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Valve’s SteamOS has usually offered the right excuse to be whisked away from Microsoft’s troublesome Windows 11. The Linux working system’s higher gaming efficiency has usually been confirmed, using RAM properly with out the bloatware usually discovered with Windows 11.
SteamOS gives a console-like person interface (UI), making navigation and recreation launches far simpler than Windows 11, regardless of the current Xbox mode. With these advantages in thoughts, I’ve been considering a full swap to SteamOS, ditching Windows for good, and one of the simplest ways to try this could be by way of Bazzite.
Bazzite (not affiliated with Valve) is successfully a SteamOS clone, particularly designed for “Linux newcomers and enthusiasts alike”, however most significantly, comes with out-of-the-box compatibility with Nvidia and Intel GPUs, and a smooth experience for handhelds.
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Using my second streaming PC, I put Bazzite to the test over a few months. Without a doubt, it’s easily the best option for any gamer looking for a console-like couch gaming setup.
With tools like Decky Loader, customization is easy, with plugins to change SteamOS game mode themes, navigation sound effects, or even the startup and shutdown videos. However, despite all of the benefits of using the operating system, I still can’t step away from Windows 11 on my main system, and there are multiple reasons why.
Multitasking drawbacks
As a frequent multitasker using applications like Discord to stream games to friends, Bazzite (more specifically SteamOS) isn’t an ideal option. Using Discord to stream games on the same rig works just fine in desktop mode; however, it’s not the same story for its game mode, which is arguably the entire purpose of using Bazzite.
Streaming on Discord in game mode severely drops frame rates in games, with constant stutters in many I tested, and there are a few instances where attempting to stream an application will result in a black screen. I tried to use the NZXT Signal 4K30 capture card and stream my second PC’s Bazzite activity on Discord via my main PC, but it’s not that simple.
Sure, HDMI passthrough on the capture card is possible, but I didn’t want to be limited to 4K 60 frames per second on either my TV (which is capable of 144Hz) or my gaming monitor (capable of 240Hz). Frankly, capture cards with higher passthrough capabilities don’t come cheap.
Duplicating or projecting the display, as you would on Windows 11, would be the easy solution. However, Gamescope, the compositor responsible for displaying games on screen with Bazzite, cannot duplicate outputs.
Still trying to avoid the NZXT capture card’s 4K 60Hz passthrough limitation, I opted for an HDMI splitter with one input and two output ports. Unfortunately, the moment the capture card is connected, the output on either my TV or monitor has the refresh rate slashed to 60Hz and VRR disabled.
That occurs to ensure that the Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) of both is matched, according to what the capture card is capable of in passthrough.
None of these issues are present on Windows, as you can use OBS to project the main display onto the capture card without ever having to rely on an HDMI splitter or a better capture card.
This isn’t an attack on SteamOS or Bazzite in particular; after all, game mode is quite literally designed for gaming, so multitasking isn’t a priority for Valve or specifically Bazzite developers in this case.
However, it’s worth noting that streaming on the gaming OS is more trouble than it’s worth, and that’s without even mentioning the potential audio bugs or OS glitches. That’s only one part of why it’s worth sticking with Windows, though.
Compatibility issues
I wish these issues stopped there, but not quite. Firstly, a large majority of popular multiplayer games such as Battlefield 6, Call of Duty (most of the modern entries), Destiny 2, and EA Sports FC 26 will not work on Linux due to their anti-cheat systems.
This is an issue that lies directly with publishers and developers for those games that refuse to adapt their anti-cheat systems to work on SteamOS. It also doesn’t seem as though this will change any time soon; the Steam Machine was arguably one way to effectively force the hand of publishers to consider anti-cheat compatibility on Linux, but it’s not exactly a popular PC due to its high price.
It’s also worth noting that Game Pass is inaccessible natively on Bazzite, and requires either cloud gaming or third-party launchers, and you’ll be lucky if you can get the latter to function.
The solution to accessing those anti-cheat games is a dual-boot with Windows 11 and Bazzite. However, that isn’t completely ditching Windows 11 as I’ve planned to, and a dual-boot can end up messy thanks to Windows’ forced updates.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect is that Nvidia GPUs don’t play nice with game mode on Bazzite, often resulting in glitchy functionality, or just completely black screens. I tested this by swapping out the AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB GPU in my second PC with my spare Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and found that game mode was just frustrating to use.
So if I wanted to use Bazzite on my main rig equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super, its DX12 (a graphics API) gaming performance would be worse than Windows. Overall, the entire purpose of switching over to Linux was for better gaming performance and easy console-like UI navigation would be non-existent.
I’m sure all of these pain points will be addressed at some point, whether via Bazzite or Valve’s official SteamOS builds. For now, though, I’ll stick with Windows 11 on my main rig — even though I desperately want to be done with it.
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