I’ve been using fedora but I would like to try something new and I think about arch linux but I don’t know if it’s good for gaming. What do you think?
yeah it’s fine
Arch is perfectly fine for gaming. I use EndeavourOS with KDE and Steam + Lutris (as Flatpaks) on top. Quite similar to the setup you would have on Steam OS, but I would highly recommend using btrfs as your file system and setting up snapshots.*
While I have had little to no problems so far, compatibility issues can still occur on rolling release distros, and it’s extremely convenient to just be able to undo an update.
*This is quite simple btw., you just need to install snapper, snap-pac and btrfs-assistant. The latter serves as a GUI for btrfs setup in general. Create a config for your filesystem root (‘/’) under ‘Snapper’, and under ‘Snapper Settings’ enable ‘Snapper cleanup’. You can also set the number of snapshots to retain there, but note that two will be created per system upgrade by snap-pac. I would suggest to also enable balances and scrubs for ‘/’ and ‘/home’ in the maintenance-tab.
I use arch for gaming btw.
It’s good. The steam deck’s version of steamOS is arch based, so that should tell you a lot about its capabilities.
I’d recommend choosing an Arch-based distro like Endeavour or Garuda so you don’t have to go through the rigmarole of installing vanilla Arch.
Arch installs aren’t too bad, it’s the post-install setup that’ll get you though since a fresh install is guaranteed to detonate if you don’t disarm it.
It doesn’t even have to be complex anymore thanks to
archinstall.While SteamOS is Arch based, i don’t think they really use it the Arch way. It’s run as an image based immutable OS, so they control the packages and not run at the bleeding edge.
You might run into problems more likely than SteamOS will.
Although i didnt’t have problems gaming on Arch, it’s not the same
I’ve been using Nobara for some time and it’s amazing. Nice installer and gets all drivers and fixed applied from the get go. Also it is maintained by GloriousEggroll himself.
Echo nobara.
Been the most stable nvidia experience for my odd setup.
Able to handle an ultrawide and normal monitor 1440 at different hz and one is display port other is hdmi.
Would run into the occasional hickup with manjaro. Been all good on nobara
Distro doesn’t really matter when it comes to gaming.
any distro can do anything another can, itll be fine for gaming and has a massive community
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As someone who uses Garuda Linux as my main OS, I agree! Gaming works right out the box and the OS is incredibly stable. If hiccups should arise, timeshift makes booting into a previous state very easy.
Arch works well for gaming. However, depending on what you’re doing, you should keep this in mind:
- on any distro, updates may break things or change the behavior of apps. The difference in arch is that youll update no less than weekly on average, maybe biweekly at worst. This would matter more if you have a complex setup. If you’re just using steam, I wouldn’t worry
- arch only uses the latest versions of software. If you ever install something from outside the arch repos, you have to make sure it is compatible with recent versions. Sometimes it may not be.
Arch gamer here. I can confirm that it works well.
hello, hi, do you play cs2? If yes, does fullscreen work for you?
I have not played CS2, sorry.
alr, still thanks
I use EndeavourOS (which is almost the same as Arch) for gaming and it works great.
I can’t chime in on that specific angle but on exactly the opposite. I’d call myself an Arch guy, or Manjaro and Endeavour more specifically. But recently I started hearing more and more about Nobara, I own a Steam Deck and use GE Proton on there which is from the same guy so I said I wana try Nobara and I immediately felt at home. I’m not a big KDE fan but really the out of the box Nobara experience when it comes to gaming needs felt and feels so complete to me I really couldn’t complain about a single thing.
It obviously wont replace Arch in my homelab but I don’t think I’ll ever consider anything else besides Nobara for my desktop again. Point being I had next to zero practical Fedora experience up to that point. I tried Garuda before which is also Arch based and supposed to cater to gaming needs but with that direct comparison I now feel like Nobara is the only distro that truly gets gaming. It’s SteamOS for the KBM based Desktop.
For the love of Tux, whatever you do install Arch on the btrfs file system so you can time shift back whenever arch decides to try and ruin your day on an update.
3 years (or is it 4? What is time?) on arch exclusively and I do quite a lot of gaming. It’s been great. There were a few occasions over the years where something didn’t work, while others on ProtonDB had seemingly flawless experiences, but it was always just a few minor tweaks. Much better experience than what I had on Manjaro prior to switching. Also, this is all on Wayland (sway) and even with that, it’s been great. BTW.
Whatever you use, make sure it’s the furthest upstream. Everything else is dependent on the upstream to update systemwide. Yes, some downstream distros will fix certain issues before upstream does, but because their teams are generally smaller, they won’t fix all the issues in any given distro. And feature/major version updates start at the top and trickle down.
