r/linux • u/toxict12yroldbackup • 9h ago
Fluff Does using Linux for modern video game emulation improove performance?
Basically, the bloatware from the new windows 11 updates has been fucking up my laptop lately and I'm thinking of Dual Booting linux, question is: will emulators like eden for nintendo switch games run better on linux because of more system resources available, or run better on windows because they are more optimized for that platform?
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u/fvancesco 9h ago
I don't know but seems the kind of thing that it's something you find out with a good amount of testing
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u/kydeshou 9h ago
I don't know, try it and see. Historically, emulators have run better for me on linux. Linux is good and worth it, regardless. I personally recommend dual booting from seperate drives, though. If possible, it is less hassle in the short and long-term.
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u/Albos_Mum 2h ago
Depends on a few variables such as the specific emulator being used and your hardware and what distro you'll use for Linux.
AMD and Intel in particular will benefit from the different graphics drivers vs Windows, the more intensive emulators can benefit from reduced OS overhead/better CPU scheduling, certain projects (eg. DXVK) are primarily made for Linux with Windows-use cases being secondary and in my experience you can gain some extra performance (but also rarely introducing new bugs) from the more optimised builds in distros like CachyOS on certain emulators. (But most of the time if an emulator can benefit from those kinds of optimisations, the devs will have included a codepath for it that works for all builds without the compiler doing anything)
My guess is that with a Switch emulator on semi-recent laptop hardware you'll see a small gain, maybe a moderate one if you're using AMD graphics.
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u/egorechek 8h ago
Try this If that doesn't help, then find native Linux/foss alternatives for the apps you need and test drive them on windows. If they work fine then you can easily switch to linux and skip dualbooting.
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u/-BigBadBeef- 9h ago
Don't dual boot because windows will fuck up the boot system eventually. Yeah, it's that bad!
Linux has their own emulators, like Yuzu and Ryujinx for switch. You might want to do your homework before you go about poking around too much.
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u/R3V0LU710N_05 9h ago edited 9h ago
Just install Linux on a second, external drive. That way OP can test and make up his mind with little risk. Also, Yuzu and Ryujinx are cross-platform.
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u/Mysterious-Effect146 9h ago
Not true it they are own their own disks. It's uefi
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u/-BigBadBeef- 9h ago
There aren't many laptops around with more than 1 disk. Space is at a premium.
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u/Albos_Mum 2h ago
My experience is that if you manually format the EFI system partition under a Linux LiveUSB, reboot into a Windows installer USB to install Windows and then install Linux it'll work fine on a single disk: Windows will use the existing UEFI system partition and leave the Linux-specific files in it alone. I dual booted for a few years before completely ditching Windows and wanted to ensure both Linux and Windows were able to use my fastest NVMe drive so I was figuring out how to do it.
Main things to note is to ensure the UEFI system partition is bigger than you expect to need (eg. Go for 2-5GB just in case, better to waste a GB or two rather than run out of space on it) and that I have not tested this with secure boot enabled.
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u/NinjaKTR 8h ago
Yes and no. While Linux has lower OS overhead and that can be translated to better performance, emulators are already programmed for maximum optimization of your CPU architecture, regardless of OS, especially the ones for more complex consoles like RPCS3 or Xenia. You might get better GPU performance on AMD but that is assuming the game you want to play is GPU bound. I don’t know if PS4 or PS5 emulation is a different story, as I have never used them.
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u/Puzzled_Hamster58 8h ago
You can run a simple command to debloat windows .
I use both a lot Linux/windows. Some things work better on windows some things work better on Linux. Sorta depends what your using .
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u/R3V0LU710N_05 9h ago
Emulators generally perform identically or slightly better on Linux due to reduced OS overhead, better Vulkan driver implementation, and lower system resource usage.