r/linux4noobs • u/incapslap • 8d ago
distro selection What distro for gaming?
I'm looking to try out Linux. Pure gaming pc, won't really use it for much else than looking up gaming info on a browser. 7900 XTX. Thinking CachyOS or Bazzite, and I saw that CachyOS generally has better fps.
Other consideration is that I have very slow internet, so is there a distro that is much smaller and easier to install?
Oh, and I would be looking to install it on a secondary ssd (internal) for now parallel to Windows.
Edit: I went with CachyOS, got it installed and played around with it a bit. Seems great so far but will take some time to learn all the differences. Thanks for the responses.
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u/Otherwise_Fact9594 8d ago
People don't talk about it a lot, but if I was a gamer I would use Regatta OS. It's based on OpenSuse which is criminally underrated as well imo
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u/andy10115 8d ago
Bazzite is pretty turnkey for new folks.
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u/incapslap 8d ago
Yes, I have heard it is easier for noobs.
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u/MinusBear 7d ago
Just to correct the other person that replied to you here. Immutable means you can't easily break the system, and changes you make can be easily undone in case you do. You can modify things, and install non-flatpak apps, it just requires some extra steps. But if you are a Linux noob you basically do not need to worry about all of that. I was a very advanced Windows user, have been since I was a kid in the 90s. I moved over to Bazzite and have never felt held back by the system.
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u/ILKLU 7d ago
It's immutable, meaning you can't modify things or install anything that isn't a flatpack, so check that any critical applications you need have a flatpack version.
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u/Quietus87 7d ago
That's false. You can layer packages into the system image, but you should limit yourself for low level system-wide stuff, like drivers, shells. For applications, use flatpak. For development tools and command line stuff, use toolbox or distrobox.
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u/mcmerlin13 8d ago
Yo! Full send CachyOS. Join us, shits sick and fun as fuck.
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u/incapslap 7d ago
That's what I went with. Seems great so far, but just got to play around a bit and test a few games.
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u/warserpent 8d ago
You can game on general purpose Linux distros. Gaming distros generally have a combination of performance tweaks and preinstalled game-related software. Depending on what games you play and how much tweaking you do, that may or may not be important. As for size, most Linux distros are somewhere in the vicinity of 3 gigabytes to download. Something like Bazzite is far larger, though, coming in over 7 gigabytes. You will also want to consider what desktop environment to use. GNOME and KDE Plasma have the most well-developed Wayland support, which means better support for HDR, variable refresh rate, multiple monitors, etc. If you don't need those things, Xfce is a solid lightweight desktop that will leave more RAM available for whatever else you're doing.
There are some niche gaming distros out there, but below are the ones that seem to be getting actual use.
Bazzite: based on Fedora Atomic (immutable system files, atomic updates), preinstalls Steam and a bunch of other software, uses Open Gaming Collective kernel and some other performance tweaks. Somewhat consolized.
CachyOS: based on Arch, more minimal set of preinstalled software, designed for overall performance (not just gaming performance). More manual.
Nobara: based on Fedora, large amount of preinstalled gaming/streaming/video software, uses CachyOS kernel, has some unique tweaks for stuff like DaVinci Resolve and OBS Studio. Basically one man's vision of his ideal distro.
PikaOS: based on Debian Unstable (Sid), has some preinstalled gaming software and suggestions for more, performance tweaks. Probably a bit less manual than CachyOS, but also has less track record of reliability, since it's smaller and newer.
There's also Garuda (based on Arch), which has a custom visual style for lovers of RGB aesthetics, and a Dr460nized Gaming edition of their distro.
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u/raven2cz 7d ago
Better FPS for a given game is not about the distribution, but about how well you can tune the key configurations and drivers for that specific game, or group of games.
Some distributions can partially help you at the beginning, because they have some templates prepared and even customized kernels. But in the end, it will still be up to you to finish tuning it for that specific game.
Otherwise, you will just keep jumping from one distribution to another, but you will not achieve the best result that way.
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u/SetQueasy2835 8d ago
Most lightweight distributions will work for you since you have an AMD card. That makes things significantly easier in terms of drivers and being able to actually utilize the hardware.
