Games Run Faster On SteamOS Than Windows 11, Ars Testing Finds
'A report from Ars Technica: Nearly a decade ago, Ars testing found that Valve's "Steam Machines"-era version of SteamOS performed significantly worse than Windows when SteamOS's Linux game ports were tested on the same hardware as their Windows counterparts. Today, though, Ars testing on the Lenovo Legion Go S finds recent games generally run at higher frame rates on SteamOS 3.7 than on Windows 11. [...] As you can see in the included charts, SteamOS showed noticeable frame rate improvements in four of the five games tested. Only Borderlands 3 showed comparable performance across both operating systems, with Windows eking out ever-so-slightly higher frame rates in that game's benchmarks. For the other four tested games, the stock Lenovo Windows drivers were sometimes significantly worse than those included with SteamOS. When playing Returnal at "High" graphics presets and 1920x1200 resolution, for instance, changing from Lenovo's Windows drivers to SteamOS meant the difference between a hard-to-take 18 FPS average and a downright decent 33 FPS average. Sideloading the updated Asus drivers showed a noticeable improvement in Windows performance across all tested games and even brought Homeworld 3's "Low" graphics benchmark test to practical parity with SteamOS. In all other cases, though, even these updated drivers resulted in benchmark frame rates anywhere from 8 percent to 36 percent lower than those same benchmarks on SteamOS. These results might seem a bit counterintuitive, considering that games running on SteamOS must go through a Proton translation layer for every native Windows instruction in a game's code. But Valve has put in consistent work over the years to make Proton as efficient and cross-compatible as possible; not to mention its continued work on Linux's Mesa graphics drivers seems to be paying dividends for SteamOS graphics performance. Running SteamOS also means eliminating a lot of operating system overhead that the more generalist Windows uses by default. Microsoft seems aware of this issue for gamers and has recently announced that the upcoming "Xbox Experience for Handheld" will "minimize background activity and defer non-essential tasks" to allow for "more [and] higher framerates" in games.' -- source: https://games.slashdot.org/story/25/06/25/2034243 Cheers, Peter
On Thu, 26 Jun 2025 10:29:56 +1200, Peter Reutemann quoted:
'Nearly a decade ago, Ars testing found that Valve's "Steam Machines"-era version of SteamOS performed significantly worse than Windows when SteamOS's Linux game ports were tested on the same hardware as their Windows counterparts. Today, though, Ars testing on the Lenovo Legion Go S finds recent games generally run at higher frame rates on SteamOS 3.7 than on Windows 11. [...]'
Microsoft has been racking its corporate brains to come up with an answer to the Linux-based SteamOS. There was talk of some kind of fused Windows/Xbox frankenproduct, but it turns out this was mainly just a branding exercise: the first product in this line is now out <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/10/rog-xbox-ally-x-the-ars-technica-review/>. What it is, is still basically a Windows handheld, with some sort of “Xbox”-styled UI on top. Also, from another review <https://www.theverge.com/notepad-microsoft-newsletter/763357/microsoft-asus-xbox-ally-handheld-hands-on-notepad>: The main interface on the Xbox Ally is similar to what can be found in the current Xbox app on Windows 11, Microsoft’s Steam competitor on PC. This app integrates with the Game Bar, Microsoft’s PC gaming overlay, to form this full-screen Xbox experience. Just like an Xbox console, you activate this Game Bar from a single tap of the Xbox button, and it’s what keeps you far away from the complexities of the Windows desktop hidden underneath. Microsoft doesn’t load the desktop wallpaper, the taskbar, or a bunch of other processes that you don’t need for gaming. It’s essentially not loading the Explorer shell and saving around 2GB of memory by suppressing all the unnecessary parts of a typical Windows 11 installation. However ... Switching back and forth between Windows and Xbox modes is relatively quick, but after switching into the Windows desktop mode just once, you’ll need to fully reboot the device to regain the 2GB of allocated RAM. You also have the option to keep switching between both modes without those performance savings. While the handheld-optimized Xbox UI on the Xbox Ally devices is a great improvement over what exists today, I still fear the complexity of Windows will creep through during daily use. This is still a Windows 11 device after all, which means there are OS updates and notifications from other apps or storefronts to install that might break the immersion. For example, while the Xbox app takes over the left-hand swipe gesture to activate the Game Bar, the right-hand swipe still activates the Windows 11 notification center, which looks out of place in the Xbox UI. The Xbox team is working to improve this, but it highlights the challenges of trying to hide Windows beneath a console-like UI. This is what happens when you build your GUI inextricably into the OS kernel: you lose the flexibility of being able to adapt to different form factors, as Linux is able to manage on the Steam Deck.
On Thu, 16 Oct 2025 11:18:45 +1300, I wrote:
Microsoft has been racking its corporate brains to come up with an answer to the Linux-based SteamOS. There was talk of some kind of fused Windows/Xbox frankenproduct, but it turns out this was mainly just a branding exercise: the first product in this line is now out <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/10/rog-xbox-ally-x-the-ars-technica-review/>.
That review, as negative as it is, is almost kind compared to this one <https://www.theverge.com/games/799698/xbox-ally-x-review-asus-microsoft-full-screen-experience>, which is distinctly savage in places: But fixing the bugs won’t be enough to save the $599 Xbox Ally. Microsoft, Asus, and AMD would also need to fix its performance — because even the two-year-old, $549 Steam Deck OLED is beating Microsoft’s brand-new handheld by an average of 13 percent in my tests. This is a “you had one job” moment, because the AMD Ryzen Z2 A in the $599 Xbox Ally is basically the same chip you’ll find in the Steam Deck, only with a 20W turbo mode when you plug it into the wall. (Valve’s tops out at 15W.) But as you can see above, it usually didn’t beat the Deck even when I plugged it in. I can’t say whether that’s because the drivers are immature or because Windows is holding it back — but seeing how half-baked Microsoft’s changes to Windows have been and how Lenovo’s SteamOS handheld beat its Windows one, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were the latter.
participants (2)
-
Lawrence D'Oliveiro -
Peter Reutemann