I’ve been beating this drum frequently, but it’s time to increase the volume: Linux gaming is showing an increasing amount of promise on multiple fronts. Earlier this Summer I compared the performance of several AAA games on both Windows 10 and Linux distribution Pop!_OS and came to some surprising conclusions. Now there’s another stunning benchmark that proves Linux can achieve performance parity with Windows – even for a title that never released on the platform.
Far Cry New Dawn running on Windows 10 and Linux
Ubisoft’s Far Cry New Dawn released on Windows 10 earlier this year and uses DX11. Thanks to the combined and ongoing efforts of Codeweavers and Valve, however, this and literally thousands of other games that never saw a Linux version can still run – and often run well. For most of these titles it’s as simple as using the Steam Linux client, enabling “Proton” and clicking “Install.”
Redditor FlightlessMango recently put some serious work into a comparison benchmark video showing Far Cry New Dawn running simultaneously on Windows 10 and Linux, and the results speak for themselves.
Watch:
The benchmarks were carried out on Ultra using the following system:
- CPU: Intel i7 8700k @ 4.7Ghz
- Memory: 16GB G.Skill Trident Z 3200 Mhz
- Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti Strix Gaming
- Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix Z370-E Gaming
- Operating Systems: Arch Linux and Windows 10 Version 1903
Here’s a closer look at the results, but if you want to see them in their shiny and interactive glory click here to visit FlightlessMango’s site.
FPS Chart: 'Far Cry New Dawn' Windows 10 vs Proton vs Wine/DXVK
NOTE: “Proton” refers to the fork of Wine (in this case, code that translates DirectX 11 to Vulkan – a graphics API that Linux understands) developed by Valve. This is now built into Steam on Linux. “Wine/DXVK” refers to the non-Proton version of this technology.
FPS Min/Max/Average Chart: 'Far Cry New Dawn' Windows 10 vs Proton vs Wine/DXVK
Average vs Windows
The takeaway is clear: same minimum framerates, and an average framerate only 2.6% lower than Windows 10. Effectively within margin of error, and certainly not discernible when we’re talking about 112 FPS versus 115 FPS.
(The eagle-eyed among you may even notice slightly lower frametimes on the Linux side when watching the benchmark video.)
When you step back and realize that Far Cry New Dawn was never intended to run on Linux, yet does so this smoothly, it’s a testament to how far Linux gaming has come.
My own benchmarks – albeit for different titles – back this up. And when games are released natively on Linux, the performance is often better than the Windows 10 counterparts. It’s not a consistent conclusion, but as Codeweavers and Valve continue to refine and improve what they’re doing, the outlook gets brighter and brighter.
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