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What is the best Linux Distribution for gaming?

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10 Games Considered

10 Options ConsideredPriceDefault Desktop EnvironmentRelease Schedule
Arch Linux
CLIRolling Release
Deepin
Deepin Desktop EnvironmentRolling release
Solus
Budgie, GNOME, MATERolling Release
SteamOS
Steam Big Picture, GnomeRolling
Elementary OS
PantheonN/A
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Arch Linux

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Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

A package for almost everything

•••
If you need to install something, chances are someone in the Arch community has already made a package for it. This makes it incredibly easy for you to install and maintain all of the non-media content on your computer.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

As slim or copious as you want it

•••
Arch keeps its core repositories slim and free of unnecessary dependencies. At first installation only a bare system is set up. You can easily get the other applications through the package manager. The repositories are nearly as full as those of Ubuntu, while they are often more up to date. That w...
Brandon Kalashian
Top Pro

Latest Drivers

•••
Latest graphics card drivers.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Fast and simple package management

•••
pacman works much faster than apt-get or yum due to better mirrors than other distributions tend to select by default. There are fewer default repositories to download from though all package management is combined into one tool instead of being split into dpkg, apt-get, and apt-cache like on Debi...
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Support for a large variety of hardware

•••
From latest wacom pads to obscure wireless cards in laptops Arch's hw support has been and continues to be good. It has worked on laptops where other leading distro's like debian/ mint/ ubuntu failed to detect and work with all hardware.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Cutting edge rolling release

•••
Latest version of softwares and the OS itself.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Pro

Simplicity is absolutely the principal objective behind Arch development

•••
The design approach of the development team focuses on elegance, code correctness, minimalism, and simplicity, and expects the user to be willing to make some effort to understand the system's operation.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

Manual install process

•••
Installing archlinux must be done manually from the command line.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

Requires expert Linux and command-line knowledge to setup

•••
Going in with zero Linux knowledge is not really recommended when wanting to install Arch, though it can be a good learning experience for those that are dedicated to trial and error as well as reading many faqs.
Izem Lavrenti
Top Con

Not for the faint of heart

•••
Arch only holds your hand a little bit of the way. While documentation is great, you are expected to know what you're doing. The result is that when you find the solution for a problem on a forum or elsewhere, the response may be completely over your head. If you're not well-versed in Linu...
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Package manager is so naive

•••
For example, it doesn't allow you to purge (remove package and it's configuration files).
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Problems with driver/kernel/gpu consistency

•••
Arch has no proper desktop support, you must craft your system together. Things may work for the first but generally it takes days to configure a stable and working system. This is NOT ideal for a desktop user.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Documentation only makes sense if you know how to adjust it

•••
While the documentation is a very valuable reference for experts, the recipes often don't actually work on your own computer. Some articles are outdated, incomplete, contradictory or duplicated. Only if you are expert enough to know which steps to skip, to adjust or which other documentation pa...
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Requires some background with Linux and the command-line to setup

•••
Going in with zero Linux knowledge is not really recommended when wanting to install Arch, though it can be a good learning experience for those that are dedicated to trial and error as well as reading many faqs.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Rolling release requires bandwidth

•••
Arch uses a rolling release model for updates. Unlike, for example Ubuntu where a new version is released every six months, packages are updated when they are ready. The advantage is a very up to date system and that the work of upgrading can be spread over a longer span of time to a point where it...
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Instability can be an issue

•••
Sometimes you can have a surprise, but in most cases it can be fixed quickly.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Too many package upgrades that require manual intervention

•••
Every year or so there is a update to ArchLinux that will break your system unless you first read the front page of archlinux.org. This happened with SystemD and with a few other updates that require you to do prior steps befor pacman -Syu.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Fragile packages

•••
Updating an Arch system is always a gamble. The problem could be as simple as a package having a bug causing a program to crash on start or it may be something bigger like the WiFi or Bluetooth no longer working. There is also the slight chance the system may not even boot at all after a large upda...
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Not ready out of the box.

•••
You have to install your day-to-day software requirements manually.
Yoshiyuki
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Not for gamers

•••
Arch is very hard to install and to use, which is why a gamer will probably not like it and will use some other Linux distro.
See 18 more Pros & ConsSee 18 more Pros & Cons

Deepin

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Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Steam installed by default

•••
Deepin includes steam installed by default.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Easy to use

•••
It's very easy to use. You can easily uninstall a program by going to the menu then right-clicking on the preferred app and selecting "Uninstall" option.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Excellent apps

•••
Having Deepin installed also means you have thousands of quality apps to choose from. The apps which come with installation will suit your needs to browse the Internet, listen to music, watch videos, talk with friends, editing documents or simply any task you want to do at home or in your office.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Launches programs faster

