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How Does Left 4 Dead 2 Perform On Ubuntu 13.04 Compared To Windows 8?

By - | Views: 66,838
Hey there folks! Today I bring you a smaller but new test I did recently with my system.

I wanted to see what the actual performance difference was when running Left 4 Dead 2 natively in Ubuntu 13.04 versus running it in Windows 8. To visually gauge this difference, I took a look at the frames per-second and recorded the outcome in the following video:

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Needless to say, I was actually shocked when watching the videos and seeing the difference myself. This reassures me that Native gaming is a must over Wine gaming (although this is just my opinion).

Some may point out that Fraps is too heavy of a screen recorder to get an accurate reading of fps, however I tried other alternatives available to me such as XFire and MSI Afterburner and Fraps hands down is the only one giving Windows a fighting chance. [More info on this in the description of the video page].

Remember, that Windows is usually heralded as having better support and drivers compared to Linux in general. Taking this into consideration, both OS's were put under the duress of running L4D2 at maxed out settings while simultaneously performing the screen recording as well. I ran the Windows test multiple times to ensure similar results, and I ran the Ubuntu test twice with the same results.

Please pause the video at 0:08 to view the settings at which I played L4D2 (the settings are same across both OSs).

Ending notes:
I am only human, so it is very likely there were mistakes or things I may have overlooked. Please feel free to correct me, offer me guidance or even post your own results! The more tests we have, the greater the sample we can make judgement from.

A thank you to the kind folks who guided me on ways to better my future test videos based on my older videos, I hope to do a few more of these if people enjoy watching them.

Please note that the experience may be completely different for AMD graphics users and Intel graphics users. I do not claim that this will be what everyone experiences whether now, in the past or in the future. It is just what I have so far consistently experienced. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: FPS, Steam, Video, Zombies
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About the author -
Distro:    Ubuntu
Channel: Youtube Ubuntu Gaming
Country: Malaysia
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27 comments
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L4Linux Sep 23, 2013
Quoting: GuestIt then makes me wonder how much more (graphically speaking) could really be achieved by the same hardware if developers put in that little more effort to their game engines, level design, etc etc etc.

Just compare GTA 4 vs GTA5 on PS3 and you got your answer.
Sabun Sep 23, 2013
Quoteuse another computer to record the gameplay from a HDMI capture card
I was looking into capture cards, and noticed Avermedia has some TV cards with Linux drivers, but the drivers seem pretty outdated. Are Avermedia capture cards good with Linux?

Do you have any recommendations? Do take note that where I live, it is likely I won't have access to a lot of these devices. I may have to order them from overseas, if that's even possible. But if they are in store, I'd definitely like to get one. 

I agree with you that using screen recorders is definitely not the best way to estimate performance differences, but it was definitely surprising to me to see that there was such a difference so I thought I would share. As previously mentioned, it is just my experience :)
commodore256 Sep 23, 2013
Sabun, none of the HDMI capture Cards work in Linux, just the old analog stuff. That's why you need another Windows Machine.
Sabun Sep 23, 2013
QuoteThat's why you need another Windows Machine.
Well,that's a shame. I won't be forking out money for another computer just to have a capture card and Windows (at least not any time soon).
Zoom Sep 23, 2013
I'd like to see it done again but this time using a less bloated Linux distro. Manjaro with XFCE is stable, lightweight and easy to use, and I'm sure you'd see an increase in performance over Ubuntu.

Either way, Windows 8 stinks.
Rallias Sep 23, 2013
Two questions.

1. Did you try FFMPEG on either side? FFMPEG can do as a screen/audio recorder on both OS's with some advanced knowledge, and since it's command line, it'll perform better.
2. Turn the power regulation OFF on windows.
n30p1r4t3 11 years Sep 23, 2013
Quoting: L4Linux
Quoting: Quote from n30p1r4t3The only thing: When I (and it appears in the video I think) start l4d2 on that mission the entire time the helicopter is above it's very choppy. It happens in windows, but only slightly compared to Linux.


It's also weird that the FPS are higher in Linux when that happens. So it seems FPS isn't everything in the Linux performance equation.
Both videos are choppy despite fps being way over 24. I believe that the screen recording tool makes everything choppy.
Happens regardless of V-sync or Screen recording. I was talking about my experiences.
Sabun Sep 23, 2013
I did not try FFMPEG in Windows, last I tried it in Ubuntu 12.10 it was a serious pain. Constantly out of sync audio, and frustratingly had aspect ratio problems with the output video.

It's not easy to use, and that was back when I was willing to go through lots of documentation to try and make it work. I don't believe I have the time to put myself into that position for now (I'm doing these test videos while going through my final exams for the semester).

Talking about Power regulation, are we talking power plans? I had my power plan set to High Performance in Windows during these tests. Or is this something else? If it is, then please teach me about it.
Lord Avallon Sep 23, 2013
Congratulations Sabun for another great video, thanks for your efforts, I had an AMD onboard graphic card but, after waiting and asking AMD for improvements I finally got a NVidia offboard card some months ago and I can say things improved 100%, much better drivers and support, I can´t compare, I tried open-source drivers when using AMD and my experience was terrible, crashed my system on every attempt, but I heard some good replies from other people.
Rallias Sep 23, 2013
> I did not try FFMPEG in Windows, last I tried it in Ubuntu 12.10 it was a serious pain. Constantly out of sync audio, and frustratingly had aspect ratio problems with the output video.

That's why you record first pass lossless and convert it later.

> Talking about Power regulation, are we talking power plans? I had my power plan set to High Performance in Windows during these tests. Or is this something else? If it is, then please teach me about it.

It's one of windows many fuckups. You have to completely disable power management otherwise it will seesaw your graphics card which will molest your performance. It also does that with CPU, although since intel CPU's generally come with 3-8 clock rates (depending if it's a mobile or a desktop and the model), that isn't affected as badly.
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