Specs:
CPU: I5 2400 GPU: GT 730 2GB DDR5 RAM: 8GB Distro:
Any recommended games for my graphics card + how to make games smother - facing lad and screen shattering when I play CS:GO with game mode on!
With that kind of hardware, nothing you could tweak would help a whole lot.
You need an upgrade mate.
I agree with the other posters, your hardware is going to hold you back. But you could try switching to a lighter desktop environment like LXDE instead of GNOME. This user found a small increase in performance: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/dg87jp/does_the_desktop_environment_matter_for_gaming/
But they had somewhat beefy hardware. If you’re truly at the limit of your specs, 100% CPU/RAM usage, your performance increase could be even more.
xfce is good too.
Gnome is really heavy lol, I tried to run it on my raspi and it was so bad
my 10yo laptop struggles with it too
Your setup is close to my 2015 very-much-non-gaming laptop, so… I’d recommend retro gaming and/or modern 2D games. A few suggestions would be: Baldur’s Gate 1-2, Icewind Dale 1, Xenonauts, Battle Brothers, Wildermyth, Shadowrun Returns (and sequels), Into the Breach, Fallout 1-2. If you’re into programming games, that hardware should run everything by Zachtronics as well as Human Resource Machine and 7 Billion Humans.
Into the Breach is a fun game. Command and Conquer 3 and you could get into emulation like Smash bros or Mario Kart.
celeste and hollow knight
If you don’t have a budget to upgrade to a better laptop anytime soon, I recommend using a low ram distro, like Lubuntu and search for the best driver compatible for your GT 730. I believe this GPU barely supports Vulkan so demanding 3D games will mostly not run properly. You’ll have to stick with old AAA or indie games. Also, if using a Ubuntu-based distro, make sure the package nvidia-prime is installed to use your nvidia GPU instead of the Intel HD Graphics which are even worse. Good luck!
switch to arch/debian + xfce/lxde/lxqt
also make sure to disable the 2400’s iGP in the bios so you’re not wasting ram on that
1- Switch to Arch Linux (no, really.)
2- Do a minimal installation
3- Search for “arch linux improving performance”. There should be a guide in the arch linux wiki regarding some system-wide tweaks via sysctl.conf – follow it.
4- Also search for “how to enable zram arch linux”. Basically, it clogs your cpu a bit to squeeze a bit more of ram out of your system. Follow it as well.
Don’t expect any “miracles” out of this… but it should make things more doable/tolerable.
If everything goes wrong, then you can always resort to either geforcenow or xcloud. Or both.
All in all, a whopping 1-2% increase. Yay!
I’ve been using Arch for over a decade, and I would advise you to be careful when upgrading nvidia drivers. They just break every so often. Just do not delete your pacman cache and you should be able to easily downgrade
a whopping 1-2% increase.
no.
They just break every so often.
Also no.
Show me some proof of any significant performance gain from these configuration changes, then. You also forgot to mention running Zen kernel as well, which might actually provide some benefits.
Nvidia are notorious for releasing broken Linux drivers… You probably won’t notice this unless you actually update frequently. Arch is bleeding edge so they often fly right through without much testing.
Delete Ubuntu.
