There was a time when gaming on Linux pretty much boiled down to SuperTuxKart, Battle for Wesnoth, and that's about it. However, in the last decade, Linux gaming has gone from strength to strength thanks to efforts from the open-source community. Now, games using Steam's Proton compatibility layer on Linux are rivaling Windows 11's performance, and it doesn't seem the 'best OS for gaming' is keeping hold of its crown for much longer.

A recent benchmark has delved into how several popular titles run on both Windows 11 and CachyOS, a performance-focused Linux distro. While the two put up an excellent fight and looked pretty toe-to-toe across the board, both Cyberpunk 2077 and Space Marine 2 saw some very impressive performance boosts on CachyOS that gamers should take note of.

CachyOS takes some major wins versus Windows 11 in two big titles

Cyberpunk 2077 and Space Marine 2 seemed to prefer Linux

As spotted by Notebook Check, NJ Tech performed the benchmark on YouTube, pitting Windows 11 against CachyOS on the same PC. From the on-screen stats, the computer was running an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X and a Radeon RX 6700 XT. NJ Tech then posted both the average frame rate and the average of the lowest 1% of frame rates for each operating system.

The tests showed some very interesting results. In most tests, CachyOS took the win, scoring around 3-10% higher FPS than Windows 11. On top of that, there were a handful of very clear victories for CachyOS. First, Space Marine 2 ran much smoother on the Linux distro, averaging 81fps compared to Windows 11's 68 FPS. CachyOS kept things pretty consistent, with a 1% low of 72 FPS, compared to Windows 11's 58fps.

Cyberpunk 2077 was also a solid win for CachyOS, achieving a 98fps average with a 1% low of 76 FPS. Windows 11 scored an average of 91 fps and a low of 63 fps, making CachyOS the clear winner for rendering a very graphically intensive game.

However, it wasn't all good news for CachyOS. Windows 11 managed to tie it in average FPS in The Division 2, and got 4 percentage points higher than the 1% lows. Windows 11 took a more decisive win in The First Descendant, with Windows 11 posting an average of 63 FPS and a 1% low of 39 FPS, versus CachyOS's 54 FPS average and a 1% low of 38 FPS. However, the writing on the wall is pretty clear: Windows is no longer the uncontested champ of gaming.