GreenCrunch

As I promised, my own Cyberpunk testing of Windows Vs Linux on mostly the same hardware (they are on different SSDs, but I don't think that'll have a drastic impact).

TLDR: Windows framerates seem inconsistent, it's first benchmark I ran (the first Ultra without DLSS) was way faster with no explanation. Aside from that and Ray Tracing: Overdrive, Linux seems to win, and by a large degree (+28 FPS average on the Low preset seems ridiculous).

I don't think these results are broadly applicable to more machines. You probably won't get +28 FPS by switching to Linux.

My best guess is that the performance difference may have a lot to do with different power/thermal targets, or that Windows was doing a lot in the background (it was running an update, but I didn't expect a huge impact).

I'm guessing that on most hardware the performance difference will be pretty small.

Hardware: ROG Zephyrus G15 GA503QR Laptop Ryzen 9 5900HS, 16 GiB DDR4 RTX 3070 Laptop GPU 2560x1440 screen, up to 165 Hz

All benchmarks: plugged into OEM power supply. I held the laptop vertically so there were no restrictions to its airflow.

Game: Cyberpunk 2077 V2.3 with Phantom Liberty DLC, fullscreen 2560x1440. Values are given as Min / Average / Max FPS displayed by the game's built in benchmark.

Linux (Bazzite 42): NVIDIA driver 575.64.05 Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD Performance power profile

Low Preset ( no upscaling): 57.49 / 68.42 / 83.86 FPS

Ultra Preset(no upscaling): 32.91 / 39.27 / 49.71 FPS

Ultra (DLSS Transformer model, Auto): 41.11 / 48.70 / 61.30 FPS

Ray Tracing: Low Preset (DLSS transformer model, Auto): 44.12 / 51.70 / 61.63 FPS

Ray Tracing: Ultra Preset (DLSS transformer model, Auto): 29.24 / 34.26 / 39.81 FPS

Ray Tracing: Overdrive Preset (DLSS transformer model, Auto): 15.03 / 17.71 / 20.45 FPS

Windows (Windows 11 Home 23H2): GeForce Game Ready Driver 580.88 SK Hynix HFM001TD3JX013N SSD "Turbo" power profile (in ASUS Armoury Crate)

Low Preset (no upscaling): 35.68 / 40.68 / 45.17 FPS

Ultra Preset(no upscaling): 40.53 / 52.88 / 65 FPS

Ultra Preset (no upscaling, Round 2): 29.68 / 35.63 / 39.94 FPS

Ultra (DLSS Transformer model, Auto): 36.71 / 47.20 / 55.32 FPS

Ray Tracing: Low Preset (DLSS transformer model, Auto): 28.55 / 32.41 / 35.85 FPS

Ray Tracing: Ultra Preset (DLSS transformer model, Auto): 22.23 / 27.25 / 30.86 FPS

Ray Tracing: Overdrive Preset (DLSS transformer model, Auto): 17.74 / 19.96 / 22.64 FPS

Thank you very much, kind graphics wizard. I will put this knowledge to good use saving my ears from that fan. This is exactly what I was looking for!

I'll have to look into seeing if I can mess with that! It's a laptop 3070, so they:'ve already made some changes (fewer cores, lower boost clocks). My laptop sets a 100 W max TGP for it.

TBH though I've found myself caring more about the convenience of playing games (comfort, portability, ease of interrupting) more than graphics settings. Yeah it's very pretty with ray tracing and all, but I'm totally fine with playing on medium or high.

Thanks for the ideas! Hopefully I can push the graphics up without turning into a pile of lava. I need to figure out how to record graphics power consumption for me to reference to evaluate changes.

"No formulas ever" what? So you can't even add numbers?

For areas where you want to cool or dehumidify the air these help though. So where I live, during the summer these would effectively be "free" - you were going to use that energy to cool the house anyway with your AC, now you've just put that heat in water instead.

"Teehee, we've been hard at work squashing bugs to provide the best experience for you!" And then they've removed some useful feature, added more invasive tracking, added more ads, etc.

I'd ask for a refund, but I'm a few hundred thousand hours beyond that point...

What happened to motivate this rule change? It took them a really long time since chess came out.

I am not sure, as I've actually only played it under Linux. I have a laptop with an RTX 3070. It's able to handle the raytraced low setting at 1080p, but I just run High instead so that the fan isn't as loud. And in my opinion that even looks pretty good. I might try start it under windows and run its benchmark because I'm curious now! I'll update here if I remember to do this test.

Stuck on a NEMA 5-15 outlet, can't draw much more continuously. I think like 1200W is the highest continuous load you're allowed on a 15 A circuit here in the US, but I am not an electrician so I could be wrong

At some point you realize that the slushee has melted in the face of your system's 1000 W TDP...

What a mess. Fortunately, the frequency thing is less of an issue with modern power supplies, like my laptop charger is rated for 100-240V 50-60 Hz, so it Just Works. But I imagine that was more of a pain before these were widespread.