Intel SNB Linux Driver Can Out Run Windows Driver

Immediately when seeing the Nexuiz results, the Intel Linux driver performance was rather impressive. Just three months back the open-source Intel Linux driver stack was slower than Windows, but thanks to the various improvements, the Linux driver is now faster at the lower resolutions and remains competitive at the higher resolutions (up to 1600 x 900). The classic Mesa Intel driver did much better at the lower resolutions than the Windows driver. On average, the Linux frame-rate across the five tested resolutions was 25.7 FPS where as the Windows 7 driver was at 21.5 FPS.

The Warsow game was also now faster under Linux with Sandy Bridge than Windows. At 1600 x 900 the frame-rate ended up being the same, but at 800 x 600 the frame-rate was 2.66x higher.