Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2 tested at 4K Ultra on SteamOS and Windows 11, offering a snapshot of Linux gaming in 2026
Last year, we reported that the Linux desktop attained a 5% share of the US desktop market for the first time. And there are good reasons behind this surge in popularity, especially among gamers. Additionally, one notable member of the Notebookcheck team recently wrote about ditching Windows 11 in favor of Linux and being largely satisfied with the decision.
All this highlights the progress Linux, and more specifically gaming-focused distributions like SteamOS, Bazzite, and others, have made in making the open-source platform increasingly accessible for gamers. Moreover, to further examine this claim, YouTuber ETA Prime recently conducted a test by building an all-AMD gaming PC and dual-booting it with Windows 11 Pro and SteamOS to compare how games run on both operating systems.
The specs of the all-AMD gaming PC as detailed by the YouTuber include an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor with eight cores and 16 threads, paired with 32 GB of DDR5 memory running at up to 7,000 MT/s in dual-channel configuration. The processor is currently listed at $469 on Amazon. The system is built on an ASRock B850 Challenger motherboard and uses an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card with 24 GB of VRAM. The GPU is currently listed at around $889 on Amazon. Storage is split across two separate 1 TB NVMe SSDs, one running Windows 11 Pro and the other running the official release of SteamOS. Power is supplied by an 850 W Gold-rated power supply.
ETA Prime notes that the component selection was made with SteamOS compatibility in mind, with all hardware working out of the box on Valve’s official operating system. The SteamOS installation used for testing was version 3.7.17 on the stable channel, without opting into beta branches. Features such as variable refresh rate (VRR), scaling options, and system-level tuning were enabled where supported, with CPU and GPU tuning handled directly through the BIOS rather than third-party tools.
Windows 11 vs SteamOS: 4K gaming performance comparison across AAA titles
To provide a direct comparison, ETA Prime ran several titles on both operating systems using identical settings. In Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K Ultra with no FSR, Windows 11 averaged 84 FPS, while SteamOS recorded 85 FPS, effectively placing both platforms on par.
Borderlands 4 showed a small advantage for Windows 11, with an average of 74 FPS compared to SteamOS’ 69 FPS at 4K Ultra with FSR Quality enabled. Forza Horizon 5 displayed one of the larger gaps, with SteamOS averaging 157 FPS at 4K Extreme settings without FSR, while Windows 11 reached 191 FPS. ETA Prime suggested that the difference may be influenced by the title’s close ties to Microsoft’s ecosystem.
In contrast, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 slightly favored SteamOS when tested at 4K Very High with FSR set to Quality, averaging 111 FPS compared to 103 FPS under Windows 11. Red Dead Redemption 2 at 4K Ultra without FSR averaged 88 FPS on SteamOS and 96 FPS on Windows 11.
The YouTuber also individually tested other popular titles such as Left 4 Dead 2, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and Doom: The Dark Ages at 4K on SteamOS, with the full tests shown in the video linked below.
Overall, the results indicate that performance varies depending on the game, with neither operating system holding a consistent advantage across all titles. ETA Prime concludes that the dual-boot approach offers flexibility, allowing users to choose the operating system that performs better for a given title while maintaining access to the full Windows ecosystem when needed.
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