Hey all! I recently installed CachyOS which comes with linux-cachyos-bore as the default kernel, and I have to say that it does feel a lot snappier to just use and click around, even though I have almost the exact same Plasma setup as my previous Arch install. So now I’m wondering how many great patches and forks I’m missing out on :D
What’s your experience with using kernels other than linux, linux-lts, and linux-zen? Now that I’m free of Nvidia bullshit I’m more inclined to test out different things, does anyone have some resources like comparisons of the various alternatives out there?
I once did a kernel benchmark using various schedulers in different games and the performance differences were negligible.
Actually you might see performance loss with custom kernel
typically they “sacrifice” peak performance for more “snappier” applicationsthis is more notable on older/slower CPUs
A snappier DE likely has more to do with better default process priorities, than improved kernel scheduling.
The one place were kernel tweaks might mean anything, is when your running stuff where shit has to line up to the nanosecond.
So like real time kernels?
Yes, that’s what those are for.
I use linux-tkg with the PDS scheduler. It all depends on the task whether you will see improvements. In my game of choice I saw a much smoother experience going in and out of load screens and generally experienced less stuttering in more crowded areas when players were being loaded in. I noticed no other improvements.
Snake oil.
I use xanmod since I use debian based distros. Makes things feel much more responsive to my input, which is what I’m after.
I’ve never heard of these. Can you describe some of them?
These are all variations of the Linux kernel, as in they are compiled with different options or components. In this case we’re talking about different schedulers, which is the part of the kernel which decides what tasks are executed, when and for how long, etc.
TL;DR for Windows users:
Windows has an option - optimize for server or optimize for desktop. In Linux, by default you usually have optimize for server, but you can install custom kernel optimized for desktop, hence you get optimize for desktop.
Basically same kernels, just optimized for desktop & gaming workloads.
linux zen is all you need if you just need to ie compile in the background and it does not break all the time
I use
linux-tkgwith the BORE scheduler on my system. Same kernel, but with CFS before. It is faster in scenarios where it’s designed to be faster, but overall it won’t blow your socks off, as if it’s some kind of magic
