Gamer, wanting to switch to Linux

Hey there guys,

First post here, go easy on me. I am sure I am in a boat that a lot of people are in currently. A gamer that is needing to use Linux more often but we can't game as easily. I am wondering if things are much easier than what they were a few years ago. I am also hoping that my beast of a computer will allow me enough leverage to game in a VM with GPU passthrough?

System specs:

  • i7 6800k
  • 16 GB RAM
  • gigabyte x99 ultra gaming
  • gtx 1080

So, I guess the final and real question is; What are my real options when it comes to wanting to migrate to Linux but I am also a gamer?

(If it's relevant, I play Battlefield 1, battlefield 4, CS:GO, Guild Wars 2, H1Z1, Streetfighter 5 and among many other games)

Thanks, everyone.

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Pretty sure Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 4 will not work. CS:GO gets questionable performance, Guild Wards 2 runs in Wine I am pretty sure. As for Streetfighter 5 I remember reading that it runs on Wine, but I have not actively tracked it. Your overall system specs are very strong and Linux will run very well. Things have gotten much easier over the years. I would personally recommend Antergos as your distro.

Damn, it seems that I will be quite limited if I make the switch to Linux.

I am a huge gamer at heart, but I know with the field that I am in; I will absolutely need Linux skills. With that said, what about running Linux in a VM? Would there be any kind of integration between the host and the VM? Anyway, for me to wget from the VM and have it store the data to a directory on the host(windows)?

Edit: Just a quick thought, I have a media server that is running ubuntu server. Maybe, reinstalling the GUI version of Ubuntu onto that server then just RDP into that machine for any of my needs?

I have not personally set up GPU pass through. However, I can tell your system does support it except for the fact of needing an entire seperate GPU. Or, you could just dual boot and use Windows as your gaming OS and Linux as your working OS.

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As a PC gamer and someone who uses Linux as a daily driver, I just dual boot man. I have Windows for my games and some exclusive software, and Linux for everything else like productivity. I do not feel like fiddling through PlayOnLinux or WINE to get things working when I will just play it natively.

As for the games you play, only CS:GO has native Linux support. All those other games do not and since they are recent, it probably will be harder to get them to run correctly, if at all.

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If I were to dual boot on my main machine(that is currently running windows. How difficult would it be to start the dual boot process? Would it be as simple as booting from a flash drive? For whatever reason, I feel like I need to format the whole disk then start with Linux first?

A side note if you install Antergos, stay away from the AUR/yaourt until you know what you are doing.

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Also, from the official Antergos site: https://antergos.com/wiki/install/how-to-dual-boot-antergos-windows-uefi-expanded-by-linuxhat/

Dual booting in my experience is pretty seamless. I have both Linux Mint and Windows on my SSD and there is a program called GRUB. What happens whenever I boot up or restart my computer, it will go into a prompt where you can select what operating system to use via the arrow keys.

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there's a lot of extremely pro-Linux users on here, who will tell you that any game not playable on Linux is not a game they want to play. however, the easiest solution to "will this run on Linux?" is to check Steam. Steam will quite easily tell you what games are released natively on Linux, and This site will let you gauge how well a product performs with a program called Wine, a Windows emulator/compatibility program.

as to dual-booting, i probably wouldn't to be perfectly honest. and i say that because i've been supremely frustrated trying to do it myself, and i've actually done it before. it's a bit like having an outdoor toilet: it sounds like a good idea, until you have to actually go out and use it every single time you need to go, including in bad weather. you'll have to reboot EVERY time you want to game, and EVERY time you need to do other things you'll have to reboot too. that may be fine with you, i don't know. i found it a hassle myself.

if you're set on it, the easiest way to see what it's like installing Linux, it's best to watch tons of videos first.
what i will say is that the big thing to get right during the Install is where to install the BOOTLOADER. i've always used separate drives for experimenting with Linux, but the main thing is to install the bootloader ON THE DRIVE YOU PUT WINDOWS ON. this will allow you to select the OS of your choice upon booting. really quickly, if you want to take Linux OFF, just formatting the drive WILL NOT WORK. you'll be deleteing the Linux bootloader and your computer will not load Windows when you turn it on. Here's a tutorial on how to fix it.


