Intel Arc Graphics A770: Windows 11 vs. Linux Benchmarks

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Intel Arc Graphics A770: Windows 11 vs. Linux Benchmarks

Following the year-end looks at Windows 11 vs. Linux graphics/gaming performance for AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards, today's article is my first look at the Windows 11 vs. Linux performance for Intel Arc Graphics with the flagship A770 graphics card.

https://www.phoronix.com/review/a770-windows-linux

[jorgepl]

Why is this Frankenbuntu build used always instead of, let's say, Arch or Fedora?

[Leopard]

Michael I have to ask; what was the Proton build you have used? If that was Proton 7.0, that ships with a nine months old vkd3d-proton which will not be representative for actual success/performance. Likewise, Proton 7.0 also ships with DXVK 1.10.3 while upstream is on 2.0. Proton Experimental has more up to date ( closer to git ) versions of both.

[bezirg]

I really hope Intel improves the drivers for these cards. There is so much performance left on the table.

[lyamc]

So I have the Intel A770 and overall I've been quite happy with the performance for the price. However:

1. I still get no audio output from the HDMI. As in, I can select the Audio Output and I get the options (Stereo, 5.1, 7.1) but you can't hear anything. I have to change the HDMI to the GPU port (to make sure that the ARC GPU is being used by the game), boot up the computer, then reconnect the HDMI to the integrated port to get audio out.
2. Drivers unavailable for non-rolling release distros. ClearLinux and EndeavourOS worked just fine, however I don't know what the cause is but if I use non-Flatpak'd steam, my memory slowly gets used up until Steam crashes.
3. Emulator performance is lacking.

I use Linux for playing Gangbeasts and It Takes Two, where it is a better experience than Windows.

1. When I launch a game using Big Picture Mode, the additional launchers actually go behind the game so I don't have to use the keyboard to Alt-Tab (it does this in Windows 11).
2. Playing It Takes Two in Windows, there's stuttering between scenes despite there being plenty of RAM and it being a separate NVMe SSD. I'm assuming this is due to ARC doing some form of shader caching for however it handles stuff like DX11. In Linux it does the vulkan shader cache in the background so the cutscenes and cutscene --> gameplay transition is actually smooth when it happens.
3. Playing Gangbeasts in Windows, the max supported controllers is 4, in Linux it is 8. That's the difference between playing a game and playing a party game.

[pkese]

What would it take to add a midrange Nvidia or AMD GPU to the mix in order to show performance metrics and quality of drivers relative to competition?

[Michael]

Michael I have to ask; what was the Proton build you have used? If that was Proton 7.0, that ships with a nine months old vkd3d-proton which will not be representative for actual success/performance. Likewise, Proton 7.0 also ships with DXVK 1.10.3 while upstream is on 2.0. Proton Experimental has more up to date ( closer to git ) versions of both.

Proton Experimental

[Michael]

Why is this Frankenbuntu build used always instead of, let's say, Arch or Fedora?

Because Linux 6.2 is the latest kernel and where there is actually 'stable' support... plus the latest DG2 fixes. And Mesa 23.0-devel has more DG2 fixes too...

[Michael]

What would it take to add a midrange Nvidia or AMD GPU to the mix in order to show performance metrics and quality of drivers relative to competition?

Separate article

[StarterX4]

Left 4 Dead 2 doesn't offer OpenGL renderer on Windows. It's either DX 9-11 or Vulkan. On Linux it's OpenGL or Vulkan.
Also worth noting is that OpenGL renderer sucks so much, and it's really worth it to switch to Vulkan (-vulkan in launch options).

Dota 2 offers OpenGL on Windows.