•••
Programs load and launch faster in Deepin than other Linux distributions. It takes only about 3 seconds to launch Chrome.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Supports Flatpak

•••
Deepin OS supports Flatpak. It also has some Flatpak programs installed by default.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Can be made to look like Windows easily

•••
By default, Deepin looks kinda like macOS but it can be made to look like Windows by right-clicking on the dock and changing the mode from "Fashion Mode" to "Efficient Mode".
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Blur and transparent design

•••
Deepin has a blur and transparent design throughout the OS, which makes it one of the, if not the, most beautiful Linux distro.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Not based on Ubuntu

•••
Some people don't like Ubuntu nor its derivatives.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Based on Debian

•••
It is based on Debian which is the best Linux distribution for desktops
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Very easy to install the OS

•••
Installing Deepin is very easy, even easier than installing Ubuntu! The installer doesn't ask you a lot of questions. It doesn't ask you about making a swap partition (it automatically makes a swap file) and thus makes installing the OS very easy.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

VLC media player works without any issue

•••
In some cases, VLC media player has some problems with Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based Linux distros. That isn't the case with Deepin.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Very stable

•••
Even though it is based on Debian unstable, it is still pretty stable and you will hardly ever get a dependency issue.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Automatically cleans package cache

•••
Deepin automatically cleans package cache. Cleaning package cache is a good thing as it will make the OS much faster and lighter.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Has their own tool kit

•••
They have their own tool kit called "Deepin Tool Kit". And they themselves uses it.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Enjoy the simplicity of Deepin's desktop

•••
The desktop interface and apps feature an intuitive and elegant design. Moving around, sharing and searching etc. has become simply a joyful experience.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Well-designed in every detail, developers have a professional aproach to the system

•••
Deepin has a sane default set of apps including custom apps of their own design that gives the distro a very consistent look and feel. By working with the community on these tools as well as custom translations there is a great sense of polish when using it that is not often seen when using such a...
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Great design to the app store

•••
The app store is gorgeous.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Rolling release

•••
It's a rolling release. Meaning that it will get updated automatically.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Can be made to look like Windows

•••
By default, Deepin looks kinda like macOS but it can be made to look like Windows by right-clicking on the dock and changing the mode from "Fashion Mode" to "Efficient Mode".
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Exciting applications

•••
It has some exciting applications, such as Deepin Graphics Driver Manager which can easily change between free and proprietary drivers without any issue.
Kristaps
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Contains better graphics drivers

•••
Deepin has it's own version of graphics drivers and it's own version of wine which makes it very good for gaming.
Kristaps
Top Con

Slow

•••
Very slow - launching apps takes more time than other distros - it is a very resource heavy system. On the other hand - booting and shutting down is very fast on SSD.
Kristaps
Top Con

Customization is a bit hidden

•••
GUI is not straight forward for changing GTK+ or QT themes.
Kristaps
Top Con

Mix of toolkits

•••
GUI is partialy written in QT, but also in GTK+.
See 22 more Pros & ConsSee 22 more Pros & Cons

Solus

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Zack H
Top Pro

Great package management

•••
The software center makes really easy to install the latest software, including third party software.
Alex
Zack H
Top Pro

Easy installation

•••
The installation procedure for this distribution is quite simple. It's GUI based and all you have to do is follow the instructions given by the installation window itself.
Paolo
Maverick
Top Pro

Looks great out of the box yet customizable

•••
Budgie has now evolved and is much more customizable than it was in the past. Solus is making great improvements.
EncouragingSupay
Top Pro

Rolling release

•••
EncouragingSupay
Top Pro

Stable

•••
The system itself is very stable. All packages in the repository seem to be carefully picked, well prepared and run stable.
EncouragingSupay
Top Pro

Built from scratch

•••
EncouragingSupay
Top Pro

Exclusively for desktop systems

•••
EncouragingSupay
Top Pro

Modern desktop environment

•••
The default desktop environment used by Solus is called Budgie and is quite nice and minimalistic.
EncouragingSupay
Top Pro

Optimized

•••
The devs put a lot of working into optimizing system libraries for the best performance.
EncouragingSupay
Top Pro

Responsive

•••
System boots quickly and stays responsive. Does what operating system should do, and does it really well.
HumorousChiron
Top Pro

Home of LSI (Linux Steam Integration)

•••
The devs put a lot of time into optimizing the distro for optimal performance, LSI is a tool which fixes a lot of bugs and increases integration and performance of Steam games with the system.
Alex
Top Con

The default desktop environment is not very customizable

•••
Maybe due to the fact that it's a relatively new project, Budgie desktop environment of Solus OS is not very customizable. You can only change the theme and wallpaper. Hopefully this issue will be resolved in the future.
Tirri On
Top Con

