Posted on 05/08/2010 7:21:34 PM PDT by Halfmanhalfamazing
Well, that is part one of our Ubuntu 10.04 LTS vs. Windows 7 testing. As much as we would have liked to see Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx handily beat Windows 7, this was not the case, but to some extent the opposite. Windows 7 in some of the tests possessed definitive leads over Ubuntu 10.04 LTS with the OpenGL performance when using the proprietary ATI/AMD and NVIDIA graphics drivers, which have largely shared code-bases between Windows and Linux. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS also had its leads in some areas while in many of the tests the differences between the two operating systems were insignificant.
What these results do show is that Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" is very capable of being a comparable gaming platform to Microsoft Windows at least as far as the quantitative performance is concerned. This is good news as Valve's Steam client and the Source Engine come to Linux and the first of the Unigine Engine games (likely Primal Carnage) are released. The exception to this, however, is if using Intel graphics. As these tests conclusively show, the Intel Linux graphics driver is no match to their Windows driver. The Intel Windows driver is significantly faster than the open-source Linux driver at this time, and with Intel's integrated graphics processors not being the best, every frame-rate really counts when it comes to making a game playable.
That’s why I stick to MAG on the PS3.
I recently bought an OEM Win7 box, and so far I’m impressed with it. From the time I hit the power button, it’s booted up and ready to use within 30 seconds. It has done terrific with all of the games and apps I’ve thrown at it. It seems to be a very solid OS.
Core i7, 8GB RAM, 1GB Radeon graphics card, 1TB HD, 802.11N, and all of the other bells & whistles that come with pre-built machines these days.
I used to build my own computers exclusively, but I just don’t have the time to spend on it anymore.
... isn’t this kind of like being the World’s Tallest Midget...?
Capable maybe, but no Linux of any flavor will never be a viable gaming platform. To be viable installation of games must be user friendly, right out of box, without having to find, or worse code, drivers or wrapper programs to make the game work.
Maybe for individual games with certain hardware, but never for mass production. Bad enough getting a decent game library for Macs.
Have you ever even used Linux?
Which one? I opted for the i7-860 myself. Nice chip.
Mine is the i7-860 as well.
I was talking about getting games to work on it, not the Linux itself.
Linux itself is there (well 90%) especially with software packaged with whatever flavor.
As a game platform where you buy a game off the shelf, put in the CD, click setup, next, next, next, play ... nope not even close.
It’s kinda fun knowing you can yell at 125 other people. I’ve especially done it as platoon leader.
Which i7?
The 860.
OK...you answered my CPU question,,,don’t think I have seen which graphics card though.
The graphics card is a Radeon HD 5700 series.
It’s not quite as bad as you think. Friend of mine plays quite a few mass market games including major MMOs on Linux. She’s also got a massive collection of more obscure indy games as well.
We compared notes when we set up Touhou 9 - Phantasmagoria of Flower View for online play, including the popular third party networking tool that replaces the rather shoddy built in support for LAN and netplay.
She couldn’t get it to play properly at all in Win7. Her Linux box and my Vista box required the exact same tweaks...setting compability mode for Win9x on one of the exes and Win2k on the other. My Win2k box was the clear winner...ran it “out of the box”.
Seems Win2k and WINE had the best support for the older DirectPlay that was needed. Similar results on the other Touhou games as well...WINE and the Win2k box ran them with the least tinkering.
Oh, my box did need one DX9 file brought in from an XP install for Touhou 13 which hers apparently didn’t. Think she actually wins for that one..not everyone would have access to a trusted box as easily as I did.
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