Just to be clear, this is not a hate on Windows users post.
My linux experience to date is extremely limited and my entire PC gaming history prior to this has been on Windows.
I've been falling out of love with Windows 11 more and more, and MS are not doing themselves any favours, especially since a lot of the changes in 24H2 and 25H2.
Some of the performance inefficiencies and bad implementation design MS have made is downright laughable. Not to mention already widely discussed AI slop and data tracking.
I finally decided to dip my toe back into the world of experimenting with Linux.
My first realization was that things have moved on a hell of a lot since I last used it.
A lot of choice for different use cases.
The main thing I wanted to test was gaming, so after some research of what's on offer, I decided to go with CachyOS.
As I'm just experimenting at the moment, I went for dual boot.
Installation/setup – stupid easy
Configuration – if you are not afraid of some readily available terminal based commands, very easy to pickup and learn
Performance – this is what blew me away. First off the general OS/desktop experience is super snappy and quick. Gaming has come so far on some of these distros. On some games, I'm getting the same FPS, some more, some less. DLSS and framegen working just fine.
Buuuuuuut… and this is the really important bit, the 1% lows are dramatically better on CachyOS across the board (on the titles I've played so far).
CPU/GPU utilisation are clearly improved.
For example, The Finals at 1440p
Windows Max 305fps, Avg, 255fps, 1% lows 60fps
CachyOS Max 250fps, Avg 235fps, 1% lows 180fps
it's a similar story for Cyberpunk. Not the same figures (haven't benched them yet) but very obviously running much smoother.
Seriously, that 1% low difference makes such an improvement to the smoothness and responsiveness.
I can honestly say I haven't had this good of a gaming experience on PC in a long time.
Now let's make it clear, my gaming experience on Windows with my current and previous two setups was not bad at all.
It's what I thought was as good as it got for my hardware.
And that's technically true, but when on Windows.
Don't get me wrong, there are downsides.
Multiplayer – not all anti cheats work, so some multiplayer games flat out don't work yet
Game compatibility – some games just don't run well (luckily none of the ones I play)
Driver support – depending on your hardware, some degree of tweaking/workaround might be needed
General app availability – basically, not everything that's on windows is available on Linux. Some apps have a windows and Linux version, but a lot don't. A large number of apps have a Linux equivalent, but ultimately if you're tied to an app that only works on Windows and doesn't have a Linux equivalent, it's simply not an option for you.
I can honestly say that if you are curious, set up some space on a partition/drive and give it a try.
Worst case, it's not for you, delete it.
However you might be, as I was, very surprised.