It's impossible to get Radeon proprietary drivers

•••
Sadly even Solus creator stated that right now it's impossible to use Radeon proprietary drivers on Solus because it doesnt support .deb packages that are only way of attaining them from AMD.
See 11 more Pros & ConsSee 11 more Pros & Cons

SteamOS

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Patricia Q
Top Pro

Made for gaming

•••
SteamOS is built by Valve specifically to run on machines for gaming on Linux.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Streaming service integration (under development)

•••
Valve is in talks with streaming companies such as Spotify and Netflix to bring their features to SteamOS.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

Native graphics processor support

•••
The OS natively supports Nvidia, Intel, and AMD graphics processors.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Pro

For entertainment, it just works

•••
What media center software do for videos, it does for games (and later videos).
Endi Sukaj
CharmingMorta
Top Con

No support for wine applications

•••
You can't run wine from SteamOS.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Hard to install

•••
If you've installed Arch you're probably fine, but for those used to simple installs like (Ubuntu to name just one) you should prepare some patience, determination, and painkillers. Good news is, it's getting better (it's very young).
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Not built around the desktop experience

•••
SteamOS is, first and foremost, meant to act as a gaming console - it doesn't ship with even some of the most basic applications, such as a file manager or image viewer. As a result, using SteamOS as your primary operating system would require a fair bit of work.
See 5 more Pros & ConsSee 5 more Pros & Cons

Elementary OS

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Max Frank
Top Pro

Built on Ubuntu

•••
Built on Ubuntu LTS with all its qualities and support.
Max Frank
Top Pro

Extremely user-friendly

•••
This distribution promises you a very tailored user experience and it does deliver on that promise. The developers provide you with a custom desktop environment and a set of neat programs. And the whole desktop looks simply gorgeous.
Max Frank
Top Pro

Lightweight & fast

•••
Runs well on limited-resources hardware, including netbooks or chromebooks.
Max Frank
Top Pro

UI design consistency

•••
Excellent uniformity between all the stock application and an overall extremely clean design with simple animations.
WhiteLilac
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Very slow development cycle

•••
Elementary does not offer any release date for their stable releases, they're going more with a "it's done when it's done" attitude. This makes depending on newer apps a difficulty as well as a poor choice for those that need consistent release schedules for their OS.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Old base and applications

•••
The slow release schedule makes the applications outdated. It drags behind Ubuntu LTS (on which it's based) which itself drags behind Ubuntu which is often still quite far behind Arch for example.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Upper panel requires extra spaces

•••
The upper panel in Elementary OS requires more space. This can be a problem for computers with small monitors.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Problems with basic functions

•••
Problems often arise with functions like keyboard layout and touchpad.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Emacs doesn't work

•••
Emacs crashes due to a partial gnome library update.
WhiteLilac
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Window control button placement may be unintuitive to some

•••
Elementary OS has window controls on the left side of the window. It may be less intuitive for users coming from other operating systems that put window controls on the right.
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

UI doesn't let you change anything

•••
Every installation of elementaryOS looks excactly like the same
Ubuntu Tech
Top Con

Outdated or bad default applications

•••
See 10 more Pros & ConsSee 10 more Pros & Cons

Manjaro

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Belle
Top Pro

Community flavors available

•••
Spins/versions include : Budgie, Cinnamon, Deepin, GNOME, i3, lxqt, mate, xfce, kde, minimal.
Belle
Top Pro

Improved stability due to a longer testing period for new packages

•••
Packages from Arch's repositories are tested (about two weeks) longer for stability and compatibility issues. Patches are applied, when necessary, before being made available in the stable repositories.
Belle
Top Pro

MHWD offers easy hardware management with free and non-free drivers

•••
Decent GUI for selecting video drivers, and easily installing and switching between multiple kernel versions.
Belle
Top Pro

Pretty UI

•••
Balanced colors, icons, and wallpaper.
Belle
Top Pro

AUR support enabled by default

•••
Belle
Top Con

A start job is running for LiveMedia MHWD Script

•••
No timeout on a boot script that can't easily be diagnosed.
Belle
Top Con

A fair amount of the documentation is outdated or incomplete

•••
Not a huge deal though, due to the similarity with Arch.
Belle
Top Con

Installing software with pamac takes more clicks than necessary

•••
Mostly due to GTK3.
Belle
Top Con

Security issues

•••
Since packages are not updated as fast as in Arch, critical security updates may not come as fast as needed for packages that may have issues.
Belle
Top Con

ARM version just got dropped

•••
See 8 more Pros & ConsSee 8 more Pros & Cons

Fedora

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Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Stable

