I’m Kayla. I game on Linux for real. I’ve spent weekends swapping distros, fixing drivers, and, yes, cursing at my screen. Then playing for hours when it all clicks. You know what? It can be great.
Let me explain what I used, what I saw, and what I’d pick if you just want to play. Want the blow-by-blow of every distro session—victories, crashes, and all the “why won’t this launch?” moments—I documented it in this extended rundown.
My gear (so you can judge me)
- Desktop A: Ryzen 5 5600X, 32 GB RAM, AMD RX 6700 XT, 1 TB NVMe, 1440p 165 Hz monitor.
- Desktop B: Intel i5-12400F, 32 GB RAM, NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti, 1 TB NVMe, 1080p 144 Hz monitor.
- Handheld: Steam Deck OLED, 512 GB.
Games I tested the most: Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, No Man’s Sky, Rocket League, CS2. I also tried Diablo IV (Lutris), GTA V, Hades, and Stardew Valley.
Tools I used: Steam with Proton and Proton GE, Heroic Games Launcher (for Epic), Lutris (Battle.net), GameMode, MangoHud, Gamescope.
Quick note: anti-cheat games are still hit or miss. Fortnite, Valorant, and Destiny 2 didn’t work for me on Linux. I won’t sugarcoat it.
SteamOS on the Deck: easy win
On my Steam Deck, SteamOS 3 just works. Cyberpunk at 800p with medium settings and FSR? A smooth 40–50 fps. Elden Ring hits 40 fps with the 40 Hz cap. Battery life matters on trips, and SteamOS keeps it sane. I played Hades on a flight with zero tinkering. Felt nice.
If you own a Deck, this is your base. I only changed Proton versions here and there. That’s it.
Pop!_OS: the “I just want to play” pick
I used Pop!_OS on both my AMD and NVIDIA builds. It has a clean install, a simple app store, and a special NVIDIA ISO that saved me time.
For a deeper dive into its strengths, a comprehensive review of Pop!_OS's gaming performance — covering its out-of-the-box NVIDIA/AMD support and user-friendly interface — lines up almost exactly with my own impressions.
- Baldur’s Gate 3 at 1080p High (RTX 3060 Ti): 110–140 fps.
- Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p High with FSR Balanced (RX 6700 XT): 59–72 fps.
- CS2 at 1080p Medium (3060 Ti): 220–280 fps.
Steam, Heroic, and Lutris installed fast. GameMode and MangoHud worked with one toggle. The only catch? Pop!_OS can ship older graphics stacks. I had to add a newer Mesa for the RX 6700 XT to fix No Man’s Sky stutter. Not hard, but still a step.
If you’ve got NVIDIA and you don’t want drama, Pop!_OS felt stable and plain. In a good way.
Nobara: my top desktop pick for gaming
Nobara is Fedora with gaming love baked in. It comes from the Proton GE dev (yes, the Glorious Eggroll guy). (I even singled it out as the best gaming Linux distro I actually use in a deeper dive.) Steam, Wine, Proton GE, Vulkan bits, OBS patches—already there. I didn’t need a checklist. It felt like someone did the homework for me.
There’s also an in-depth analysis of Nobara Linux's gaming capabilities that details its pre-configured gaming tools, proprietary drivers, and performance benchmarks, and it backs up what I found in my tests.
My numbers:
- Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p High + FSR Balanced (RX 6700 XT): 62–78 fps.
- Baldur’s Gate 3 at 1440p Ultra (RX 6700 XT): 90–110 fps.
- Elden Ring at 1440p High: locked 60 with vsync.
- Rocket League at 1440p High: 144 fps cap, rock solid.
On the 3060 Ti box, Nobara handled the NVIDIA driver (555 at the time) without drama. I also tested Gamescope HDR on a newer monitor. It worked in Cyberpunk with Proton GE, though HDR on Linux is still young. Bright, but not perfect.
Nobara felt like the sweet spot: fresh drivers, sane defaults, and fewer “why is this broken?” moments.
Arch and Garuda: fast and fun, but you have to care
I ran plain Arch for two months. Latest kernel, latest Mesa, everything snappy. On AMD, it was the best pure performance I saw.
- Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p High + FSR Balanced (RX 6700 XT): 65–82 fps.
- Baldur’s Gate 3 at 1440p Ultra: 95–115 fps.
Garuda’s Gaming edition made setup faster than vanilla Arch. Btrfs snapshots saved me after I messed up a Wine tweak. But—small warning—updates can bite. One update broke my DualSense rumble for a week. I fixed it, but I had to care. If you like tinkering, this path feels great. If not, you’ll get grumpy.
Fedora Workstation: clean and modern, with one extra step
Fedora with RPM Fusion felt neat and quick, especially on the RX 6700 XT. Steam and MangoHud were easy. I did need RPM Fusion for codecs and NVIDIA. After that, games ran well.
I had one odd hiccup: Bluetooth audio lag while streaming with OBS. Wired headset fixed it. Not a deal breaker, but it annoyed me mid-match in Rocket League.
Ubuntu and Mint: comfy, but slower updates
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ran fine. I played Stardew, Hades, and Rocket League for hours. But for big 3D games, I had to add Mesa PPAs to get good performance on AMD. That’s an extra chore.
Linux Mint is super friendly. My little cousin loves it. But for top frame rates with newer GPUs, it lags behind. For indie games? Great. For Cyberpunk? I’d pass.
Real talk: what still hurts
- Anti-cheat: Fortnite, Valorant, and Destiny 2 did not work for me on Linux. I keep checking. Still no luck.
- Ubisoft Connect games were moody in Lutris. Siege ran one night, then didn’t the next after an update.
- HDR is improving. It worked in Cyberpunk on Nobara and Arch with Gamescope, but some games looked washed out.
- Controller quirks pop up. My DualSense lightbar stopped syncing on Arch after one update. Came back later.
I won’t pretend these don’t matter. They do.
Quick speed notes (plain and simple)
- For AMD GPUs: Nobara and Arch gave me the best numbers and the smoothest feel.
- For NVIDIA GPUs: Nobara and Pop!_OS were the least fussy. Fewer driver surprises.
- For zero-tinker gaming: SteamOS on Deck, and Pop!_OS or Nobara on desktop.
Tiny setup tips that helped me
- Use Proton GE for stubborn games. In Steam, set it per game. It fixed my Elden Ring stutter.
- Turn on GameMode. It bumps performance a bit. MangoHud shows your fps and frame times. Super handy.
- For Epic games, Heroic is easier than raw Wine. Diablo IV ran better for me via Lutris scripts, though.
- Keep one small “test” SSD for trying a new distro. Saves your main drive and your mood.
- If you stream, OBS on Nobara was smooth with NVENC on the 3060 Ti and VAAPI on the 6700 XT.
So… which Linux distro is best for gaming?
Here’s my honest pick list, from a person who actually played:
- Easiest win on a desktop: Nobara. It felt tuned for games and cut out busy work.
- Simple and stable, especially with NVIDIA: Pop!_OS. Click, install, play.
- For tweakers chasing the newest stuff: Arch or Garuda. Great speed, but you do the fixing.
- For handheld: SteamOS on the Deck. No contest.
If you asked me what I keep right now: Nobara on my RX 6700 XT, Pop!_OS on the 3060 Ti, and SteamOS on the Deck. I get into even more nitty-gritty details—wins, woes, and surprising setbacks—in this hands-on breakdown. That combo lets me play more and tweak less. And that’s the point, right?
For even more deep-dive breakdowns of these distros (and plenty of others), swing by [Desktop Linux Reviews](https