Linux Gaming: Are We There Yet?
by Christopher Rice on December 28, 2009 2:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Linux
The Test Setup
One of the great things about Linux is that there are hundreds of distributions available for us to utilize. We are selecting Arch Linux (64-bit) for a few different reasons. The Arch base install is small and does not come packed with pre-configured running services. This will remove any question about what might be running in the background that affects gaming performance.
Arch also has a bleeding-edge implementation of packages. One thing I find in a lot of comments with Linux performance reviews is the standard question, "Did you try the new package that was just released on this nonstandard repository?" Here we will reduce this problem drastically, allowing us to test the latest and greatest Linux has to offer. For the Windows side of testing, we will be using Windows 7 Ultimate, so we'll compare the most up-to-date Linux build with the latest offering from Microsoft. Here are the details of our test system.
| Test System | |
| Component | Description |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-920 Overclocked to 3.97GHz (Quad-core + HTT, 45nm, 8MB L3, 4x512KB L2) |
| RAM | OCZ 3x2GB DDR3-1600 (PC3 12800) |
| Motherboard | ASUS Rampage II Extreme |
| Hard Drives | 2 x 74GB Raptors in RAID 0 |
| Video Card | EVGA 280 GTX 1GB |
| Operating Systems | Arch Linux (64-bit) Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
| Drivers | NVIDIA 191.07 (windows) NVIDIA 190.42 (Linux) |
Below is a shortened list of packages relevant for our test on Arch Linux. We will be running on a standard Gnome desktop without all the graphical bells and whistles (i.e. compiz, etc.)
| Arch Linux Packages | |
| Package | Version |
| Gnome | 2.28.1 |
| Xorg-Server | 1.7.1 |
| NVIDIA | 190.42 |
| Kernel | 2.6.31.5 |
| Wine | 1.1.32 |
| Cedega | 7.4 |
Our game selection will be a mixture of genres and release dates. One of the complexities of benchmarking in Linux is the lack of FRAPS or a FRAPS alternative. We have selected games that have built-in benchmarking abilities or at least the option to display FPS. Originally we were looking at testing very recent game releases in our Linux lab. However, after spending many weeks of unsuccessful attempts to get them to work across all three Wine distributions, we fell back to some older release games. We will provide more information on the newer releases tested at the end of this article.
| Game Selection | ||
| Title | Genre | Benchmark Method |
| Eve Online | MMORPG (Space/Sci-Fi) | Built-in FPS Display |
| Team Fortress 2 | Older FPS | Built-in Timedemo |
| TrackMania | Racing Simulation | Built-in Benchmark |
| Unreal Tournament 3 | Somewhat Current FPS | Built-in Benchmark (War-Serenity) |
| 3DMark06 | Benchmark | Standard Settings (1280x1024) |
Most of the games include in-game benchmarking. We run each benchmark three times and take the average of the three runs for our final results. Eve Online requires the use of the in-game FPS utility. With Eve we found an empty station and recorded FPS exiting the station (180 Seconds). Again we ran these tests three times and use the average of each. Once the benchmarking was completed, I took the time to get in and play the games in order to ensure functionality and find any defects with the gameplay.
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ashtonmartin - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Yes Linux may be free to download but the time you spend getting it to work right and the incompatibilities will offset the cost of Windows. The nice thing about Windows is that I haven't had to read a manual since Windows 3.1 when I first started using computers.If your time is valuable, Windows will be much cheaper in the long run.
kmmatney - Tuesday, December 29, 2009 - link
I agree. After several tries at Linux over the years, I gave up, and decided Windows was simply a better value to me (especially since my copy of Win7 was free, and another copy was only $49). I'm thinking my next fray into another operating system will be OSX.imaheadcase - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
The steps involved won't ever appeal to anyone in the mainstream world.The fact is, people want to install a game and play fast. Consoles and windows make that possible. The setup for linux is the time waster.
The one thing linux can't do right, never has, was make things simple. Open source is the cause for the cluster of bad ideas in the linux community, so many projects, nothing ever is the end-all-be-all solution. While the idea of everyone making something better sounds like a utopia, with no actual direction it makes for total confusion the the people not involved.
If you want any evidence of that, take a look at when wal-mart tried to sell Linux computers, the returns on the was off the charts, some local stores reported everyone returns in my area. The leading problem? Could not get printer to work. lol
Linux based OS have a place, its business applications. Pure and simple.
All this is IMHO.
Captain Picard - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
As Yahtzee would say, the short answer is no.The long answer is, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
jmurbank - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Linux is here for gaming, but developers are not here because there are no OpenGL tools to help creating 3D objects. At this time, the only way to create 3D objects with OpenGL is through a trial-n-error process. Also there is no easy way to handle networks unless the developer does not mind using Qt from Trolltech. The one problem with Qt for the developer is the program have to be open sourced or else the developer have to pay $1000.lordmetroid - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Any games I got for my computer runs on a native Linux binary.I love Quake and Unreal and the latest software I got myself was World of Goo.
marc1000 - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
congrats on the writing. the only thing I would like to say about the article is that you never explained what is "X" (the graphics manager), on the first page. I always had interest in linux but never got used to it, so I don't run any distro in my machines at home. Maybe I look to it with looking for simplicity in the first time, and even with the great recent advances, the experience overall is still a little hard... IMO.blowfish - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Who in their right mind would pay £40 per year for software that might allow a game to run significantly more slowly than it would on Windows?I'm no big fan of Windows, and would love to see more Linux use - but my dabblings with Linux have been wholly unsatisfactory. It seems like there's no alternative but to learn more than you should about Linux to get anything working - simple things like media players, for example.
The only real growth in Linux use will be in things like Expressgate, used by Asus on recent motherboards, as a quick way of booting up and getting online. Otherwise, it's just for Geeks with the time on their hands to fiddle around enough with it to get it working.
Shame on the Linux community for not coming up with something better suited to mainstream use. It's as if they suffer from the same snobbery against "noobs" as most online forums, which results in a very effective damper on mainstream adoption of Linux.
Jackattak - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Couldn't agree more, blowfish.Until the Linux community makes it easy for a layman to install apps and works severely on compatibility issues (and somehow gets all the software and hardware manufacturers of the world to start supporting Linux), there will never be widespread adoption from John Q. Public.
Based on the conversations I've had with Linux users, that suits them just fine when brought up. However, they're also generally the first to start crying about how Microsoft stymies their attempts to get a bigger "marketshare".
Make it easy for John Q. Public to use, and you're in.
Until then, Linux will never be anything but a geek's OS used by less than 1% of the PC-using planet.
sammyF - Monday, December 28, 2009 - link
Just a note about "Until the Linux community makes it easy for a layman to install apps" : You mean, like .. I don't know.. one centralized package manager, in which you only have to enter what you want and it pukes out a list of possible software packages, which you only have to click to download AND install? Yeah .. maybe it should also check for new software versions automatically and update anything that needs updating instead of just the OS!! Wow! Now, THERE is an idea!(check "sarcasm" if you don't know about it yet)
About the hardware compatibility, it's really an individual case thing. I had plenty of notebooks and desktops which just ran perfectly out of the box after installing Linux, and required the manual download and installation of new drivers in windowsXP or Vista (can't say much about Win7, sorry). On the other hand I've seen the exact opposite phenomenon too (not running easily or at all in Linux, worked flawlessly in Windows after a reinstall). Globally, Hardware support in Linux has vastly improved from its state just one year ago though.