•••
Fedora is a very stable Linux-based OS, as the developers place a lot of value in quality engineering.
IngeniousEiresione
Top Pro

Strong commitment to free software philosophy

•••
IngeniousEiresione
Top Pro

Focuses on innovation

•••
By using bleeding edge software, Fedora allows for innovation to take place by testing out things which other distros are not willing to try due to fears of having instability issues.
Endi Sukaj
Brandon Kalashian
Top Pro

Always up to date Kernel

•••
Fedora is known to be up to date, using the latest kernel in a matter of weeks after being released. It has a good balance among stability and bleeding edge. More up to date kernel = better compatibility with drivers for gaming.
Endi Sukaj
Brandon Kalashian
Top Pro

Integration with GNOME

•••
It perhaps has the best integration with GNOME (GNOME software works out of the box).
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Great community

•••
Want to find an answer to a question: Fedora community, Rhel community, CentOS community are most active and friendly communities.
IngeniousEiresione
Top Con

Proprietary drivers are unsupported

•••
Fedora does not support proprietary drivers, meaning that users may have problems with a lot of hardware when using Fedora. The software to make that kind of hardware work can be installed, but it can be done only through third-parties and it's not easy for the average user.
Endi Sukaj
Top Con

Updating to new release can be problematic

•••
While there are a few tools on offer that will upgrade an old Fedora release to the newest, there can often be problems with these methods. Some that may not even crop up at first but will show later down the road. Being that upgrading can be an issue, it can be exacerbated by the fact that Fedora...
See 6 more Pros & ConsSee 6 more Pros & Cons

Zorin OS

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Belle
Top Pro

Low resources consumption

•••
Belle
Top Pro

Accessibility features

•••
Belle
Top Pro

Stable

•••
Belle
Top Pro

Bundles tools for changing the look and feel of the distribution

•••
Zorin includes look changer and theme changer.
Belle
Top Pro

Partial Windows compatibility

•••
Zorin includes WINE and PlayOnLinux to run many Windows applications and games.
Belle
Top Pro

Ubuntu-based

•••
Zorin is compatible with Ubuntu's sizable repositories of Free Software.
Belle
Top Pro

Installer can set up dual boot

•••
Belle
Top Pro

Good Selection of pre-installed software

•••
New users may be unaware of what software is available for Linux, but Zorin includes a good selection for everyday tasks out of the box.
Belle
Top Pro

Windows desktop style

•••
The desktop UI was made to resemble Windows 7, but alternative settings are available.
Belle
Top Con

Limited desktop styles in free version

•••
All free editions only offer Windows XP, 2000, and 7 and Gnome 2. You have to pay $9-10 in order to get Unity (Ubuntu) and Mac OS X themes.
See 8 more ProsSee 8 more Pros

Ubuntu

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Laura Kyle
PrudentLampsace
Top Pro

Solid and great driver support

•••
PrudentLampsace
Top Pro

Ubuntu GamePack is a Gamer's Distro based on Ubuntu

•••
Laura Kyle
PrudentLampsace
Top Pro

Possibly the BEST Forum in the world for easy help, should you need it

•••
Patricia Q
Top Pro

Lots of support

•••
As the most popular Linux distribution, there's a wide range of sources for support online if you ever need help, including the Ubuntu Wiki, Ubuntu Forums and the Ask Ubuntu Stack Exchange site. This can come in hand particularly with gaming as the large userbase, tutorials and forums will all...
TrustworthyChukwu
Top Con

Unity sucks.

•••
Bloated unity desktop sucks, but maybe it will be better with 18.04 with Gnome.
See 3 more ProsSee 3 more Pros

Ubuntu LTS

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66 Community Recommendations

Electrux Redsworth
cubethethird
Jack
vegandoc66
Kristaps
Stuart Kearney
Ubuntu Tech
Pavane
Brandon Kalashian
Maverick
C_Corp2k2 R
+45
Request recommendations from the community
IngeniousEiresione
IngeniousEiresione
Contributor for a month
1
Total 
Recs.
30
Total 
Karma
Fedora
Recommended a month ago
With couple offre tweaks, it's the best distribution out there
Pro
 Stable
Pro
 Focuses on innovation
Pro
 Strong commitment to free software philosophy
Con
 Proprietary drivers are unsupported
See full
SensibleHunor
SensibleHunor
Contributor for 3 months
1
Total 
Recs.
0
Total 
Karma
SteamOS
Recommended 3 months ago
yes
Pro
 Made for gaming
See full
TrustworthyChukwu
TrustworthyChukwu
Contributor for 5 months
4
Total 
Recs.
10
Total 
Karma
Ubuntu
5 months ago
slow and bloated
Con
 Unity sucks.
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Currently displaying 3 out of 66 total recommendations.
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