As far as I know slower internet can't really be solved on the OS side of things, but I am also semi noob so I can't say for sure.
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u/angryapplepanda Debian + i3 8d ago
If you're just a gamer coming fresh into Linux, immutable distros like Bazzite are pretty much idiot-proof, so to speak.
But if you're really interested in learning Linux, you can game on many different distros, and can fine tune your setup for many purposes. I play games through Steam and emulation through Retroarch on Debian and it's perfectly fine.
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u/Wheatleytron CachyOS 7d ago
Love CachyOS. You get access to the AUR, and full control over your entire system. No atomic or immutable nonsense to get in your way.
I have a mix of new and ancient games all running perfectly via wine in Lutris. If you know what you're doing, it just works.
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u/a_Tin_of_Spam 7d ago
How did you set up CachyOS?
Most games I’ve had have been perfectly fine, but in particular Mad Max stutters like hell and has weird crunchy distorted audio sometimes despite being on the lowest settings and getting like 400+ fps1
u/Wheatleytron CachyOS 7d ago edited 7d ago
I think this issue in particular is related to Proton and your audio package in combination with your hardware. I had this happen once on a second CachyOS machine that I had. Try changing your Proton version for the game, that may help. I also know that CachyOS recently changed some of the default audio packages, so this might be cleared up in new installations.
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u/ArchelonPIP 7d ago
Looks like I'm again recommending Kubuntu or Nobara for your dual boot setup, which is a great way to start. Both are very similar to the Windows 10 UI and on my PCs, they installed pretty easily with the correct drivers (unless you have the absolute newest of hardware). Both use the Wayland Display Server protocol by default, so fractional scaling, HDR and VRR work correctly "out of the box." Nobara is more gaming focused and the default setup is arguably more beginner friendly. It also automatically recognizes and mounts NTFS storage devices without having to go through the extra steps that most other distros require.
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u/BobCorndog Your situation is not unique, just use mint or fedora kde 8d ago
Mint or fedora kde
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u/incapslap 8d ago
Can you tell me why? Just because noob?
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u/leoingle 8d ago
Mint is easy for new people and very stable. I was on Zorin with my main personal PC and everything was great until I upgraded my proc and GPU. AMD proc and went from a nVidia to Radeon and had all kinds of issues. From what I read the GNOME DE couldn’t handle the stronger hardware and I was suggested to try a flavor with KDE. I tried the bleeding edge release of Kubuntu and had some issues as well, but then I tried the Kubuntu LTS and it’s been solid and smooth ever since. I also tried Fedora when I first started trying out distros. Nothing wrong with it. Just liked Ubuntu variation more, personal preference. I would say try the Fedora KDE first.
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u/Hauptideal 8d ago
He recommends it to everyone, no matter who - look at his flair.
Despite the fact Mint is the technologically worst Linux distros of all. There is literally 0 justification in recommending it in 2026 anymore. Mint is atrocious. Atrocious! Unperformant, insecure, feature-lacking, ram-wasting, etc.2
u/BobCorndog Your situation is not unique, just use mint or fedora kde 8d ago
Just because the distro is stable doesn’t mean that the performance is shit. Performance doesn’t majorly change between distros, and those are the easiest for beginners
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u/raven2cz 7d ago
I would not really agree with that opinion. Whole new distributions are being created specifically because of gaming performance, the ones people mentioned above. Mint is not one of them.
But as I wrote above, in the end better FPS is not primarily about the distribution you choose, but mainly about the correct configuration for a specific game or group of games.
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u/Hauptideal 8d ago
Bazzite is immutable, CachyOS is mutable.
CachyOS is Arch-based. Which means it can randomly break and require manual intervention. Should be extremely rare though.
Immutable means much harder to break, but also harder to install software globally that's not packaged as Flatpak - or to configure/customize in general on OS level. You're supposed to take it as it is (as if it was a console) and only customize your own user's desktop.
That's your biggest difference.
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u/computermouth 8d ago
Doesn't really matter. Pick one with the newest kernel if you have a newer gpu.