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Thanks for all that great info. I just got done installing a ubuntu as a dual boot. I used to have it as a dual boot so I definitely understand how frustrating it is to go back and forth. Hopefully, this time will be a better experience.

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If you have wireless connectivity issues let me know so I can quietly snicker in a dark room somewhere. >:D

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If you want to tinker with GPU passthrough, install virt-manager with QEMU.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF

The Arch wiki is a wealth of information, but is also imposing to newcomers. If you see "pacman", that's their package installer. You'd use apt-get instead. Pacman's install flag is --S. Apt-get's is just install. Just google for equivalents in Debian based linux (which Ubuntu is) if you can't find the thing Arch mentions.

https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/virt-manager/

https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/qemu-kvm/

Once you've got the OS installed, you'll want this:
http://depot.flexvdi.com/guest-tools/

Those tools, once installed in Windows, make the VM work a lot better. i.e. auto-desktop resizing when resizing the window, clipboard contents are copied between the two, and the mouse is way more responsive. Definitely recommend it.

Virt-manager sets up the network by default so just use that, and it should work out of the box.

That should get you a working virtual machine that has the potential to access hardware directly. I haven't done any passthrough stuff yet so that'd TBD for me.

Regarding GPU passthrough needing a separate GPU, that is true. See, if you give your gaming GPU to a Windows guest, what displays for Linux? That's the issue.

Getting a cheap-o $50 GPU just for Linux is an option. I'd check ebay or wtv. You might even find someone giving away an old PC with a crappy dedicated GPU you can scavenge on Craig's list.

Just use Windows and game. The reason I say that is you may spend more time trying to get things going than actually enjoying the games on the system you got. There is always time for trying out Linux some other time and heck do you have a second pc you can put it on just to mess around with? If not maybe look for something used that is cheap in the classifieds or do what Wendell and the crew said in their one video and that is look for schools or recycling places and find parts and build your own cheap monster of a pc. Also guys can he not just partition or add another drive and run Windows and Linux? I assume you can have a dual boot situation. Why not do that if possible?

The real questions: how much do you game?

If the primary purpose is just to play the games you stated. Run Linux in a VM or on something like a raspberry pi and ssh into it.

Also if you currently run Windows 10 install the Linux Subsystem for Windows because it makes dealing with linux machines easier.

A cheap laptop is also a decent route so laptop for learning and a desktop for fun.

Now, if you don't game a ton dual boot isn't a bad route.

Boot into windows on the weekend to game and the rest of the time run Linux. That is what I do.

GPU passthrough works ok but requires more baby sitting than a dual boot. I have done both and dual boot is less friction.

There is a way to run a hard drive as both a dual boot and VM but it is pretty tricky and wouldn't recommend it to a new commer.

From what I've heard, CSGO and other Source games run better in Linux.

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Yup, with low latency and better kernel networking functionality, there is quite the advantage in playing CS:GO on linux... except when Valve forces in waitstates to slow down that advantage... which they do occasionally, and you can't go in matchmaking with an old version and not get banned, so it's a bit hit and miss, one update you're faster than software console users, one day real computer users are fucked over by Valve in favour of software console users.

Reality is, people who are into commercial entertainment that is explicitly made available by the publishers to only run on commercial hardware and software consoles, will most of the time not have a great experience running that commercial entertainment software on a real computing platform, but are probably better off consolizing their computing hardware with a supported commercial software console operating system to get that entertainment.

