Ubuntu 21.04 - X.Org vs. Wayland Linux Gaming Performance

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Ubuntu 21.04 - X.Org vs. Wayland Linux Gaming Performance

One of the most significant underlying changes with the recent release of Ubuntu 21.04 is the default GNOME Shell desktop environment is running the Wayland-based session by default rather than the traditional X.Org Server session. But what does this mean for the Linux gaming performance on Ubuntu 21.04? Here are some (X)Wayland vs. X.Org benchmarks.

https://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=30157

[skeevy420]

I like how, aside from the one game, the Wayland performance seemed better if only by a slight hair. To me, minimal FPS and and frame rate are the more important numbers so it's nice seeing XWayland having slightly better numbers even if it isn't by much.

Since I've been gaming on Xorg KDE and Windows lately -- Can anyone comment on how input feels on Wayland? I assume it's nice and snappy. PS4 BT Input lag is my biggest worry when the Wayland transition finally happens on my system.

[pracedru]

Impressive performance.

[QwertyChouskie]

It's amazing how boring this transition is looking. Once AutoKey is working on Wayland (and I figure out how to disable my broken, ghost-touching touchscreen on a Wayland session), I'm definitely going to attempt the switch.

[Alexmitter]

I like how, aside from the one game, the Wayland performance seemed better if only by a slight hair. To me, minimal FPS and and frame rate are the more important numbers so it's nice seeing XWayland having slightly better numbers even if it isn't by much.

Since I've been gaming on Xorg KDE and Windows lately -- Can anyone comment on how input feels on Wayland? I assume it's nice and snappy. PS4 BT Input lag is my biggest worry when the Wayland transition finally happens on my system.

Generally those are all Xwayland games, so the performance should be by design similar ( or slightly better / comparable to uncomposited ) to a X on Metal session.

Interesting are Wayland native games. I like to play osu!lazer that is native to linux and due to its SDL2 usage runs natively on Wayland. And what should I say, for a very fast pace mouse and keyboard heavy rhythm game, I never had a better experience playing it, the input and output latency are truly amazing.

I have my controller connected via USB so I cant say anything about latency in that regard.

[Alexmitter]

It's amazing how boring this transition is looking. Once AutoKey is working on Wayland (and I figure out how to disable my broken, ghost-touching touchscreen on a Wayland session), I'm definitely going to attempt the switch.

Usually a touch screen is internally connected via USB, should not be too hard to simply blacklist it.

https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...ux-environment

[aufkrawall]

Interesting are Wayland native games. I like to play osu!lazer that is native to linux and due to its SDL2 usage runs natively on Wayland. And what should I say, for a very fast pace mouse and keyboard heavy rhythm game, I never had a better experience playing it, the input and output latency are truly amazing.

I tried Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Global Offensive with native Wayland and there is no difference whatsoever...

[Mershl]

I tried Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Global Offensive with native Wayland and there is no difference whatsoever...

Hi aufkrawall, I still see https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutte...55#note_958918 on Gnome 40. Basically on mouse input frames are choppy/dropping on Xwayland CS:GO.

[StarterX4]

Interesting are Wayland native games. I like to play osu!lazer that is native to linux and due to its SDL2 usage runs natively on Wayland.

Good to mention that just because X game makes use of SDL2 doesn't mean it must run natively on Wayland – eg. most Valve games (except kept-up-to-date titles like Dota 2 or CS:GO), they're all crashing under SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland and work only through XWayland.

[jo-erlend]

This is interesting for comparing Ubuntu to Ubuntu, but I would love to see comparisons between games running on X.org and Wayland without XWayland. I suppose it can't be any slower than XWayland, but it'll be interesting to see if it can be significantly faster.