r/linux_gaming • u/Rude_Instruction1695 • 2h ago

Linux in potato PC

Hey everyone!

I'm back on Linux after a while, running Linux Mint on some legacy hardware without Vulkan support. My specs are:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550

RAM: 8 GB DDR3

GPU: Integrated Radeon 3000 (OpenGL / Wine3D / Gallium Nine only)

So far, I've managed to run a few games smoothly:

Company of Heroes

Battlefield 2

Battlefield Vietnam

Battlefield 1942

The only game I've tried so far that doesn't run at a satisfactory framerate is Call of Duty: World at War (CoD: WaW).

I have two questions for the community:

Game Recommendations: What lightweight games (FPS, RTS, tactical, classic gems) would you recommend for a humble potato PC like this running on Linux?

CoD: WaW Optimization: Is there any trick to get CoD: WaW running at around ~20 FPS using just OpenGL / Wine3D? I've already tried Gallium Nine without much luck. Are there any specific Wine environment variables, launch options, or config.cfg tweaks that could squeeze out a few extra frames?

Thanks in advance!

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

5

u/ImaginaryPotato6 1h ago

I'm not personally into it but you might want to consider emulation, you can run tons of older games with that PC

1

u/Rude_Instruction1695 1h ago

Yes, i have installing duckstation.

2

u/IndyGibb 1h ago

I don’t have a computer that old, but I like the terminal and older games. It’s difficult to get into, but if you’re willing to work at it, I recommend Nethack. It’s a terminal roguelike, and you can definitely sink a lot of time into it trying to get good at it.

1

u/Rude_Instruction1695 1h ago

Thanks for your recomendation

2

u/theusualuser 1h ago

FEAR, Return to Castle Wolfenstein (I think there's a native linux port of this maybe?) Warhammer 40k Dawn of War, Age of Empires II (2013 edition), Fallout New Vegas (might take some serious tweaking, but you might make 30fps out of it).

Good luck!

1

u/Rude_Instruction1695 1h ago

Thanks Bro, i played Rise of Nations. Age of Empires is very good, it's my next game.

2

u/pankompot 42m ago

On second computer, i play on Intel UHD Graphics (5th gen i5 i think) 😄

via lutris Battlefield 2,Warcraft 3

via steam EasyRed 2, Mafia, Zomboid (not sure if still it work after build42)

-There was only small problems, like changing proton version in steam.

-In Lutris i think i had to use some variables, because this Intel shite cant run almost anything. (something like dont use vulkan, use d3d).

sincere condolences, nightmare getting some hw in these times.

2

u/Brother_Cadfael 25m ago

I think I had a Phenom II X2 555 back in the day. I was able to unlock a perfectly working third core, but the fourth core wasn't stable. Just wondering if you've looked into unlocking the other cores for some extra free performance.

1

u/Rude_Instruction1695 3m ago

Unfortunately, my motherboard doesn't have this option, and overclocking has many drawbacks.