There is nothing wrong with that per se, as long as those people don't let themselves be locked up in that walled garden of castrated functionality and keep it confined to those entertainment purposes, while doing real computing and being creative and productive on real computing operating systems that do not aim to lock the user down into a dumb consumer bubble. And that's the problem with dual booting, a lot of people are lazy enough not to restart their machine to do real computing in a real computing operating system. It's like all of those people that go online on their TV or hardware console because it has web functionality: it's not very smart, but it's very popular.

Also, when dual booting, always keep your windows confined to a particular hard drive, preferably in a hot swap cradle, so you can easily disconnect it from the PC. Also, the moment Windows or another commercial software console has been installed on a system, the system should be considered compromised even in Linux if it's a UEFI system, because Windows does write to the UEFI without any control over that matter for the user, and without possibility to prevent Windows from doing that. So preferably keep a separate machine to turn into a console by installing a software console like Windows onto it, and keep your serious machines to open source software only.

Also, never store anything under Windows. You can access the linux storage volumes you want to use in Windows through samba, but never use a Microsoft filesystem on those, always use modern linux or BSD filesystems (btrfs or zfs for instance). It is perfectly possible to use network drives shared through smb under Windows, and this way you can netfilter the access to only your particular Windows software console for only that particular storage you would need there.

Just basic things really, simple sound logic that makes it a lot less hazardous to use commercial software consoles, so that your entertainment needs do not turn into a nightmare in the long run.

Edit: also, a lot of people with extensive linux experience will tell you the truth: canonical's ubuntu and linux mint are just about the worst experience you can have as a beginner from a linux distro. If you need an Ubuntu base for certain software, consider Ubuntu+Mate if you need gtk or KDE Neon if you want the Qt goodness. Linux Mint is an accident waiting to happen for a user that's not entirely familiar with linux, and Canonical's Ubuntu is like semi-evil chaos if you don't know how to hack it and manually select your software sources for every single package that is not developed by Canonical itself. Canonical will let third parties put packages on their official repos without proper open source grade peer review, and they will compromise on software quality to facilitate bad programming by commercial third parties like Google or Microsoft. You're always better off using a strictly open source distro with proper open source quality and hygiene, like Debian, which is the major distro Ubuntu is based on. There is nothing Ubuntu can offer you that Debian Testing for instance could not offer you. If you want a really well maintained Ubuntu base with a much better user experience (the finest available in linux for the moment from a lot of points of view, but UI is always personal preference), go for something like KDE Neon. If you want a proper maintained Ubuntu base with a simple but effective interface, go for Ubuntu+Mate. If you want latest and greatest, go for Fedora, OpenSuSE, Arch or Gentoo, or major derivatives thereof (e.g. Manjaro for a user friendly Arch experience, Sabayon for a user friendly Gentoo experience). If you want to really learn linux for later professional use, you have to know Debian and Fedora or OpenSuSE. Fedora and OpenSuSE are upstream to the two distros that are most used in the enterprise world: RedHat Enterprise Linux and SuSE Linux Enterprise Edition. Debian is used in many specific servers and all kinds of specific applications because it's the easiest to work with if you need a very custom install, so it's pretty much a requirement to also know Debian. If you know Debian, you also know Ubuntu if you would ever come in an enterprise that uses the professional commercial Ubuntu operating systems and management softwares.

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And if something bad happens during the install you can F up your Windows entirely or just the boot part.

A long time ago I tried to install Mint, install finished, went to reboot into Windows and it was gone. Like literally the only thing there was the Linux partition even tho I selected dual boot.

I forgot the exact reason why the problem originated. But it was either a bad download from a mirror or a bad burn to the disk.

This is basically my current mentality.
All I play is indie / niche stuff atm. Most indie stuff will have a linux build.

Factorio, starbound, starsector, terraria, Insurgency, table-top-simulator, etc.... they all have linux builds.

Well, as mentioned earlier. I went ahead an installed a dual boot for ubuntu/windows 10. Thanks for everyone's help! Cheers to learning linux!