I recently ran the Superposition benchmark at 1080p extreme settings using OpenGL on my RX7900XT, and I was surprised by the results. Here are my scores: Ubuntu 22.04 (kernel 6.13.1, x11, mesa 25.0.0) scored 12049, while Windows 11 achieved 13507, and Mint 22.1 (kernel 6.8.0-51-generic) scored 11840. It seems like an 11.3% difference between Ubuntu and Windows is quite high. What do you all think? Also, I later tried Garuda (kernel 6.8.7-zen1, x11) and got 14380, and Rhino Linux (kernel 6.12.12) scored 14537, while CachyOS (kernel 6.13.0) matched that score. Any insights on these differences?
5 Answers
You might want to consider using CachyOS if performance is your main concern for gaming. LTS versions often don’t include the newest drivers or optimizations for hardware like yours. I got a solid score of 14162 on my RX 7900 XT with it!
There are so many variables at play here that it’s hard to come to any solid conclusions. Benchmarking can vary dramatically between different OS setups. Your Ubuntu version is a bit of a puzzle too—22.04 is running an older Gnome with a newer kernel that’s not standard yet. Have you checked your Mesa version? And what about testing KDE or turning off the compositor? Those things can make a huge difference!
It’s not surprising to see Ubuntu and Mint lag behind. They tend to use older packages and drivers compared to other distributions, which can affect performance. Plus, let’s be honest, there’s a big difference between volunteer-driven open-source projects and major corporations like Microsoft that pour in resources into Windows development.
Are you sure you weren’t using DX12 on Windows? OpenGL drivers on Linux should generally outperform Windows when it comes to graphics. Just something to double-check!
I tried Garuda, and I got a score of 14380, but I’m not really into rolling releases. They’re not my style.