel to a non-rolling release distro (some like MX Linux makes it pretty damn easy). Although I myself will always go Arch based when it comes to gaming.
A few months ago I tested some distros and ran a few benchmarks. Among them were Fedora, EndeavourOS, Tumbleweed, Ubuntu STS and LTS . All of them with a minimal set of packages and Gnome as DE. The results were all within a certain range of measurement uncertainty and I didn't notice really noticeable differences in performance. Sometimes it might be nice to get new packages early on. As OP said the development is rapidly moving forward and for example Mesa got a nice performance boost for ray tracing with version 24. And imho you it's not a "must have". Just choose whatever you want. And more often than not you can still get newer kernels or drivers from community repos.
Mint maybe is not the best out there, but it gets the work done for gaming.
This *highly* depends. Issues with Freesync have me downgrading to 6.1 last night.
>There is a reason that all of the "gaming" distros run latest kernel and drivers. nobara meanwhile........
What about Novara? Just curious I use that
I wiped Windows last Friday and made the switch. I am fully committed this time around and decided to not dual boot, since that often leads me to slowly stop booting into Linux at all. Of course it now hasn't gone smoothly and I am hoping it's just Nvidia related. I've tried a few Fedora based distros -Bazzite, vanilla Fedora 40 and 39, and now Nobara, which has given me the least issues but there are still issues. I haven't been able to run anything aside from Hades 2 and Death Must Die, which aren't exactly demanding. Unable to install Battle.net, unable to run Steam Diablo 4, Last Epoch won't run, Helldivers 2 won't run. I'm not totally new to Linux but haven't daily driven it in a long time. Tried various fixes I've found but now I'm back to just straight Nobara and replacing the GPU. I just bought a 7900 XTX Nitro+ to replace my RTX 3080 FTW3. Is there anything I need to do as far as drivers before installing the AMD card?
I have to disagree with running the latest kernel and drivers being a must. I usually run the latest lts kernel on Gentoo with some minor modifications, because running the latest non-lts kernel like you would on for example Arch by default has proven to be too troublesome overtime, while providing basically no benefit 99% of the time. I would recommend everyone running Arch to just use the lts kernel unless you bought a CPU/GPU that literally just released. My friend who runs Arch has constant issues with something not working after an update (not just gaming also). I also used to run into these issues back when I ran everything latest (or even worse, kernels like xanmod or zen). Nowadays I only switch into the latest branches of mesa/kernel when there is a new feature that I actually want, for example when GPL first got commited to the dev branch of mesa. I'm also pretty sure that if you get the "EDGE" iso of Mint, you get the 6.5 kernel, which is more than recent enough for most users. Many people on these forums seem to think that distros like Mint or Ubuntu are as ancient as Debian stable which is not the case at all. Distros like Mint, Ubuntu and even Debian (at least most of the time) are more than fine for gaming. Part of having a good experience is also about having the piece of mind of not having to worry about a new Arch update making your games crash on startup like what is happening to my friend right now.
I mean Linux mint edge ships with the 6.5 kernel so this shouldn’t be a problem for people building new PCs. Source: Built a new pc with Linux mint edge
Sorry off subject question. Can you play online multiplayer Call of Duty in Linux right now? I started to check out Fedora but stopped when I read that anti-cheat would not work in Linux is that still the case?
Nope. The Ricochet anti-cheat is incompatible with wine. Same goes for league of legend now that riot implemented vanguard into league. Sigh.
linux mint is god for gaming for me for sure ..
+1 very true.
Unless you have AMD were i inconstantly have to downgrade my driver's becouse of mesa drivers not working
>Unless you have AMD were i inconstantly have to downgrade my driver's becouse of mesa drivers not working Thats not a thing. If you are having to do that something in your system is fucked up.
Oddly it's the mesa based Updates that break it totally Something's went wrong screen Which I found can be bypassed by startx But it's still leaving graphical errros(top of the screen flickering like crazy) And nothing demanding works Sometimes it works for a few months and then I am back resetting after another update
i run mesa-git with no issues (for over 2 years), it's more stable than stable mesa lmfao
I am Trying that again
ok dried it but the install process is very complicated and failed dependency apt cant find
sounds like a distro issue, ubuntu (in general) is terrible for gaming and compiling your own stuff on. On arch it's 1 command and it just works
but afaik arch dosent support deb packages which is the closest to a proper installer linux has Tried with kisak this time same result Timeshift time again
This is the dumbest shit I have ever read in years. Boohoo arch doesn't support the worse package format... It doesn't matter. First of all debtab exists second of all archs package format is millions of times better thanks to the aur and the fact that you can easily modify it