Some Basic macOS 10.13 vs. Ubuntu 17.10 OpenGL Gaming Tests

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Some Basic macOS 10.13 vs. Ubuntu 17.10 OpenGL Gaming Tests

Following last week's F1 2017 launch for Linux which is making use of the Vulkan graphics API on Linux and Metal API on macOS, originally I set out to compare the macOS vs. Linux performance, but that didn't go quite as planned due to MacBook Pro woes. But here are some other OpenGL game tests between macOS and Ubuntu 17.10 Linux.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=25494

[Brisse]

Even a hardcore Windows gamer could look at these numbers and think "Yeah, Linux isn't so bad for gaming after all"

[Guest]

It will be great to see Vulkan vs Metal 2 benchmarks.

[ColdDistance]

Apple has ditched OpenGL as a main API some years ago. So it doesn't surprise me the better performance of Ubuntu against macOS.

As Guest said, Vulkan versus Metal on the same GPU (Intel and AMD) it would be a better comparison.

[andrebrait]

Isn't the thermal throttling enforced on Linux as well?

[Michael]

It will be great to see Vulkan vs Metal 2 benchmarks.

Unfortunately, only really able to do so if getting any Mac desktop hardware for testing since no lightweight Vulkan/Metal benchmark available... only aware of F1 2017 that would serve as such a comparison.

[Michael]

Isn't the thermal throttling enforced on Linux as well?

It sounds like under macOS, Apple might be more strict about their thermal throttling, etc.

[WolfpackN64]

Looks like Apple ditched OpenGL development too quickly for Metal, especially since OpenGL continues developing next to Vulkan.

[Otus]

Apple has ditched OpenGL as a main API some years ago. So it doesn't surprise me the better performance of Ubuntu against macOS.

As Guest said, Vulkan versus Metal on the same GPU (Intel and AMD) it would be a better comparison.

But then you are no longer running the same software. The game could have an awful Metal implementation and an optimized Vulkan one, or vice versa.

[GruenSein]

Apple has ditched OpenGL as a main API some years ago. So it doesn't surprise me the better performance of Ubuntu against macOS.

As Guest said, Vulkan versus Metal on the same GPU (Intel and AMD) it would be a better comparison.

To be fair, even before Metal became available on iOS, macOS's OpenGL-drivers underperformed when compared Windows and lately Linux as well. It took them forever to support GL3 and 4. Since my device has no trouble running the ParaView things I need I don't really notice but it is still annoying to see that the same hardware is severely underperforming under macOS. Apple has always been lazy on that front. Nvidia now has some drivers that can be installed on macOS but doesn't offer this AFAIK.