A recent benchmark test reveals a significant performance gap for NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 on Linux compared to Windows. PC Games Hardware tested the game Gothic G4: Remake using CachyOS Linux and found that frame rates drop by nearly 27 frames per second relative to Windows results. The RTX 5090 scored 81.2 FPS at 1080p resolution in this Linux test, which represents a substantial loss from its 108.1 FPS result on Windows.
NVIDIA flagship GPU loses significant gaming speed on CachyOS compared to Windows results.
The comparison pits the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 against AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XTX within that same Linux environment. The RX 7900 XTX achieved 80.6 FPS in the Gothic G4: Remake benchmark, placing it nearly even with the more expensive NVIDIA card. This result suggests that AMD's open-source drivers handle this specific gaming scenario better than NVIDIA's proprietary Linux drivers.
The performance divergence becomes even clearer when looking at synthetic benchmarks like 3DMark Time Spy. That test shows the RTX 5090 is typically 1.78 times faster than the RX 7900 XTX on Windows, highlighting how much ground the NVIDIA card loses in this Linux gaming scenario.
The benchmark results indicate a notable driver-level discrepancy between the two GPU vendors when running games on Linux operating systems. The proprietary drivers from NVIDIA appear to struggle with frame delivery for Gothic G4: Remake compared to AMD's open-source stack.
This testing highlights how Linux gaming performance can vary drastically depending on the graphics vendor and their respective driver implementations. Users relying on Linux for high-end PC gaming may find that certain titles benefit more from AMD hardware than NVIDIA hardware in specific scenarios.
Discussion
0 comments
Log in to join the thread with a thoughtful take, question, or correction.