-- I ADDED EVEN MORE EXPLANATIONS BELOW!--
20 in-game benchmarks (21, if we count Metro Exodus and Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition as different games), comparison graphics and overall results between Windows 11 and Manjaro Linux.
-- Pre-Description --
Please understand that the purpose of this video is to make a driver/OS comparison between Windows and Linux. This is why everything is explicitly set to ultra/extreme and this is also why there are no modifications in either systems. I am aware that there are modified kernels, extreme settings for Linux as well as stripping/debloating scripts for Windows which disabled almost everything. But with the arriving of Steam Deck, people already established that they want the most "plug and play" experience while still staying in control with their systems.
--Timestamps--
0:00 intro
1:03 Dirt Rally (Steam with Proton GE 7.17)
1:41 GTA V (Steam with Proton GE 7.17)
2:17 Bioshock Infinite (Steam with Proton GE 7.17)
2:55 Chernobylite (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
3:52 Batman AK (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
4:21 Metro Exodus (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
4:52 Metro Exodus EE
5:19 World War Z (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
6:06 Cyberpunk 2077 (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
6:41 Horizon Zero Dawn (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
7:14 Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
7:53 Tomb Raider (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
8:11 Crysis Remastered (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
8:43 The Division (Steam with Proton Experimental)
9:23 AC Odyssey (Lutris Wine GE 7.11)
9:48 AC Valhalla (Lutris Wine GE 7.11)
10:18 Forza Horizon 4 (Steam with Proton Experimental)
10:48 RDR 2 (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
11:17 Far Cry 5 (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
11:43 Borderlands 3 (Heroic Launcher Wine GE 7.11)
12:04 ME: Shadow of War (Steam with Proton Experimental)
12:26 4K results
12:52 1440p Results
13:10 1080p Results
-- Description --
I wanted to make an "apples to apples comparison" between Linux and Windows for a long time. I used the same computer for both Windows and Linux settings. I first wiped all the drives and installed Windows, after completing the benchmarks I wiped again, installed Manjaro Linux this time.
All the games were installed on the same SSD, one by one. The system is as follows:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X
GPU: AMD Radeon 6700XT
MB: MSi B450 Pro 2 Max
RAM: 3600MHz DDR4 16GB dual sticks
SSD: Samsung Evo 860 512GB
I used Manjaro KDE with X11 + Gamescope on the Linux side, and regular Windows 11 with all the possible updates. All have the latest GPU drivers installed. Both systems are set to performance mode.
Linux kernel is 5.16
I used Wine GE 7.11 and Proton GE 7.17 but some games refused to run with them, for those games I used Lutris's own Wine and Steam's own Proton Experimental.
-- The funny story I mentioned in the video --
Apparently Linux is much more power-preserving than Windows. My GPU fans were spinning so slowly, it reached to 115C in the junction many times. So, it throttled to 500MHz frequently. Even than the fan speed was barely around 50%. I set a manual fan curve with CoreCtrl to a fixed 75% value. Never had any throttling anymore.
Another problem I had was about the CPU. Some games use only 2 or 4 cores at maximum. So the CPU thinks it is not a big load and slows down to 1.9GHz from 4.5GHz. This caused massive fluctuations in the results, also reduced the average numbers to even lower than Windows counterparts. So, I set the CPU to performance mode from CoreCtrl and re-done all the tests. After completing Linux tests, I installed Windows back again and re-done those tests again, with "High performance" plan this time. This is how I ensured everything were equal on the hardware side and this was a true apples-to-apples comparison.
-- Side note about Min/Max 5% --
Some may wonder what Max 5% and Min 5% mean. Imagine it this way: a benchmark has completed and a total of 100 frames were drawn. Instead of finding the fastest and the slowest one, I take the fastest 5 (hence 5%) and the slowest 5 frames. The average of the fastest 5 frames is Max 5% and the average of the slowest 5 frames is Min 5%.
I sincerely believe the fastest or slowest frames alone can be misleading. Imagine them in a 1 hour gameplay session at an average of 60FPS. That is roughly 216000 frames drawn on the screen. Taking only one of them and claiming it the "fastest" or the "slowest" can not be a performance indicator. However, taking the slowest/fastest 5% of the all frames and giving their average tells a story. If I tell you your Min 5% is 48 FPS, this means you spent approx. 3 minutes (5% of an hour) playing your game at around 48FPS.
