As we move into late 2022 and into 2023, Phoronix has conducted an interesting test that looks at how the gaming performance of AMD GPUs compares in Windows 11 versus Linux. In this test, the latest Windows 11 Pro 22H2 build 22621 was compared to Ubuntu on Linux kernel 6.2. While Ubuntu performed quite well, Windows 11 clearly provided a better gaming experience, especially on the new Radeon RX 7900 series GPUs.
Here is the complete test system:
- Intel Core i9-13900K
- 2x 16GB DDR5-6000 CL36
- AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
- Solidigm P44 Pro 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD
- Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 22621
- Ubuntu 22.10 (Linux kernel version 6.2-rc1)
Here is the list of games and benchmarks used in the test. Overall, it’s a mix of new and old standards and topics:
- Hitman 3
- Left 4 dead 2
- Portal 2
- Earthquake II RTX
- The Strange Brigade
- X-Plane 12
- Gravity Mark 1.72
- Unigine Heaven 4.0
- Unigine Superposition 1.0
As mentioned above, the performance difference between Ubuntu and Windows 11 on the new AMD 7900 XTX card is huge. In this case, the Windows 11 PC was about 11.1 percent faster than Linux. Meanwhile, on the 6800 XT PC, Microsoft’s OS is about 6.27% better. This suggests that perhaps the new RDNA 3 GPUs require more driver work on the Linux side.
You can see the full test results on Phoronix’s. website.
